INTRODUCTION 



the methods and results of the Santa Eosa ex- 

 perimenter. This is done in the present volume, 

 which, obviously, makes no pretense to compete 

 with the series of volumes just referred to, as 

 issued by the Luther Burbank Society ; but which 

 might rather be considered as preliminary or sup- 

 plementary to those volumes. 



Some readers of these pages, I trust, will be 

 stimulated to seek at first hand the pages of the 

 larger work, to read extensive accounts of things 

 that are necessarily treated here with brevity or 

 barely referred to. 



And, on the other hand, it is not unlikely that 

 some possessors of the larger work may find the 

 present volume a convenient summary, serving 

 the purposes of recapitulation. 



It should perhaps be explained that Mr. Bur- 

 bank is in no wise responsible for the present 

 book, except in the sense that his work furnished 

 the foundation for it. Mr. Burbank must not be 

 held responsible for any theories or statements 

 herein made, unless particularly accredited to 

 him. But, as evidencing the authenticity of the 

 main presentation of his theories and the chief 

 summary of his work here presented, it is per- 

 missible to recall that the writer has acted as 

 editor-in-chief of the series of volumes above re- 

 ferred to, and that in that capacity he has had 

 access to all Mr. Burbank 's original manuscripts 

 and records, in addition to spending several 

 weeks in close personal communion with the plant 

 developer himself at Santa Eosa, every aspect of 



