INTRODUCTION 
THE NEED FOR AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL 
HORTICULTURE 
Fruit growers throughout the country and the Northwest in particular 
have been aware of the fact that there has come inio existence during the 
past twenty-five years a vast quantity of information on the subject which 
most vitally interests them, knowledge which in some sections was trans 
forming the whole industry. These same men were also aware that this in- 
formation was in a form which was wholly inaccessible to the busy man. 
In addition there was a growing demand for a reference work suitable 
for the use of the public schools in connection with agricultural courses. 
It was these facts which made the necessity for a compilation of the 
best in practical horticulture apparent and some attempt to meet the need 
inevitable. This was the origin of the idea of the Encyctorepra or PRac- 
TicaAL HorvticuLTtuRs. 
THE UNDERTAKING 
Jt took more than three years of hard work on the part of the editors 
and management to organize the forces and marshal the facts which have 
made this pioneer work the best and only thing in its field. There have 
been gathered into handy form facts which it would take a lifetime of the 
busy fruit grower to collect and arrange for himself. The saving to the 
man who wants the information has been immense. 
The undertaking has been financed by the fruit growers of the North 
west who have seen the necessity for such a compilation and the value of 
having the work done in the Northwest. The labor of securing this co- 
operation has rested almost wholly upon the shoulders of Mr. W. M. 
Fleming. 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION 
In general there are two sources of information available for a work 
of this kind. They are: 
1. Materials already published. 
2. Knowledge stored in the minds of practical and scientific men, 
but not yet reduced to writing. 
The main sources for the first are the publications of the U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture in its many bureaus, the various State Experiment 
Stations and private publications devoted to particular interests. 
The Government and Experiment Station reports are largely technical, 
often voluminous, detached, and to the average man, inaccessible as though 
buried under the pyramids. This vast storehouse of information has been 
opened, the unadaptable material thrown out and that which is of perma- 
nent value retained. 
