268 LUTHER BURBANK 



Even before I could see my way to the aban- 

 donment of the practical work of the nursery- 

 man, projects were in hand that were preparing 

 the way for the new activities. In particular, I 

 had sent to Japan to secure seeds and cuttings of 

 a great variety of fruits. It seemed certain that I 

 could better afford to hire collectors in foreign 

 lands to secure material than to go to foreign 

 lands in person in quest of it. 



The first consignment of Japanese seeds and 

 seedlings arrived November 5, 1884. And when 

 the consignment was in hand, with the represent- 

 atives of exotic species of fruits, I felt that a 

 new era had begun for me, and that the long- 

 frustrated plans were about to find realization. 



The following year, so well had the nursery 

 business prospered, I was able to purchase a farm 

 at Sebastopol, seven miles from Santa Rosa, 

 where the conditions were more favorable for the 

 growing of certain types of plants. 



The second consignment from Japan, includ- 

 ing the plum, whose story has elsewhere been told 

 in detail, came December 20, 1885. The place at 

 Sebastopol where they were to be planted and 

 nurtured was purchased eight days later. And 

 with this purchase the project of devoting a life- 

 time to the work of plant experimentation was 

 fairly and finally inaugurated. For the Sebas- 



