The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 12, 1899, Page 20

20 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1899. WIZARDS WORK WITH FRUITS AND FLOWERS. Remarkable Results Obtained by Luther Burbank in Breeding Luther Burbank works quietly among his plants on his places near Santa Rosa. He is far more famous in the East and abroad than he is here. Plants and Trees. One little anecdote will illustrate his standing among foreign scientists. Recently in Paris there was a congress of learned and fam- ous men. During the proceedings a paper was read and in it Luther Burbank’s name was inci- dentally mentioned. Instantly the whole assemblage arose to its feet, bowed and stood in sl- lence as a tribute of honor to the man who has done so much to perfect fruit and flower life. T -a recent meeting of the French Horticultural Soclety the name of Luther Burbank was ‘mentioned, and the entire as- sendblage, with one accord, rose and. stood & moment in utter silence. Horticulturists the world over were there—from Greenland’'s icy mountains to.Indla’s .¢o strands. They paid to Taither Burbank the highest and most delicaté compliment at their command. With .uncqvered heads they acknowl- edged him without a peer France has placed the laurel wreath which Cali a-as an adopted mother shotild have bestowed. It is the old story -of the prophet going abroad. For -over twenty years Luther Bur- bank has lived In Santa Rosa. He is comparatively unknown in California. Yet this- man, whom France has thus delfghted to honor, has enriched Cali- fornia and increased its possibilities be- yond belief. Luther ‘Burbank has made California fruit what it {s. And thereby the fruit of -all' this broad land has been im- proved. - Twenty yea ¢an plum w unde! fruit - Luther Burbank, after years of patiént experimenting, crossed the best qualities- of the American plum with the ‘best qualities of the Japanese plum. This new, -large plum was seized upon immiediately by fruit growers, and to- day :the Burbank plum is growing in the four.corners of the earth. From a pigmy he has coaxed the plum into a '?g'l— AR . VNS deveral varfeties. It is of a b more rem in excel- but not only in r.- Burt millions e. It n will add th of the evolved of do; a prune S to. the we! i5.-four . times as rge as the French prune:iwhich grows It has all the €60d qualitl be French prune and none of thé d. The tree is a better grower, better bear better foliage, better form, requires less careful prun- ing and will carry and mature a larger R R R R T A S o e e 4 3 > i that there are so few who All which mother was 'a m give and recep ure teaches, eléctric induction coil, us.. form. conditons. is Timitless. the best qualities of each plant. actual test. menting. B T o B S O e O R R R R R R The lemon glant is a new lily which has been evolved by carefully cross- is a foot taller in ‘color or height. It has the fragrance of a violet. HOW THE WIZARD ACCOMPLISHES HIS WORK. in this work is to benefit mankind. If T recelve enough material returns to pay expenses my duty to fulfill my plans. ientists have found that preconceived notions, dogmas and all :personal prejudices and bias must be set aside. listen quietly, patlently and reverently shedding light on that which before he conveys her truths only to those who are pas- We are obliged to put ourselves in the condition of a sensitive for if we try to bend and twist the laws of ndture to our ideas of a fact, we have the whole universe against 1f passive and receptive, accepting truths as suggested, wher- ever they may lead, we have the whole universe in harmony with us. Every form of plant life existing on the earth is now being and has always been modified more or less by its surroundings. Often it, has rapldly and permanently changed, never to return to the same One must take advantage of these facts and change all the Glive abundant room for expansion and growth, extra cul- tivation and a superabundance of the various chemical elements in the assimilable form with an abundance of light and heat and great changes gooner or later are bound to occur. These changes take place according to the susceptibility of the subject, and when added to all the other combined governing forces, we.add the potent force of combination and selection of _combinationg, the power to improve our useful and ornamental plants Crossing gives the raiser of new plants the only means of uniting But just as often the worst qualities of :each are combined and transmitted, so that to be of any value it must be followed by rigid and persistent selection. in.budding and grafting the affinities can only be demonstrated by This often involves long, tedious and expensive experi- * The experimenter in producing and fixing valuable variations in -plants, especially from uncultivated ones, soon learns that their old habits, like ignorance when found in the human race, are very per- sfstent. The victories of science over the prejudices of the human race are not more striking than its victories over uncultivated plant iife. ‘Both must be acquired by patient persistency. B e e e SIS T T crop of fruit. Above all, the prune has a higher percentage of sugar. Growers from all over the State have ordered from $50 to $500 worth of graft- ing wood of this tree. They realize the immense industry this fruit will create. For the Burbank plum and the su- gar prune alone, America, and Califor- nia in particular, should be deeply grateful to Luther Burbank. But count- less other fruits, flowers and vegetables must be credited to his wizard-like in- genuity. It is hard, indeed, to realize that aught but a wizard’s wand brings about such marvelous changes. IHe planted a tiny seed in the spring and from that seed he gathered a quarter pounds of the most beautiful white potatoes that ever grew on a potato vine. The tubers were planted and replanted, and when the second season had passed two tons was the crop which a prominent Eastern seedsman purchased and introduced to the public. The “Burbank potato” soon became known all over America and abroad. More than 200,000,000 bushels of the Burbank potato are now grown every year. Mr. Burbank made just $150 from this potato. The seedsman who bought it from him made almost half a million. But the people in Marblehead, Mass., are raising funds to erect & monument to Mr. Burbank on the spot where he planted the tiny seed that has since produced enough to feed a nation. His success with the potato shaped Mr. Burbank’s career. Although born and reared on a large farm in Massa- chusetts, he was sent when 18 years old to learn wood turning and pattern mak- ing. His love of nature would not al- low him to endure the dust and con- finement of the shop. han the tallest iful lemon s! h whi 'y le the dark shi But it possesses an at- . and from the elf Luther Bur- He sought out Agas: lips of the master hims bank lear secret of unraveling seeming steries of nature. Cali- with its abundance of sunshine, eemed to be the land of golden prom- se for his labors, so to Santa Rosa came this savant. On the slopes near Sebastopol he bought fifteen acres of land and com- menced the work that was to revolu- tionize the fruit, flower and vegetable industry of California. Luther Burbank is to fruit and flow- ers what Edison is to electricity. He commanded the lily to change its B R o S R e e R e e I am satisfied, for I feel can improve our fruite that it is A scientist must to the lessons, one by one, the best In crossing as LUTHER BURBANK. B D e S e TSR R hue and lifting its head high above its sister lilies it turned a deep yellow. He captured the sweet, subtle fragrance FREAK LILY. This is a sample of some of the oddities that occur from crossing severkl varieties. Often, as in this case, ghe best characteristics do not unite the crossing. TREE THAT GAVE BIG PLUMS TO THE WORLD. Thi plum trade. American and Japanese varieties. over the world. The fcan plum as an apple Burbank piums In in their native sofl. tree bore the first Burbank plum—the plum that revolutionized the It is a hybrid plum, a combination of the best qualities of the Burbank plum trees are now growing all !'Jlums are larger and as superior to the original Amer- s superlor to a_potato. jouth Africa, and they have borne as abundantly there as Cecll Rhodes planted 10,000 of the violet and gave it to this lly, and lo! we have the “Lemon Giant,” a lily with the delicate tints of a tea rose and the odor of a Parma violet. Next summer the fragrant. Lemon Giant will bloom in many a garden in the East, as well as in California. The lily is not the only flower of the fleld which Mr. Burbank has consld- ered. TUnder his magic touch the rose has paled to more delicate tints or has blushed to deeper hue. And not only is the rose fairer to look upon, but it 18 more sturdy than the delicate queen of fiowers deigned to be before Luther . Burbank passed his hands over its sweet petals, He has sold several of his roses for from $500 to $1000 aplece. He is ex- perimenting with the yellow rose, try- ing to evolute a perpetual hybrid yel- low rose that will stand the Eastern winters. Hinsdale Perkins of New York, the most prominent scedsman in America, will give him $10,000 on the day that he receives the first blossom of this yellow rose. < Cannas and clematis have arrayed themselves In the delicate tints of the rainbow for Mr. Burbank, just as the Sy u 1§§§ ol 2 = e e ey GIANT PLUM AND ITS These two plums present optical proof of Mr. Burbank's genius. e | x\\ef’\‘\k\i\ WHITE BLACKBERRIES. Mr. Burbank has been especlally fortunate with berrfes. Through his efforts we have varieties of ber- ries that ripen several weeks soon- er than the old-time berry. He has glven the berry not only new and more subtle flavors but he has changed its_color. This varlety is known as the white blackberry; it tastes exactly like its dusky sis- ters. PIGMY PARENT. The pig- my was the average size Vlum during the first part of the nineteenth century. 1 During the last twenty-! size, color and flavor. ve years Mr. Burbank has worked to improve its The ‘‘Suitan” is the plum which by the time the twen- tleth century celebrates its birthday will be growing in every orchard. tulip put on the somber hue of mourn- ing for Cornelius Van Baerle, the hero of Dumas’ novel, “The Black Tulip.”: AR R R R RS S e e ettt R R T T R R R R e e R R R s LUCKY STRIKES OF GREEN MINERS. T is a curious fact that the discover- ies of rich gold and silver deposits in Colorado have been made, with few exceptions, by men who had little or no knowledge of mining or mineralogy. Rank tenderfeet have stumbled upon for- tunes which experienced prospectors had trodden upon for years and neglected in their wisdom. i by 2 The lucky strike over af e new Daw- son City 1¥lustrmes the truth of this statement. The Dawsons came from crop-raising Kansas about a year ago, and sank a shaft In seéarch of copper on one of the Greenhorn hills, named so by those who thought that nmone but green- horns would look for mineral there. They found nothing of value after going down about forty feet, and abandoned the hole until last month, 3;‘“’" they started to tunnel some distance below it. 'Fhe pros- pect looked brighter, and they declded to put up a cabin. While exnvatlui the side of the hill to make room for it, young Dawson chipped. off a bit of rock full of free gold. Following up his find, Dawson discovered an unusually large and rich vein, from which samples were taken. One piece of ore assayed $4324 and another gave the enormous value of $16,- 418 to the ton. The discovery was a case of luck, and nothing else. “It beats the deuce, these lucky finds by people who hardly know enough to keep away from a blast,” growled an old timer who had come down from Cripple Creek to get in on a good thing if possi- ble. Other mining men agreed with him, and many instances were clted to prove that luck was the most important thing to have in search for mineral wealth. Among them was mentioned the Little Johnny at Leadville. In the winter of 1879-80 three lads—John Curran, Thomas Kelly and James H. Donovan—left Ga- lena, Ill, and went to Leadville, where they dug away six feet of snow on Breece to put up a cabin. In this they froze and starved all winter. Young elly died | from iliness brought on by exposure and privation, and was soon followed by Cur- ran, after whom the mine was named. Donovan is still living. They knew noth- ing about mining, located their claim hap- hazard, and yet discovered one of the richest gold mines in the world. But Kelly's heirs are said to have sold thelr interest for only $1000, and the Currans {‘o;o:fiw The amount Donovan got is un- How much the Dillon brothers, Pat and Dick, knew about mining, metallurgy and mineralogy when they discovered the great silver ore body of the Little Chief at Leadville in the winter of 1878-79 no one seems to know. When they located their claim it was regarded by the other miners as barren ground, and they were laughed at by many who thought that mining was an exact science. Judging from this, the Dillons did not know much. They had an idea, however, that the experience ot Rische and Hook with the Little Pitts- burg could be repeated; so they dug away and walted for their turn to laugh, At a comparatively shallow depth the rich ore was struck in such an immense body that the Dillons and their partner, Peter Fin- nerty, epeedily became wealthy men. In less than two years the Dillons had run through more than $600,000, the product of their Little Chief and other claims, and were nearly broke. Dick Dillon is now working in Cripple Creek as a miner at $3 a day. Pat Dillon kept his money bet- ter, and made some good investments in Cripple Creek, and is reported to be worth $150,000. He lives on a big ranch in Cali- fornia. Finnerty was the shrewdest of the three, and has accumulated $250,000, The very best mines in the Cripple Creek district were discovered by poor men who had luck and good muscles Instead of ca{:ltnl and a scientific education. Win- field Scott Stratton, who located the fa- mous Independence mine, always been a carpenter, and never got rich fol- lowing his trade. It was nearly a year after the great rush to Cripple Creel t he picked out the group where the mine is located. He had seen the ledge a hun- dred times before he located it, and oth- ers with greater or less experience as miners had seen and examined it a thou- sand times and passed it by just as he had. No one, not even Stratton, asserts that the discovery of the Independence was anything but pure luck. He happened to be fortune's favorite at the time. The experience of Jimmy Doyle, the millionaire Mayor of Victor, in the Crip- ple Creek district, also illustrates the ele- ment of luck in mine finding in Colorado. Doyle, who had learned the carpenter trade but did not follow it, was driving a hack in Manitou when the Cripple Creek excitement began in 1891. In Colorado ssrlngs there was a young plumber nam- ed Jimmy Burps. The two were acquaint- td and together they went to Cripple Creek to try their luck. Nelther knew anything about mining. Battle Mountain, near Victor, was then covered with loca- tion stakes. There was a piece of land comprising about one-sixth of an acre that had no owner because it was consid- ered worthless. Doyle and Burns took up this land in the bellef that something was better than nothing. They sent for John Harnan, who was employed in driv- ing a street scraper in Colorado Springs, to come and help them dig their claim. Harnan’s mining experience consisted of what he had learned as a child in pick- ing slate from the screens of Pénnsyl- vania coal mines. For months the trio put in hard work sinking a shaft with not a sign of J)ny ore. Their acquaintances iscourage them, but they per- sisted, and were rewarded by striking a vein that made them millionaires. ———————— ‘When alone a criccet does not observe any great regularity in chirping, but at right, when a number are collected, they appear to chirp simultaneously and ob- serve the time perfectly. Crickets in an adjoining fleld will have the same rate, but thara will be noticed a different beat, The orchid flowering cannas of Mr. Burbank took the prize at the New York canna exhibition, and the plant was bought for a goodly sum by a Chi- cago seedsman. The amyrillas, petunias and verbenas have taken on added loveliness and sweeter fragrance under Mr. Burbank's care. Dozens of other flowers owe in- creased beauty and fragrance to Luther Burbank’s genius. Visitors to California marvel greatly at the luscious berries which we offer while Jack Frost is still blowing his icy breath on Eastern window-panes. Time was when even the berries In California were rather tardy in ripen- ing. That was before Luther Bur- bank experimented with berries. The extreme earliness of our berrles is due HOW MR. BURBANK IMPROVED THE DAISY. The dalsy has been particularly responsive to the care and atten- tion that Mr. Burbank has be- stowed upon it. From a small, ragged, single flower it has changed into a large double one, each petal perfectly regular and 'of creamy whiteness. To-day this daisy is growing in every garden and has sufn»lanted the untidy-looking dalsy of yesterday. entirely to him. The varieties of un- usual color, great productiveness and unique flavors, never known among berries before, are the result of " Mr. Burbank’'s successful grafting. A blackberry dazzling white in color, but with all the other attributes of. the usual blackberry, is one of his feats. Walnuts and chestnuts under Mr. Burbank’s care have lost some of thelr old-time traits that made them unde- girable. Chestnut trees usually take from two until six years before they bear. But a chestnut which Mr. Bur- bank has evolved and sold to an East- ern firm bears the very first year from the grafts. Ripe nuts were found all along the nursery road in the fall from grafts planted in the spring. A hand- somer walnut tree than any grown heretofore, and a more productivée one than was formerly in existence, go to make up his long list of successes In the nut line. The quince, although it can be grown with less expense than any other fruit, has never been grown to any extent. A quince is a quince the world over, tart, hard and limited in its useful- ness. It takes hours to cook it tender. But Luther Burbank, after years :of experimenting, has given to California a new quince called the pineapple quince. It is soft and mellow, with the most delicious pineapple flavor.. S. F. Leib, the celebrated Santa Clara or- chardist, says: “The jelly which my wife made from the pineapple quince was the finest flavored jelly of any de- geription or from any fruit which "I ever ate in my life.” The pineapple quince will cook tender in less than five minutes, is delicious baked, and is a delightful fruit to eat green. This quince will soon be grow- ing on every hillside and valley not only in California, but wherever fruit is grown. A special edition could be filled with the marvelous results Mr. Burbank has accomplished with plums. The Bur- bank plum, which revolutionized the American plum trade, is but one of sev- eral remarkable successes. Three years ago Mr. Burbank sent out the Wickson plum, named after Professor Wickson of the University of California. It is called the king of plums, and is the largest plum known in the world and of extra quality. Last summer the Wickson plum sold for $8 55 a box, other varieties of plums varying in price from 40 cents to $1 30 a box. This year the first fruit of the Climax plum will be offered for public use. The Climax lives up to its name. It is even more remarkable than the Wickson. It ripens here about July 12, before any bther good plum, nearly a month be- fore the Wickson, and is just as de- licious as the King of Plums. But the remarkable, almost startling, fact about the Clim is. that .it. has a strong perfume as delicious as that of the sweetest scented flower. People who saw it last summer say. that a whole house is perfumed with a.single fruit. 2 The Bartlett plum is Mr. Burbank’s latest success. = It tastes exactly like a Bartlett pear, only it is better than the best Bartlett year that ever grew. In twenty-five ars Mr. Burbank has done twenty-flve times as much as most workers in his line in a lifetime. Yet this wiz ticulture works on most natural llnes. “Education” 1s the potent factor which he uses. Plants, he says, like human beings, respond to educative forces. He gives them mnew environ. ments, more sunshine, an aburdance of room, and, like human belngs, slowly their new surroundings affect .their growth. In a fe nerations a.new type iIs created. t alone by cross- ing, but by this educative process does he effect such gréat changes in.plant life. Just as In human beings, there is'a great difference in the mobility of dif- ferent families of ‘plants. Some ‘are receptive, sonre obstinate. But as a rule flowers and fruits are very grate- ful and lend themselves easily to-the ucative process. ed:\lr. Rur){m\k. like the great savants and masters -whom he has followed and d, is himself - a true child of His work lies not alone along s bookshelves, but out under thas y. And with e stantly at- to nature’'s teachings he has t some of her sunshine and sim- c caugh plicity. D pite the large sums of money ch Mr. Burbank has received for various fruits and flowers, his bank ac- count is not a long one. "For-to purs his research requires unlimited means. ‘And often the originator receives but a fraction of the gold that accrues to the distributor. But Luther Burbank is satisfled. For wherever there are orc ds and con- gervatories, from California to Cairo, there is found a living testimony to the good he has wrought for humanity. w — oo There is a bridge in Germany whers toll is charged on everything that passes over it, and bicycles are liable to the im- post under the description of *small cat- tle, with driver or attendant.” P O D O Rt e ah o o b SR R SR S o o e e of plants. fruits, and beautiful flowers. since he came to California. new fleld for operations. times. tinued. P U SO PSSP R R R R R R R R R RS SR PROFESSOR HILGARD’S OPINION OF A MR. BURBANK’S LIFE WORK Editor Call: In response to your request that I should give my estimate of the work of Mr. Luther Burbank, I should say has long been a notable figure in connection with the improvement Since 1876, when the Burbank potato ws the public, he has produced a great number of useful variatiohs’of He seems to have an especially swift and accurate judgment respecting undeveloped seedlin n ple have spent their lives in cross-fertilizing desirable varieties, but without accomplishing nearly as much as Mr. His delicate perception of minute plant variation amounts to positive genius. Mr. Burbank has been fortunate or wise in the particular of work he has chosen for his field of investigation—notably in the berry fruits and certain classes of plums, which afforded a large.and His success in these and other lines have’ made his name widely known, better perhaps in the East and in Eu- rope than in California itself; a fate not uncommon even It is to be hoped that his useful activity will be long con- that he introduced to Many peo- Burbank “has’ done lines in_ Bible E. W. HILGARD. S R R L E R = R R S R 7