The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-09
ONE OF THE GREAT MEN.

the learned professions. and they de- serve all that is said of them. for they have advanced humanity and human possibilities and achievements beyond all previous records of the centuries and ages that went before them.
 But Luther Burbank. working in ob- scurity. lately. unheraided and un- known, has accomplished wonders be- yond anything credited to those who are of world fame for their inventions and discoveries. We often find quoted the saying of swifts that whoever could make two ears of corn. or two blades of grass, to grow upon spot of ground where only one grew before. | would deserve better of mankind. and do more essential service to his coun- try, than the whole race of politicians put together" and some may agree | with the old writer. though we have a seemed to have. But that which Swift apparently regarded as great and valuable achievement Is mere trifie when compared with what Burbank has done, and is doing every day. for he like Edison, does not consider his work done as long as there is anything that is within the bounds of human enort that is yet undone. Let us take one example, as we find 1t detailed in a late magazine article, which says Of 1t: One of the most significant things MT Burbank has done Is to disarm the cactus, deed that has astonished, ana xt.A Ia is plant which, up to the. time he took hold of 1t, was one of the mean. nesses of the desert; thing that had aod1 shssT Sorns ana sny eg all who came in contact with them; It's pulp offering no resource of food to either men pr animals; Tn naS pr1H,ns ,hnrs fiourishes, today cactus which nas not a thorn upon it, not spicule with in its rich meat. huge storehouse or
 And all it's food Is good. The huge leaves, formerly bitter, are now entirely edible, and the fruit. which never came to anything satisfactory in the wild variety, is one Of the most perfect things that a garden of man can grow. It's meat is crimson in color .and so del that it Is certain to become one of the delicacies of the world. Its flavor Is something which the world has never ,op Sef4re % But to so%e it a pineapple. to others a peach, and to others a melon or an apricot: It IS full of nutrimen. to9 and wS,ch ls .housnt viii vet 9 commend it highly; Some or the cac,i will yield as much as six and seven hundred pounds of food. in addition 10 their fruit, for all those animals which love to feed on 1t.
 Here, now, Is a plant which most peo- ple look on as of no earthly use except as a curiosity. In the great desert re- gions of the West travellers sometimes manage to get some relief and susten- ance from 1t, but to the great mass If mankind it seems not only useless, but A nuisance, yet here Is a man. working silently and almost obscurely, who bids fair to place the cactus family among the most useful of vegetables. It is a wonderful achievement.
 And this Is only one of the many things he has accomplished. To use 1 the language of the magazine above | quoted, here is a man who has pro duced a stoneless plum. thornless blackberry vine. spileies' cactus. an everlasting star flower; has grown a | chestnut tree which bears fruit at | eighteen months of age; lily with delightful perfume. where none had | ever been before; has created daisy from five to seven inches in diameter. where the average size is an inch; prune four to six times the size of the common French variety; has created a tomato and a cactus fruit and raised the possibilities of new varieties and new forms in everything that pertains l to natural vegetation to such an extent that no limits may be set."
 | And even this is but a small portion of what he has accomplished. for he is making as wondereful discoveries among the flowers as he has among the vegetables and fruits. He takes a flower which has no beauty. and either no odor or a disagreeable one. and by | selection, adaptation or consolidation he produces a beautiful and sweet | smelling flower. He takes weeds and | plants which are useless nuisances and brings forth something good for man | or beast. He is not creator. but an adapter. As a skillful artisan takes va rious material and converts them into a locomotive, so Burbank takes the
 plants which he finds about him every
 where and changes them into some-
 thing useful and necessary to mankind.
 He does better than the man who dou-
 bles the productiveness of grasses and
 corn, for he james the useless plants
 and adds them to the sum of human ne- cessities. .:.. And this man, who is only about 40
 years old and who few years ago was
 so obscure, unknown and unappreciated
 that his neighbors laughed at him, and
 scientists regarded him as a dreamer
 or a charlatan, has become a man of l prominence, whom learned men visit
 and learn from. Investigators and sci
 entists sit at his feet and are glad to
 take lessons from him. nor Is that all But few years ago he was a very
 poor man who literally went hungry
 while pursuing his researches, but now
 all the money he wants is at his dis
 posaal to conduct experiments and in-
 vestigations on any scale he cares to
 adopt In short, he is fast becoming
 one of the most noted men of the day
 and in view of what he has done and
 may do we may well repeat the ques- tion one has asked: How great a man
 is Burbank?