CHAPTER VII 



PLUMS AND PRUNES 



I"T would be difficult to reach a satisfactory 

 ■*■ estimate of the amount Mr. Burbank's 

 commercial creations have already added to 

 the world's wealth. This is particularly diffi- 

 cult both because of the rapid progression of 

 a new fruit through multiplication in different 

 lands, replacing old fruits of its kind season 

 by season, and because of the large number 

 of varieties in his list, each one filling a sepa- 

 rate field. For example, he has introduced 

 over twenty varieties of plums and prunes, 

 each with some distinctive and valuable char- 

 acteristic, while he has made several thousand 

 new plum and prune combinations, many of 

 which are now under test. The potato which 

 bears his name has increased the wealth of 

 the United States by many millions of dollars, 

 but the new plums and prunes promise to 

 exert a still wider commercial and economic 

 influence. One entire town in California, 



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