LUTHER BURBANK 



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, perhaps I 

 should explain a little more at length why it is 

 that the plant developer who experiments as I 

 have done cannot hope for a quick financial re- 

 turn for his efforts. 



One chief reason why experimentation of this 

 order does not pay is that it was done so compre- 

 hensively, thoroughly, and on so large a scale. 



Where a man conducts plum improvement, 

 for example, as an adjunct to a nursery business, 

 there is no reason why he might not eventually 

 secure even a single improvement that could di- 

 rectly pay him for his care and expense in pro- 

 ducing it. There would be no certainty as to this, 

 to be sure, as the chance of securing a really good 

 new variety is not better than about one in ten 

 thousand. That is to say, in handling ten thou- 



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