The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-30
A REAL srxErAcroR.

tns koreon of Luther Burbanks. man who may without impropriety be term ed real magician. He produces re- suits which at first sight appear im- probable, and which few years ago would have been considered impossible. for he changes, develops and improves plant life in most wonderful manner. Breeders of animals and fowls know how they can be improved by crossing and by other methods so that the new species hardly resemble the old, and are in every way a vast improvement
 What the breeders of animals and fowls have done for them Mir. Burbank has done and is doing for plant life. Of course we understand that care in sc- lection. cultivation and adaptation have made vast Improvements in fruits. grains and other members of the vege- table Kingdom, but what this man is doing is to produce new species and va- rieties of the old and well-known fruits. For example. he has crossed or combined certain qualities of the Amer ican wild plum, the Japanese plum and the apricot, and has brought out a new fruit which he has named "plumcot," which Is said to produce plentifully, and 10 be of delicious flavor. It has, in fact, all the clements of an entirely new species of fruit.
 Another of Mir. Burbank'y products is brought out by crossing or combining the raspberry and blackberry, produc- ing an entirely new fruit, to which he has given the name of ''primus." It, also, is said to be an excellent fruit. Then he has succeeded in causing a variant of the tomato to grow on the potato vine. bringing forth new va riety of real fruit. which he calls "pomato," and which is described as both fragrant and delicious. In addi- tion to these. he has so improved and brought out peaches, plufns. walnuts. chestnuts and other fruits and nuts that they would hardly be known. and the new are in all cases better than the old. In recent article in The Century Magazine. MT. W. s. Harwood thus speaks of what Is going on:
 For all these untold centuries the plant has been going forward upon an unbroken line: now 1t is suddenly dis turbed, its life habits are broken up: 1t receives the most powerful shock na- ture can give. It is vaster than the shock of death, for it is death swiftly upon its journey, never to return to the old ways.
 We have called Mir Burbank a magi- clan, but this is really misleading. for his magic consists in following and as- sisting nature in her operations. as MT. Harwood so happily sets out. He brings to bear on the plants and their fruits the knowledge gained by close study and patient experience, and be- fore the eyes of the world produces re- suits which are as surprising as they are likely to prove beneficial. He does they may do if they bring to the task the same qualities that have made him successful. Intelligence, patience and perseverance have produced results which may be characterized as wonder full.
 We have given only a few of MT. Bur banks achievements. but may we not reasonably predict that his good work will, not stop here? As The New York Times says: Tn view of such results it is easy to imagine that many of the weeds which are now worse than use- less in embarrassing the farmer may be turned to useful account, and their great strength and hardy habits made available as new blood in the old fam flies of the farm and garden. The per sistence of new types and the absence of any observed tendency to revert to the decadent forms from which they were rescued are of great interest. They mean that the new types are not mere freaks born of abnormal conditions, but proper expressions of the normal operation of natural laws"
 What he has done is to pro- duce new and better fruits and vegetables which will remain new and reproduce their kind. Then, as our con- temporary argues, may it not be equally possible to produce from the useless or hurtful weeds new species which will be of real use and benefit to man. kind? This does not seem an unrea- sonable anticipation, when we consider what has already been accomplished. If the man who makes two blades Of grass to grdw where but one grew be- fore is benefactor. he is much greater one who can transform the pest-weeds of the field into something really and permanently useful.
 It has been less than a score of years ago that MT Cleveland proposed to re-