LUTHER BURBANK.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1410, 26 June 1923, Page 2

LUTHER BURBANK.

THE WIZARD OF CALIFORNIA. On the 9th March in eacli year the school children of California are free to spend the day as they like as far as school is concerned, and those who live near enough usually make a pilgrimage to Santa Rosa, to wish Luther Burbank many happy returns of the day. Since the Californian Government made his birthday a juvenile holiday Mr Burbank is not at liberty to give much attention to plant culture on that day, for in addition to receiving many guests, his mail bag bulges with written congratulations penned by immature caligraphists living in remote parts of California and in distant States. Mr Burbank is very fond of children, but so are many other men, and that fact does not explain the honour conferred upon him by the local Government, which has not followed the usual course of ignoring genius until after its possessor is dead. For in the world of plants Luther Burbank is a genius. Like Fabre in the insect world, Mr Burbank has an infinite capacity for taking pains, which, added to outstanding mental finalities, always makes for genius. Another parallel between these two great naturalists is the fact that their respective aptitudes were not shared by other members or their families. Fabre. in bis entomological researches, met with open hostility from his own people, Burbank was not forced to face -melt odds, but his people were ordinary tanners, content to accept the fruits of the earth as they were, and eager only for sufficient of them to meet the necessities of existence. Luther, the thirteenth child of his parents was thoughtful and studious, with a passionate love for flowers and plants and a liking for mechanics. The mechanical bent of his mind was responsible for sending him as a young man to work in a factory, where he invented a labour saving device that enabled him to more than treble his daily output. Illhealth is rarely a blessing, but be-

cause of his poor physique young Burbank gave up indoor life, and went back to the fields, where lie turned his attention to the sensitive mechanism of plants. By cross fertilisation, selective breeding, and methods of planting he attempted to mould this mechanism into new forms, but gained no outstanding result until, discovering a seed ball on a potato vine be set the seeds, from some of which came the famous Burbank potato. The proceeds from this discovery gave him an opportunity to migrate from Massachusetts to 'California, where the climate was more favourable to plant experiments. Santa Rosa was his choice in land, and from 1875 till the present day he has held these four acres as a site for the cultivation of new and improved types of plants. Later, when after a struggle he had earned his reputation as a remarkably nurseryman, and had more money to spend, he bought 18 acres at Sebastapol, where a difference in climate widened his field of experiment. These 22 acres of land have produced such marvels that Mr Burbank has been accused of wizardry, and might have been burnt at the stake had he lived a few centuries earlier.

In dealing with plants, Mr Burbank (lid not use any new or revolutionary methods, but followed those already in existence. Cross fertilisation and selection were his fundamental principles. Having produced a desirable variety by selection and cross fertilisation alone, thus substituting inbreeding for cross breeding. Hundreds of plant experimenters have used these theories, 'learnt from Nature, but have not achieved half the success achieved by this particular man of California. To an extent his success has been due to his infinite patience, but added to this are his great knowledge of plant physiology and his genius for unerring selection, greatly aided by his acute sense of colour, taste and smell. From a mass he is able to pick out a flower so slightly modified in colour as to be to the or- • dinary eye exactly like its fellows. An abnormally sensitive palate helps him in his endeavours to develop fruit of certain flavour, and his keen olfactory nerves are assets when he is aiming at changing the scent of a flower. Mr Burbank’s method of selection is more ruthless than Nature’s. She has countless ages in which to work—he has one short life. From carefully chosen seed—in most cases the product of hybrids and intense selection:10,000 seedlings may be grown. When these seedlings, planted and reared with scientific care, are sufficiently matured, the great judge of fitness makes his judgment. To the onlooker his scrutiny of long rows of seedlings seems casual. At an ordinary pace he walks past the candidates for survival, merely pausing for a second or two at some particular seedling, which if giving fair promise, is marked by one piece of white rag. Two pieces indicate greater merit, indicate excellence. What seemed like a, casual glance has noted the qualities ' of stem, leaf and bud of each individual seedling and its general deportment. Of the 10,000 passed under I

review 100 may be selected for survival. The others are uprooted, piled in heaps and burnt. They are probably all marketable commodities, but a man like Luther Burbank wants only the best. His consummate skill in making these selections has been tested over and over again by sidled men, who have rescued some of the condemned, brought them to the stage of flowering or fruiting, and discovered that they lack the particular characteristic at which their '“creator" was aiming. Mr Burbank attributes this almost uncanny power of selection to his careful study of the laws of heredity, his constant observation

of the physical qualities of plants, and his practical application of knowledge gained from thousands of previous experiments in the world of Xatu re.