THE LUTHER BURBANK SOCIETY 



culture, rather than by those who merely study 

 agriculture. If both classes could be equally 

 benefited, well and good; but if one had to be 

 slighted, then let it be the studier and not the 

 practicer. 



With a willing heart, the able men appointed 

 by the Carnegie Institution co-operated with Mr. 

 Burbank, and the magnitude of the task, whatever 

 the viewpoint, became apparent as page after page 

 of manuscript was boiled together into what prom- 

 ised to become an interminable record. 



After a number of years Mr. Burbank saw and 

 keenly realized that the work which had been 

 done fell far short of his ideals — ^whatever its sci- 

 entific value, it failed utterly to be the crystal clear 

 presentation for the benefit of the practical man, 

 which had always been his guiding ideal. So the 

 first step toward success ended in what, at the 

 moment, appeared to be but an expensive failure. 



So, too, did succeeding steps — when publishers, 

 more or less capable, sought to put together the 

 Biu:bank records — ^resulting in nothing. 



The commercial publisher of books, figuring 

 costs against profits, is no man to undertake a 

 work of this magnitude in which hundreds of 

 thousands of dollars must be expended before a 

 single sale could be made. 



Thus, in the spring of 1912, a well informed 



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