250 LUTHER BURBANK 



whether the modifications that could be effected 

 in a single generation would have any practical 

 significance. 



So it seemed to most people who knew of my 

 enterprise that it was a half -mad project and 

 one that was foredoomed to failure. 



Of course I had only enthusiasm, backed by 

 the tentative results of early experiments in 

 Massachusetts, to offer in response to such criti- 

 cisms. So it seemed best to trust to my own 

 resources, so far as possible, and prove my case 

 according to my own method. 



I would not be understood, however, as say- 

 ing that my brothers did not give me friendly 

 cooperation. On the contrary they were, as sug- 

 gested, ready to extend a helping hand, and 

 their aid was sought at the outset in the matter 

 of the propagation of the Burbank potato, the 

 ten tubers of which constituted, in my judgment, 

 my most important tangible asset. 



The ten potatoes were planted on my 

 brother's place; and the entire product of the 

 first season was saved and planted, so that by 

 the end of the second season the stock of pota- 

 toes was large enough to offer for sale. 



The sale of the Burbank potato helped out a 

 little, but did not at first bring a large return. 

 Notwithstanding the very obvious merits of this 



