PLUM AND PRUNE PROFITS 167 



And, finally, even if complete up-to-date rec- 

 ords of the earnings of the Burbank plums could 

 be collated, the figures would give but a vague 

 idea of the real importance, from a purely eco- 

 nomic standpoint, of the work that has been ac- 

 complished, for the reason that it takes a long 

 time to introduce a new fruit, whatever its im- 

 portance, and the best Burbank plums and 

 prunes have been developed within very recent 

 years. Of my quartette of "best" plums, only 

 the Wickson has been on the market long enough 

 to acquire anything like the reputation and the 

 vogue that its merits justify. As to the others, 

 Formosa was introduced in 1906, Santa Rosa in 

 1907, and Beauty, perhaps the best of all, only 

 in 1911. 



So whereas we find that the Wickson was 

 shipped from California in 1912 to the extent of 

 one hundred carloads, there were only two car- 

 loads of Formosa and fourteen carloads of Santa 

 Rosa recorded, and of course Beauty is not rep- 

 resented at all. 



Obviously, then, the earning power of these 

 newest and best plums is a matter for the future. 

 When the statistics are collated, let us say for 

 the year 1925, it will be possible to gain a 

 clearer view of the real importance of these new 

 productions. 



