208 LUTHER BURBANK 



either to cease the work, or reengage in the 

 nursery business in order to obtain means to carry 

 on the experiments ; but the work had increased so 

 greatly that if another nursery should have been 

 started the experimental work would necessarily 

 have been neglected. These perplexing condi- 

 tions went on for some years. At last both his 

 home place and the experiment grounds at Gold 

 Ridge were involved, and he had about decided 

 that it was best to curtail or perhaps entirely 

 abandon the experiments, at that time far more 

 promising than ever before. The circumstances 

 were well known to many parties in fact, to the 

 horticultural world generally. Numerous friends 

 thought he should apply to some university, to 

 the United States Government, or to the State 

 of California for assistance, but he was unwilling 

 to accept any of these suggestions. Finally, his 

 ever faithful friend and adviser, Judge Samuel 

 F. Lieb of San Jose, California, could endure the 

 situation no longer, and with Judge W. W. 

 Morrow of San Rafael, California, and Presi- 

 dent David Starr Jordan of Stanford Univer- 

 sity, all valued friends, everywhere honored and 

 revered as leaders in their respective professions, 

 and other esteemed friends at Washington, D. 

 C., without his knowledge, had made arrange- 

 ments by which a grant or subvention should be 



