CHAPTER XVI 



COMMERCIAL ASPECTS OF THE WORK 



TN 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 



268 



