PERSONAL HISTORY 203 



studied the movement of the stars through the 

 apertures in the roof of an old barn back of the 

 dilapidated house in which he lived, so Luther 

 Burbank, while employed in the most common- 

 place tasks, was laying the foundation for future 

 achievements. 



In the summer of 1877, to his great joy, 

 mother and sister (the writer) came to California 

 to join him. 



By the old sales books it is shown that the first 

 year's sales in the nursery business amounted to 

 fifteen dollars and twenty cents; the next year 

 it was eighty- four dollars ; the third year to about 

 three hundred and fifty dollars ; and at the end of 

 ten years the quality of the trees and the reli- 

 ability of the Burbank "Santa Rosa Nursery" 

 became so widely known that he was selling over 

 sixteen thousand dollars' worth of trees and 

 plants per year. 



After some years of this prosperity, he con- 

 cluded that it would be safe to embark on the life 

 work which he had laid out. Therefore the nurs- 

 ery business was sold in the fall of 1888 that 

 he might devote himself exclusively to the pro- 

 duction of new varieties of fruits, trees, and 

 flowers. 



Nothing but the most intense love for and 

 a knowledge of the importance of this work 



