THE REWARD OF MERIT 



SO PRONOUNCED has been the success of the new fruits and trees of 

 Luther Burbank which we introduced for the first time last season; so ap- 

 preciative have been the many warm encomiums from expert pomologists, 

 commercial growers and amateur horticulturists on the Santa Rosa Plum, the 

 Rutland Plumcot, the Royal and Paradox Walnuts, that we feel sufficiently 

 encouraged to give place to three new plums of surpassing merit of Mr. 

 Burbank's creation, viz.: the Formosa, Gaviota and Vesuvius. These have, 

 for the most part, undergone a rigid test on his experimental grounds, with 

 the result that they have been found to possess merit of the first order, and 

 are being offered with the firm conviction that they will prove valuable 

 acquisitions to the fruit interests of the country as have so many of his former 

 productions. 



It is in a broad practical way, and purely on economic grounds, that Luther 

 Burbank has spent his life in the creation and exploitation of new things in fruits, 

 trees and flowers. By nature his is the creative faculty, the trend of mind 

 that conceives, creates, executes in the realm of plant life. This being true and 

 his work becoming so vast, it is not at all surprising that he should leave to others 

 the work of "bringing out" his creations to the trade. Appreciating this his 

 friends have long contended that he should be relieved of this phase of the business, 

 so as to afford wider scope for his scientific and experimental work. 



In this connection, the Fancher Creek Nurseries were approached with a view 

 to introducing the Burbank creations to the trade. Accordingly an arrangement 

 covering a series of years has been entered into between Mr. Burbank and this 

 establishment whereby we become the commercial propagators and distributors 

 of new plants and fruits known to possess real values of the first rank that he 

 may put out from now on. We say "values of the first order" advisedly, for 

 we have too high a regard for the horticultural interests to place anything on 

 the market of a meretricious character; an opinion that Mr. Burbank not only 

 endorses, but insists must be carried out to the letter. Hence our descriptions 

 will always be found conservative and to the point; the conditions of climate, 

 and soils governing the habit of the new introductions will be found based on ex- 

 perience, lucid in expression, true to the facts, and conservative in their deductions. 



With these preliminary statements, we take pleasure in issuing a second 

 edition of this booklet describing Burbank's latest introductions, all of which 

 possess real value to the horticulturists and plant lovers of the country, as 

 demonstrated in the originator's grounds. 



Their individual values, uses and characteristics are briefly but thoroughly 

 described in the following pages. 



FANCHER CREEK NURSERIES. 



GEORGE C. ROE DING, 



President and Manager. 



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