LUTHER BURBANK 



hensive story of the growth and development and 

 world-conquest of this extraordinary fruit. Nor 

 would it comport with the present purpose to do 

 so. The main facts as to grape culture are mat- 

 ter of common knowledge. Our concern must be 

 with such features of habit, and constitution, and 

 adaptability of the grape as particularly concern 

 the plant developer, and have to do with the pos- 

 sibilities of improvement. 



In particular, of course, here as elsewhere, we 

 shall be concerned with a presentation of the 

 work done at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol in con- 

 nection with the development of this plant. 



This, as will appear presently, has looked 

 chiefly to the improvement of the grape as a table 

 fruit. I have not been concerned with varieties 

 of the grape that are especially utilized by the 

 maker of wine. These have been specialized to 

 the point of approximate perfection in the great 

 wine-growing districts, and it would be useless to 

 experiment with them in any region except the 

 one in which they are to be cultivated, because it 

 is well-known that the grape takes directly from 

 the particular soil in which it grows something 

 of the unique qualities of flavor that determine 

 the rank of any so-called good wine in the esti- 

 mate of the connoisseur. 



It is only in two or three small districts of 



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