FOREWORD 
Just as a stranger, going into a home for the 
first time, will see, vividly, either beauties or 
incongruities which constant association has 
dimmed in the eyes of the steady occupants, just 
so, a fresh mind may be better able to visualize 
the more common processes, all too familiar to 
me, which I employ in my daily work. 
There are, in fact, many details in my routine 
which are no less important because they are 
common to me and which may need some little 
explanation when described to others in different 
walks of life. 
I have, therefore, asked my associates, whose 
new viewpoint should enable them to observe 
these details in clear perspective, to present in 
this—the first volume, a survey of the working 
methods employed; so that the reader may in 
the first few chapters be brought to the point 
where he and I may go out into the fields 
together, and work among our plants with perfect 
understanding. 
LUTHER BURBANK. 
Santa Rosa, California 
January 7, 1914. 
