232 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



come into bearing. From inquiries made by the author, 

 it seems probable that Burbank's contribution to the total 

 fruit crop of California in 1917 did not exceed three per 

 cent, or, in round figures, $3,000,000.^" Burbank's po- 

 tato has a higher crop value than his fruits. After its 

 general introduction it was stated by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture that it was 'adding to the agri- 

 cultural productivity of the country an annual sum of 

 $17,000,000." If to this $17,000,000 for potatoes we 



10 Of the total California fruit crop, peaches, citrus fruits, prunes, 

 apricots, and European grapes form a very important part, and Bur- 

 bank, as I am informed by Mr. J. C. Corbett, Hortieulturalist in 

 charge of cultural and pomological investigations for the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, has contributed very little to the 

 variety list of this group of fruits. Burbank's chief contribution to 

 the fruits of California is to be found in his plums and cherries 

 which, 6. g., the Wickson plum and the Burbank plum, are shipped 

 away from the State in great quantities. However, the total value 

 to the growers in 1917 of California plums was only $3,000,000 and 

 of cherries only $600,000, and there are many other plums grown 

 in the State beside those originated by Burbank. It is therefore 

 very doubtful whether Burbank's plimis and cherries represent half 

 of the $3,600,000 here given. In his circular called 1918 Offerings of 

 Twentieth Century Fruits, etc., Burbank states that 1,092,256 crates 

 of his plums and cherries had been shipped away out of the State of 

 California in the season of 1918 before November 15, besides other 

 shipments made by one large shipping firm which could not make a 

 varietal report. Supposing we take the total of crates at 1,200,000 

 and reckon the fruit that was put in them as being worth to the 

 grower (exclusive of boxing and packing) as much as one dollar a 

 crate, then the value to the grower of all the fruit in the crates 

 would be $1,200,000. In arriving at the figure of $3,000,000 for Bur- 

 bank's contribution to the fruits of California given in the text, I 

 have added to this $1,200,000 the large sum of $1,800,000, so as to 

 allow for other fruits, contingencies possibly overlooked, and so as 

 to err on the generous side of the account. 



11 Hugo de V^ries, loc cit., p. 164. 



Mr. William Stuart, Hortieulturalist engaged in cultural and 

 pomological investigations for the United States Department of Ag- 

 riculture and a well-known authority on the potato, has kindly in- 

 formed me that the Burbank potato at present: is confined very 

 largely to the northwestern portion of the United States; that it is 



