PATIENCE REWARDED 277 



practical monetary returns, I could have found 

 abundant material for the investigation of a life- 

 time without going outside the bounds of the 

 Gold Ridge farm itself. 



My own tastes would have led me to devote 

 the major part of the time to the investigation 

 of flowering plants and the development of 

 flowers having hitherto unrevealed potentialities 

 of form and color and odor. But it was obvious 

 that one could not hope to make a living in this 

 way. I knew that in order to have even a fair 

 prospect of securing a monetary return that 

 would enable me to keep up this work, once the 

 nursery was abandoned, it would be necessary 

 to produce marketable fruits. 



In this field alone could one hope to find a 

 ready sale for new plant developments, however 

 striking or interesting from a scientific stand- 

 point the results of experiments in other lines 

 might prove. 



And of course the indigenous wildlings of the 

 immediate environment offered only scant mate- 

 rial for the immediate production of new fruits of 

 practical value. As a matter of course one must 

 depend for material largely on the orchard 

 fruits already under cultivation. These had 

 been educated for countless generations. Most 

 horticulturists regarded them as perfected be- 



