Gjmplimcntary Banquet to Luther Burbank 



educational and other institutions; bankers, merchants, busi- 

 ness men of many occupations; representatives of the Press, 

 artists, men from all the learned professions, workers in 

 varied industries; horticulturists, gardeners and farmers, 

 whose pursuits have been especially ennobled and widened 

 by his patience and genius — in short, no higher compliment 

 could be paid our guest in the personnel of an assemblage 

 than has been paid him by those who are here to-night to 

 do him honor. They might be more numerous but could 

 not be more truly representative. 



And, my friends, there is every reason why this should 

 be so. Many of Mr. Burbank's achievements have become 

 a part of that industry which has made California famous 

 throughout the civilized globe, and that has taken and will 

 ever hold, first place among the agricultural industries of 

 this great State. 



When Horace Greeley visited the Santa Clara Valley in 

 1857, he stated in one of his letters to the New York Trib- 

 une that "fruit growing was destined to become the future 

 glory of California." Mr. Greeley saw \^'ith unerring 

 prevision that here were climate and soil in such happy 

 combination, as to give fruit growing a commercial 

 advantage not possessed elsewhere in the United States. Mr. 

 Burbank early in his career discovered that he could here 

 carry on his life work in the open field instead of in the 

 conservatory, and under the protection of artificial heat, in 

 the rigorous climate of New England; and so the State be- 

 came enriched by his presence and his labors amongst us. 



I must not violate the proprieties of the occasion by 

 dealing much with statistics. But there are a few figures 

 it would be well to remember, for they point the rapid evo- 

 lution of horticulture in California; they also show the 



. . 2 . . 



