LUTHER BURBANK 



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rustling coverlet, and busy fingers were pricked by the 



protecting spines. 



On these excursions the father told stories of plant and 



animal life, directing the 

 children's attention, not 

 only to flowers and trees, 

 but also to the wood- 

 chuck in his burrow, to 

 nests of birds, and to 

 squirrels with their store 

 of nuts and acorns in 

 hollow trees. 



Luther, the older boy, 

 was ever anxious to learn 

 more of Nature's ways. 

 He carefully observed 



Chestnut blossom. 



bud and branch. The pollen blossoms of oak and chest- 

 nut were to him the pages of an open book; these he studied, 

 and mused long on the lessons they taught. The slow 

 growth of walnut and chestnut trees was noted. Watching 

 the woodchoppers making axe handles from hickory wood, 

 he saw that they chose the "pig walnut" because of its 

 superior strength, although the "shagbark," the nuts of 

 which were larger and better, was also valued for tim- 

 ber. He learned to distinguish the varieties of timber 

 by the wood fibre, and habits of growth, as well as by the 

 nuts. Thus the mind of the boy was storing knowledge 

 that was to ripen into golden fruit in after years. 



