LUTHER BURBANK 



patent can be obtained on new varieties of fruit 

 trees or flowers, such as the developer of new, 

 mechanical inventions or chemical combinations, 

 or artistic productions can depend upon to guard 

 his invention and make it at least probable that he 

 will share in the profits that accrue from its intro- 

 duction. The plant developer must either intro- 

 duce his new varieties through direct sales to nurs- 

 erymen and planters, or else sell them outright 

 for a comparatively small sum to a wholesale 

 dealer. In the latter case he receives a sum that is 

 never large. In the former case his returns are 

 altogether problematical, and at best there are 

 only two or three years during which he has a 

 partial monopoly of the sale of the product of his 

 labors. 



In three or four years, according to the rapidity 

 with which the new variety can be multiplied, 

 orchardists who have purchased grafting stock 

 can compete in the market with the original 

 introducer. 



Suppose, for example, that I have a new plum 

 that I decide to introduce directly. I sell grafting 

 wood by the foot. The highest price I have ever 

 received for grafting wood, even of the choicest 

 new variety, is $10 a foot. 



This, to be sure, is at the rate of about $800,000 

 a cord, if you choose to reckon it that way; but 



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