CHAPTER XVI 
COMMERCIAL ASPECTS OF THE WORK 
| forming any just estimate of the com- 
mercial importance of Mr. Burbank’s work, 
different factors must be taken into considera- 
tion. Though it is a quarter of a century 
since he began the actual work of plant-breed- 
ing on a large scale, it is only within the past 
ten or twelve years that the most important 
lines have been developed. At the time he 
closed out his nursery business in 1893 he 
entered upon a series of important experi- 
ments, many of which are but just coming 
into fruition. It takes all the way from ten to 
fifteen years, in some cases much longer, to 
carry a new plant forward to its perfected stage. 
For example, the amaryllis took nineteen 
years, the hybrid lilies over twenty, and both 
are still to have further attention. Not only 
must the actual excellence of a new fruit, for 
example, be determined and its standing 
ascertained alongside of other fruits then in 
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