LUTHER BURBANK 



large portion of which are from amateurs, with 

 long lists of questions, which would require years, 

 perhaps a lifetime, to answer. 



"Five years ago we sold out a nursery business 

 which had been built up from nothing, and which 

 was paying us fully ten thousand dollars a year, 

 that we might give all our time and thought to the 

 work of producing new fruits and flowers. 



"Do not think because they are raised in sunny 

 California that they are less likely to prove gen- 

 erally hardy. Are those already before the public 

 any less hardy or any less valuable than most of 

 the Russian fruits which have been so extensively 

 advertised for years? Are not the various Plums, 

 Walnuts, Chestnuts, etc., which have been dis- 

 tributed from our establishment, proving to be 

 hardier even than most of the Russian fruits, and 

 more valuable in all other respects? But the best 

 ones are yet to come. 



"About twelve years ago, when, having by thor- 

 ough test found them good, we first commenced to 

 introduce these fruits and nuts, sending circulars 

 to most of the nurserymen in the United States, it 

 was like trying to swim up stream in a rapidly 

 flowing river, as very few had faith enough in 

 them to invest in a tree; but those who were enter- 

 prising enough to do so, now find themselves fully 

 prepared to supply the great and ever increasing 



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