LUTHER BURBANK 



The second consignment from Japan, including 

 the plum, whose story has elsewhere been told in 

 detail, came Dec. 20, 1885. The place at Sebastopol 

 where they were to be planted and nurtured was 

 purchased eight days later. And with this pur- 

 chase the project of devoting a lifetime to the 

 work of plant experimentation was fairly and 

 finally inaugurated. For the Sebastopol place, 

 with its eighteen acres, was not purchased for use 

 as a practical nursery, but solely as an experiment 

 garden. 



With the development of the Sebastopol place, 

 a new phase of lifework began. 



Thenceforward my time was divided between 

 the experiment garden at Santa Rosa and that at 

 Sebastopol, and upon one place or the other all 

 my experiments in plant development were to be 

 performed. 



An interest in the nursery business was re- 

 tained for two or three years more, to give money 

 to carry out the initial stages of the new experi- 

 ments; for of course it could not be expected that 

 new varieties of fruits and flowers would spring 

 into existence in a single season. Nor could in- 

 stant purchasers be found for them if they had 

 been thus magically produced. But from the time 

 when the place at Sebastopol was purchased, the 

 die was cast, and it was determined in future my 



[104] 



