Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-05-10
INTERFERING WITH NATURE
Luther Burbanks Remarkable Work in Improving
Fruits and Flowers.

potato which combined more goOd
qualities than any other potato ever
heard Of. and bore abundantly into the
bargain. Tie called II the Burbank.
and the whole United States began to
/ plant Burbank potatoes. 1t is esu-
| mated that that potato has added
twenty millions Of dollars to the
wealth OF our country. All Luther
Burbank ever got from 1t was $125.
Luther burbank has spent half a
| life time, or more. improving old vege-
| tation and breeding new. Over two
thousand new varieties Of fruits. flow
ers and vegetables owe their origin to
| him. including a few entirely new
species and sub-species. The latest.
and probably the most valuable of his
creations Is spineless cactus. every
| inch Of its great leaves and stems
| valuable as forage for animals, and its
| fruit invaluable as a new and delicious
AZ well as nutritious food for man.
This cactus will grow anywhere. and
| will reclaim the great deserts which
now bear only the spiny cactus that no
| animal can eat and live. The value
Of this one new vegetable creation can
not he estimated in dollars and cents.
eventually he able to double its popu-
| iation through the peoplng of its
deserts.
Luther Burbank is man whose
| 'impertincnt interference with nature"
results I'm something better than nature
has yet produced. His ''impertinent
interference" consists in understand
ing and directing nature. The results
speak for themselves.
Mr. Burbank has the patience. in
sight and persistence of God. Shall
I also say he uses the Intelligence of
God:
He creates by selection. cross breed
Mg and inbreeding. always with the
best possible environment.
Among tens Of thousands of pOppics
he spied one with a pink streak. This
one plant was carefully cultivated, its
yellow neighbOrs all rooted out and
burned. The next season Mr.. Bur-
bank planted the seeds of that pink
streaked poppy-in the best soil. The
new plants bore yellow poppies-all but
one. which showed the pink strain.
Again the yellow were weeded out and
burned. the pink streaked ones care
fully saved. Gradually. from year to
year. the pink stain grew more pro-
no,Inccd. and more plants showed it.
After years of this careful selection
and inbrceding and cultivation
beautiful pure red poppy was pro-
duced. In the process millions of
plants were burned because they failed
to get in line with the desired progress.
Here is the way Luther Burbank
toll I,o RI ~
spines:
eff we invite Mr.. Thistle or Mr..
Cactus into our gardens and patiently
and earnestly teach and thoroughly
convince him that all the marauding
animals shall be kept out. 1t will not
be very long before some member of
his tribe will see fit partly to discard
some Of those exasperating pins and
needles and put on more civilized
suit Of clothes: and by further careful
selections from this one varying in
dfviduat others are produced which
are absolutely spineless. to remain SO
as long the marauding animals do
not disturb Them often becoming use
full members of our parks and gardens!
IT is great effort on the part of the
plant to produce all these spines. and
when this effort is made unnecessary
the plant will at once become more
docie and pliable, and can be easily
led into almost any useful occupation
in which plants are employed.
Crosses. blackberries. raspberries and
gooseberries can also be made as free
from thorns as Strawberries or apples
are by the same education and in
n 1nl col
ever, the authors of new fruit and
flowers are fully employed i'm improv
ing the size. abundance and perfection |
of form. color and fragrance in flowers |
and the abundance and lusciousness of
fruits. otherwise the thorns would
have been eliminated long ago"
Mr.. Burbank creates entirely new
varieties by the same process coupled |
with cross breeding. This is the way
William S. HARDWOOD describes it. in his |
wonder Worker of Science" i'm
March and April Century:
Here are two plants-one from Aus |
tralia. perhaps. the other from Siberia |
Each plant has its characteristics. its |
life habits. its structure. its hereditary
tendencies-a life distinct from all 9TH
ers. Each has preserved its identity |
thousand years. perhaps ten times |
ten thousand years, not varying to any |
great extent through the long CEN
turtles. He takes these two plants |
and gives them the opportunity to |
unite. Struggle as each may. with |
the fervor of ten thousand years of |
habit powerfully upon it. 1t cannot |
overcome the change
1.-THE pollen from one of the flowers |
has found its way to the stigma Of the /
other. borne by the sensitive finger tips |
of man accustomed to wait with |
patience the outcome of his projects. |
A year pacses. Thee seed from the |
new plant is planted. From IT
may come q plant like both of its
ancestors. or like neither. like nothing
yet born in the vegetable life OF the
world.
"And this is what Is sought: to make
1t different. to break up its life ten
denotes. to recombine the hereditary
influences of its ancestry. In the
breaking up it may produce whole
series OF mOnstrosities, the most