THE LUTHER BURBANK SOCIETY 



and disseminating the methods and discoveries of 

 Luther Burbank of Santa Rosa." 



As soon as The Society took definite form, and 

 its financial condition permitted, the work of put- 

 ting Mr. Burbank's methods and discoveries into 

 manuscript form was actively begun. 



That it took just seventeen months to have the 

 first manuscript ready for the printer is no evi- 

 dence of laxity on the part of those active in The 

 Society's management, but rather serves to illus- 

 trate the magnitude of the undertaking, and to 

 convey an idea of the number and obstinacy of the 

 difficulties to be overcome. 



There was produced during these seventeen 

 months of apparent idleness enough manuscript 

 to have filled many volumes the size of this pres- 

 ent set — not a single word of which appears herein. 



This failure, too, to produce definite, tangible 

 results in seventeen months of earnest, strenuous, 

 capable labor, illustrates, too, why the Carnegie 

 Institution, working hand in hand with Mr. Bur- 

 bank, with its vast resources, and his willing co- 

 operation, failed — and why the publishing firms 

 which afterwards undertook the work had never a 

 chance of accomplishment. 



In fact, after seventeen months of what then 

 appeared to be fruitless labor, the management of 

 The Society discovered that a beginning must be 



[262] 



