12 LUTHER BURBANK 



garden. He needed to know about flowers and pollen, for 

 the time was to come when he would direct plants and 

 they would obey. 



CHAPTER IV 

 WHERE THE BROWN NUTS FALL 



Luther's father, Samuel Walton Burbank, was engaged 

 in the manufacture of brick, and owned not only his cul- 

 tivated farm but also a large acreage of woodlands. 



In these woodlands men were employed during the 

 winter months felling trees and preparing wood which was 

 used the following summer in burning great kilns of brick. 

 Many times each winter, in the large wood sled drawn by 

 Chub, the faithful family horse, the father visited the 

 woodlands. He was often accompanied by his two little 

 sons and their baby sister, all in warm coats, mufflers, and 

 mittens, and snugly tucked in with a big buffalo robe. 



Even before the open fields and pasture lands had been 

 crossed, shouts of childish glee fell upon the father's ear, 

 and perchance each boy was seen scudding the roadway 

 holding to the back of the sled with one hand and in the 

 other flourishing a ball of snow; while Trip, the pet dog, 

 barked and frolicked as he joined in the winter's sport. 



The way led across the ice-covered meadow brook, 

 through the now leafless huckleberry and blueberry bushes, 

 where so often during the summer pails had been filled 



