LUTHER BURBANK 



There are many incidents of that early period 

 of probation, when I was struggling to establish 

 myself as a nurseryman, in order that ultimately 

 I might take up my scheme for plant development 

 on a large scale, that would have a measure of 

 interest and would not be without importance in 

 their bearing on my later work. But I content 

 myself with the narration of a single incident, 

 partly because it has to do with an event that was 

 at the time of momentous importance to me, inas- 

 much as it gave me a much needed monetary 

 return, and at the same time served to advertise 

 my work; and partly because it illustrates in 

 detail the possibility of rapidly laying the foimda- 

 tions for an orchard, and hence may be of value 

 to some would-be plant experimenters. 



Twenty Thousand Pkune Seedungs 



The incident in question has to do with the 

 production of twenty thousand prune trees, well 

 rooted and ready to transplant for permanent 

 location in an orchard, in a single season. 



It was in the fourth year of my attempt at the 

 development of a nursery business at Santa Rosa 

 — that is to say, in the season of 1881 — that I pro- 

 duced the twenty thousand prune trees in response 

 to a "hurry order," and in so doing fortified a rep- 

 utation for reliability and resourcefulness that my 

 earlier work had begun to establish. 



[86] 



