Page:Tree Crops; A Permanent Agriculture (1929).pdf/58

 still living in the future, not in retrospect as is so common with old age.

The danger of loss to society by leaving this work to private individuals is well illustrated by these collections of trees listed above.

Mr. Jones, a nurseryman, had a good collection of parent trees in bearing. He got a thrill out of hybridizing. He wanted to do nothing else. As I finish this book, Mr. Jones dies leaving a widow and three young daughters who may not happen to be situated to carry on his work. It is to be hoped that some one can carry on his breeding work with his collection of trees.

The trees of Dr. Morris's stand in one of the choicest tracts of suburban land anywhere near New York City. Dr. Morris is seventy years young.

Mr. Bixby's tree collection is the finest of its kind in the world. The land on which it stands in a suburb of Brooklyn, is worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and is rapidly increasing in value. In addition to this loss of interest Mr. Bixby is spending two or three thousand dollars a year in taxes and an equal amount in hiring men to conduct this private experiment station, to which he also gives some of his own financially valuable time. He contributes his findings freely to the public. This is fine for society while it lasts, but unfortunately it will take decades of years and a great deal more land, labor, and money to get the full results out of this unique planting.