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74 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS about one-half an inch. In the meantime, as soon as possible, the land was prepared to receive this sprouted com by making drills about four feet apart. Along these drills this com was dropped liberally, no attention being paid as to whether it was right side up or otherwise. I then covered it about one-half inch in depth. It was nothing unusual to find the corn up and growing the next morning. This method, alone, insured me a crop at least a week in advance of all other planters who could reach the Fitchburg market. ^^But this was not all. As I said before, the kernels were planted quite liberally along the drills. Some would show a very strong growth and some a very weak growth. The weak- er ones were pulled out after a few days and the stronger ones left at a distance of about twelve to eighteen inches apart. Thus, by selecting the strong from the weak, and giving the best fitted the best opportunity to grow, I gained a total advance of nearly two weeks over my competitors. * ' * It was in 1871 that Luther Burbank produced his new pota- to. In 1875 he started for California with a very lean purse, a hand-bag full of his own potatoes, and a surplus stock of vitality and endurance. Except in years he was not much different from the Luther Burbank of to-day. His friend El- bert Hubbard describes him thus : * * A modest man, with face of tan, blue eyes that would be weary and sad were it not for the smiling mouth, whose comers do not turn down; a gentle gentleman, low-voiced, quiet and kindly. On Broadway no one would turn and look. His form is slender, and smart folks, sudden and quick in conclusion, might glance at the slender form and say the man is sickly. But the discerning behold that he is the type that lives long, because he lives well. His is the strength of the silken cord that bound the god Thor when all the chains were broken. He is always at work, al- ways busy ; always thinking, planning, doing ; dissatisfied with the past, facing the East with an eager hope. He is curious as a child, sensitive as a girl in love, strong as a man, per- sistent as gravitation, and gifted like a god. * * This was Luther Burbank 's equipment as he traveled up the 2 Luther Burhank, His Methods and Discoveries and Their Practical Application.