LUTHER BURBANK, THE MAN 
was soon called upon to put to test. The 
country was new, and the few ranchers and 
farmers had not yet begun to realize the pos- 
sibilities of their region in the way of fruit 
culture. He sought for work, that he might 
get ahead enough to make a start as a nur- 
seryman. He saw the possibilities of the 
country in this line and the promise of a good 
living, and perhaps a competence if he could 
only get established. But work was not easy 
to get. Day after day he sought it and failed, 
and day by day his slender store of money 
ran down. He did all sorts of odd jobs, many 
of them far beyond his strength. He heard of 
a new building to be put up in the frontier 
town. He applied for work. He had no tools, 
but, being promised a job if he had a shing- 
ling hatchet, he invested nearly all of his 
remaining funds in one, only to find, the next 
morning, that the job had gone to some one 
else. : 
He found more steady work at last at a 
mere pittance, cleaning out chicken-coops on 
a chicken-ranch. The work was disagreeable 
in the extreme, but he was willing to do any- 
thing that was honorable. At this time he 
11 
