168 LUTHER BURBANK 



Of course, orchardists are proverbially con- 

 servative. Perhaps it is natural that they should 

 be so, considering that they deal with trees that 

 require some years to come into bearing. An 

 orchard cannot be made in a season, like a grain 

 field, but the rapid conquest effected by the Bur- 

 bank plum and others of my earlier production 

 leaves little room for doubt that my newest plums 

 will make their way no less effectively in the 

 course of the coming decade. 



Fortunately for the fruit grower, he may in- 

 troduce these new Burbank varieties with less 

 loss of time than usually attends the introduction 

 of ordinary plums. 



All of the older varieties in an ordinary Cali- 

 fornia plum orchard require five or six years' 

 growth before they commence to pay for them- 

 selves. But most of the new Burbank varieties 

 will commence to bear heavily in the third or 

 fourth season, and by the fifth or sixth year they 

 will have produced as much as the ordinary plum 

 orchard four or five years older. 



WHY PLANT CREATION Is COSTLY 



Since I have spoken of the losses sustained by 

 the plant originator in developing fruits that 

 bring such large monetary returns to others, per- 

 haps I should explain a little more at length why 



