Complimcntaty Banquet to Luther Burbank 



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3 Q 



tree and the different fruit grows. These two fruits, and 

 the natural fruit of the tree, grow on the same wood, rooted 

 in the same soil and under the same sunshine. As these fruits, 

 produced by the insects, are not spontaneously produced by 

 Nature, perhaps there are other insects that call these 

 wizards, and declare their method to be secretive and un- 

 scientific. 



The man who has gone farthest of any into the secrets 

 of Nature, and has controlled and guided her operations to 

 ends most at variance with her spontaneous results, and most 

 valuable to the world, is the guest of the State 

 Board of Trade to-night. Mr. Burbank has con- 

 ferred upon California the imperishable honor of 

 association with his name and his work. That 

 work has been prosecuted by him with a devotion that 

 admitted no thought of personal gain. The fame of it has 

 gone forth to the world. His life has been so quiet, his ab- 

 sorption so complete, that Californians know him only by his 

 creations whose benefits they enjoy. A gentleman who is 

 here tells me that when in London, entertained hospitably 

 by an English gentleman, his host talked only of Luther 

 Burbank, and the Californian was ashamed to admit that he 

 had never met Mr. Burbank and did not know the location 

 of his wonder-working efforts. When he left he asked his 

 host what he could do to repay his great hospitality, and the 

 Englishman said: "Send me a branch from one of Luther 

 Burbank's plums, from his own nursery, that I may graft 

 it on a stock in my garden, and you will more than repay it 

 all." Another who is a guest here tonight tells me that 

 when in Berlin last year, the intelligent Germans whom he 

 met talked only of two men in the United States — President 

 Roosevelt and Luther Burbank. 



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