SANTA ROSA 251 



potato, time was required to educate people to 

 appreciate it. They were accustomed to a red 

 potato, and a white one, even though larger, 

 smoother, and more productive, and of better 

 quality, did not seem at first a tangible substitute. 

 But in the course of time the Burbank potato 

 made its way, as has elsewhere been related, 

 until it became the leading potato of the Pacific 

 Coast. Long before this, however, I had ceased 

 to grow the potato. It was only during the 

 first few years, before its cultivation became 

 general, that I could profitably grow it for seed 

 purposes. 



I began my nursery business at Santa Rosa 

 by raising such fruits and vegetables as gave 

 promise of being immediately acceptable to the 

 people of the vicinity. At that time the possibil- 

 ities of California as a fruit center were for the 

 most part vaguely realized, and it was first neces- 

 sary to educate the Californians themselves to a 

 recognition of the fact that in the soil and climate 

 of their State were the potentialities of greater 

 wealth than had ever been stored in the now 

 almost depleted gold mines. 



Once that lesson had been learned, there 

 would be no great difficulty about disposing of 

 the fruit, for the railways either built or pro- 

 jected insured facilities for transportation. 



