274 LUTHER BURBANK 



This was one of my first efforts in producing a 

 good shipping plum; even better shippers have 

 been produced on my grounds and are shipped 

 out of this State by the milHon crates annually. 



Under the head of saving a plant from its own 

 extravagance might well come the large subject 

 of bringing trees to early fruiting, or of greatly 

 shortening the period from seed to maturity in 

 shade and lumber trees. The rapid-growing 

 walnut, and pineapple quince, and chestnut seed- 

 lings bearing at six months from the seed stand 

 forth as strong encouragement to those who 

 would take up this line. 



And there is the broad subject of adapting 

 plants to special localities. The hop crop of 

 California, the cabbage crop near Racine, Wis- 

 consin, the celery crop near Kalamazoo, the can- 

 taloupe crop at Rocky Ford and Imperial Val- 

 ley and the seed farms of California — all of these 

 bear eloquent testimony to the profit of a special- 

 ty properly introduced. 



Who can say how many who are making only 

 a living out of corn or wheat, simply because 

 they are in corn or wheat localities, could not fit 

 some special plant to their thin or worn-out soil? 



And who, seeing that some forms of plant life 

 not only exist, but thrive, under the most adverse 

 conditions, shall say that there is any poor land 



