206 LUTHER BURBANK 



sionaries and even wild native North and 

 South American Indians have been of great 

 service. 



On coming to California, my brother was sur- 

 prised to observe the great number of varieties 

 of fruits that could be raised with such ease when 

 compared with raising them under eastern con- 

 ditions; also with the fact that the varieties 

 grown here were nearly all of eastern and 

 foreign origin, few, if any, new varieties having 

 been produced specially adapted to the new con- 

 ditions. It seemed desirable that new varieties 

 should be produced for these new conditions, and 

 having done some work in that line before com- 

 ing to California, he was prepared to take hold 

 of it with a reasonable amount of confidence as 

 to the outcome. 



The fruits then existing seemed to him in 

 various ways to be lacking in many important 

 particulars, and this is true even to-day, although 

 partially modified. For instance, some trees 

 would bear large crops one year or, perhaps, two 

 years in succession; then, from some cause — late 

 spring frosts, heavy winds, too much rain at the 

 time of blooming, or other more or less evident 

 causes — the crop would be destroyed, thus 

 making fruit raising, even here, somewhat of a 

 "hit-or-miss" proposition. 



