PREFATORY NOTE 



ETHER BURBANK, botanist, nat- 

 uralist, and plant breeder, son of 

 Samuel W. and Olive (Ross) 

 Burbank, was born in Lancaster, Wor- 

 cester County, Massachusetts, on March 

 7, 1849. His ancestry was English- 

 Scotch, the main element being derived 

 from the Puritans who followed the 

 Mayflower Pilgrims from 1625 to 1640. 

 He was educated in the common schools 

 and in a local academy. After a short 

 experience in an agricultural implement 

 manufactory he began market gardening 

 and seed growing in a small way, one of 

 his first and therefore now best known 

 achievements being the development 



of the Burbank potato from a selected 



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