All these results are obtained in what seems to be a very simple way, yet their successful outcome is only made possible by the mind of genius working with infinite patience over long periods of years. To select out of a group of plants a few individuals which show exceptional quality of a desirable type; to save the seed of these favoured few and make further selections among their progeny; to couple with this the cross-pollenizing of different varieties or species showing a tendency to greater variation or accentuation of characteristics--all this may seem only high grade garden practice, but only one man in two or three generations has the exceptional and sympathetic perceptive faculties which enable him to attain really striking results. On his experimental farms near Santa Rosa, California, Luther Burbank has made many thousand distinct experiments involving a wide range of plant species. It is said that at times he has had as many as three thousand tests, calling for observations on a million plants and flowers, under way at once. Probably no similar area of the earth’s surface has grown such a variety of vegetable products or had such infinite care lavished upon it. These are the practical aspects of the relations of plants to men. On the esthetic and pleasurable side they are equally important. The love of plants and flowers is a universal sentiment slumbering in the most prosaic breast. Plants are a perpetual source of joy. They are friends which never change. In youth, they give zest to our outdoor pleasures. In age, they bespeak the happiness of days gone by. In death, they strew our last resting place with fragrance. At all times, they stand for purity, beauty and peace. THE END INDEX Acacia, 125 Acanthus, 103 Agave, 67 Aglaia, 139 Air Plants, 41 Alder, 25, 41, 99 Alfalfa, 56 Algae, 18, 19, 22, 24, 44, 60, 127 Almond, 56, 103, 182 Aloe, 93 Amaryllis, 221 Ampelopsis, 108 Anacharis, 49 Anemone, 97, 144 Antirrhinum, 75 Ant Nest Plant, 72 Apple, 61, 82, 220 Apricot, 51, 56, 220 Arrowhead, 47, 92 Arum, 146 Ash, 46, 218 Aspen, 181 Asphodel, 145 Aster, 97, 100, 103 Asterophyllites, 24 Azalia, 79, 97 Bacteria, 31, 55, 66, 135, 139, 190 Balm of Gilead, 150 Balsam, 181 Balsam Poplar, 78 Bamboo, 26, 56, 103, 121 Banana, 124, 126 Banibusa, 139 Barberry, 105, 126 Barley, 26 Barrel Cactus, 67 Basil, 151 Bean, 29, 35, 51, 66, 91, 116, 125, 164, 216 Beech, 62, 139, 208, 218 Beech Drops, 62 Beet, 37, 132 Begonia, 93, 98 Belladonna, 152, 158 Birch, 25, 41, 42, 78, 218 Birth-Wort, 76 Blackberry, 42, 158 Black-eyed Susan, 97 Bladderwort, 46, 131 Brambles, 192 Broom-Rape, 62 Butter-and-Eggs, 50 Buttercup, 37, 92, 96, 103 Butternut, 47 Butter-Wort, 75 Cabbage, 105 Cactus, 34, 66, 98, 132, 207, 221 Calamites, 24 Calceolarias, 97 Camellia, 97 Cardoon Artichoke, 49