LUTHER BURBANK 



should appeal to a universal constituency. In 

 tliis way, Luther Burbank's work is a contribution 

 to the satisfaction of living, and is beyond all 

 price." 



Such appreciative notices of one's work are of 

 course agreeable, and I am bound to admit that 

 what is said about my love of experimenting with 

 any and every kind of plant is altogether true. 



There is one point, how^ever, at which I am 

 forced to part company with the commentator. 

 To me it is a matter of vital consequence as to 

 whether I "produce good commercial varieties or 

 not." It is necessarily so, inasmuch as I have all 

 along made a living by the sale of the products of 

 my experiments. 



Had I not produced good commercial varieties, 

 my practical success would have been something 

 quite different from what it has been. 



Nevertheless, it of course is true that the suc- 

 cessful commercial varieties of plants and fruits 

 are comparatively few in number as contrasted 

 with the vast numbers of forms with which I have 

 experimented. It could not well be otherwise, 

 for it would be a strange and novel form of 

 experiment that led always to success. But of 

 course the public in general hears of, and in the 

 main cares for, successes only. There is seldom 

 any reason for exploiting a failure. And so my 



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