LUTHER BURBANK 



esting experience of gathering cranberries with 

 long handled rakes. The berries were raked from 

 the bushes into sacks fastened on the rake han- 

 dles, A single man could gather several bushels 

 in an hour. My brother David has recalled in 

 recent years the keen enjoyment I manifested in 

 watching this operation when but a child. 



But the chief occupations of our leisure hours 

 were of a more prosaic character than sledding 

 or skating. My father was an unusually prosper- 

 ous farmer, but he was also a manufacturer. With 

 so large a family, he found it necessary to supple- 

 ment the resources of field and orchard. 



It chanced that on the farm there was an exten- 

 sive bank of fine clay, and as pottery was in great 

 demand at that time my father engaged in its 

 manufacture successfully for several years. But 

 later there were mammoth manufacturing plants 

 established in the vicinity, and these created so 

 great a demand for building material that it was 

 found profitable to transform the pottery into a 

 brick yard. 



As it required wood to burn brick, my father 

 began buying woodlands, ultimately acquiring 

 large holdings. His judgment of the value of 

 growing woodlands was good, and his business 

 prospered. He employed a large number of men 

 each summer to make and burn the brick, some 



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