102 LUTHER BURBANK 



about half as numerous as they were; and this 

 implies that those that remain are only half as 

 productive as the trees of twenty-five or thirty 

 years ago. 



Such a record, coupled with the fact of an 

 ever-increasing demand for orchard trees, seems 

 almost incomprehensible. Yet similar reports 

 might be had from other regions where fruit 

 production was formerly a more or less impor- 

 tant industry. 



But fortunately the facts of the situation 

 are now being called to the attention of the 

 general public, in particular by the workers at 

 the agricultural experiment stations. Bulletins 

 are being issued that call attention to the possi- 

 bilities of rejuvenating the old orchards, and in 

 many regions results of this work are being 

 manifested in the restoration of these abandoned 

 orchards. In one county in Ohio, in a recent 

 season, 117 rejuvenated orchards added more 

 than fifty thousand bushels to the apple crop. 



"In several cases," says the Ohio report, "a 

 net profit of $400 per acre has been secured from 

 an abandoned orchard." 



The report continues: "It is like reaping 

 where one did not sow, to bring one of these 

 orchards into its own again. An investment in 

 one of these orchards is better than gold mine 



