The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-06-22
Wonderful Work of Wizard Burbank.

Considering Mother Nature as occu-
pying a distinct personality with some
of the characteristics of her human
progeny, perhaps nothing since the
exposures made by Darwin could be
better calculated to disturb the equan,
unity of the old lady than to he shown
a white blackberry, Not that Luther
Burbank, of Sonoma county, Cal, has
not been exhibiting even stranger
things to the old dame, but in the
white blackberry the practical Joke is
so markedly evident from Mr.. Bur
banks own explanation CT the cir
cumstances, that Mother Nature has
had verey reason to rise in her wrath
and administer Tebuke that is last
ing.
~ made the experiment merely to
satisfy my own curiosity, said Mr..
Burbank, smiling upon laden bush
bearing the phenominal fruit. 1t
is simply the inverse application of
the Darwinian philosophy. | kept on
selecting berries which, in ripening
did not turn pure black, and it was
only matter of time and selection
until | had berry which passed
from its grass green immaturity to the
pure white ripened flavor.
But he is more than "a joker
than an eXperimenter in the mysteries
of plant life Forty years ago he had
given the Burbank potato to the West
ern world as his first contribution to
the Worlds commissaTy, and through
these later years, in which he has
earned the title of Wizard Of the
Garden, - he has kept before him the
time when man shall "offer his broth
er man, not bullets nor bayonets, but
rich grains, better fruits and fairer
flowers. That he has before him the
utilitarian values of his knowledge
may be seen in his utterance:
at would not be difficult for man
to breed new rye, wheat, barley,
oat and rice, each of which would
produce an average Of one or more
grain to each head; one more grain
could be added to each ear of Indian
corn, and in like manner another po-
tato could be added to each hill. Yet
think of the results in granaries of
this country alone! In only five
staples alone we should have annually,
without effort and without cost, more
than 1000. 600 additional bushels of
wheat, 20. 600, 900 bushels of OATS, |, 800,
600 bushels Of barley, 5,2OO,O 600 bush.
els of corn and more than Il, 600, ,OOL
| bushels of potatoes. ct this busy
man has Aeighbors in adjoining fields
who look over his boundary fences tC
see the thin. stopped figure, whom
they recognize as having fooled away
lot of time producing a fadeless
flower, and as they look they smile
commisseTatingly, in spite OF the
fact that last year his Santa Rosa
farm received a pilgrimage Of 6,OOl
men, many of them the pick from the
scientific life of two hemispheres.
On this Clitornia farm Mr.. Burbank
has produced more than 1000 varieties
of vegetables, fruits aud flowers, in
some of these demonstrations break
ing all traditions of the florist and
gardener regarding the production Of
new species. Some of the cuttings OF
his plants have sold readily at 500 {
running foot. A rose plant brought
$500 from a seed house, while the
right of exclusive handling and sale
of single new variety has brought
thousands of dollars. In spite of this
however, the Sonoma county farm fire
quently has brought the wizard of the
garden into debt, and recently the
Carnegie institute, recognizing The
work of the man, set apart $4,000 1
year for ten years to further hi'
efforts.