1897.] ANNUAL REUNION. 63 



owu Society, aud by the time he has fiuished it will be time to pro- 

 nounce the benediction. I will now call upon Mr. E. I. Comius. 



Mr. Comins. It was my privilege about a year ago to take a trip 

 to California, accompanied by ray wife. While stopping with friends 

 at Petaluma, Sonoma County, we chanced to hear of a Worcester 

 County boy, Luther Burbank, located in Santa Rosa, sixteen miles 

 from Petaluma. As he was born in Lancaster, Mass., where my wife 

 was born, and as we learned somewhat of his wonderful success with 

 fruits and flowers, we felt quite anxious to make his acquaintance and 

 see something of what he has accomplished. Learning from a San 

 Francisco paper, that he was a very busy man and much annoyed by 

 curious visitors, I took the precaution to write him a line stating 

 where we were from, that we proposed driving to Santa Rosa soon 

 and that, if agreeable, we would call aud give him a hearty New Eng- 

 land handshake. Return mail brought a most cordial invitation to 

 call at his home. We did so and no pleasanter hours were spent in 

 California. The papers on the Pacific Coast speak of him as the 

 " wizard of horticulture," the " Edison of plant life," etc., etc., and 

 the vrork he has done in propagating new varieties of fruits and 

 flowers is simply marvellous, and his wonderful success is another 

 demonstration of what New England pluck aud enterprise can 

 accomplish. 



His early education consisted of what could be acquired on the farm 

 and what the schools of his native town could give. While still a boy 

 he came to Worcester and worked in the shops of the Ames Plow Co. 

 Owing to some trouble with his eyes, I think, he was obliged to seek 

 out-door employment, and having a decided taste for rural life he 

 went to the town of Lunenburg and engaged for a few years in market 

 gardening. While here he put upon the market the '"Burbank" 

 seedling potato, now known throughout the country. This was 

 before he was 21 years of age. 



Later he went to California and engaged in the nursery business at 

 Santa Rosa. After a few years of success in this business he sold it 

 out and since then has devoted his attention exclusively to developiug 

 and putting upon the market new varieties of fruits and flowers, and 

 with such success that his name is extensively known both at home 

 and abroad. For this purpose he secured a tract of land some miles 

 from his home, with soil exactly adapted to his purpose, sloping to 

 the east for the morning sun, and near enough to the Pacific Ocean 

 to receive the benefit of its beneficent breezes. We very much 

 regretted we were not able, for want of time, to visit this garden, 



