LUTHER BURBANK 



material for the investigations of a lifetime with- 

 out 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 flow- 

 ering plants and the development of flowers hav- 

 ing hitherto unrevealed qualities 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 

 my 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 standpoint 

 the results of experiments in other lines might 

 prove. 



And of course the indigenous wildings 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 edu- 

 cated for countless generations. Doubtless most 

 horticulturists regarded them as perfected beyond 

 hope of conspicuous further development. But in 

 my view what had been done with these fruits 



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