New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-03-31

C In her
t1nStIaI2ns from photographs 12mo PIP. xiv.
''s. NE Macmillan Company.
The term. the plant wizard" which has been
applied 10 MI. Burbank by amazed and unscien-
tfo observers Of the remarkable results Of his
ingenious experiments with vegetable life con-
Yeys suggestion Of supernormaI powers or
perhaps Of hocus pocus, which the publication of
MT. Harwoods book viii go far to dispel The
author enthusiasm. indeed. permits the novel
and extraordinary plant creations Of Mr. Burbank
TO lose nothing Of their wonder exciting charac-
Ter, but the careful and accurate account Of his
methods and Of the principles on which he
works makes clear TO the least expert Of rea ders
that, however unusual the products of Mr. Bur
banks labors, there is nothing unnatural or
mysterious about them. All that Mr. Burbank
has done has heen to intervene with his keenly
apperceptive intelligence in the normal but
Cnreasoning processes of nature. BY substi-
tuting plan for accident. and artificial for natu-
raj selection, he has been able TO perfect I'm the
course Of a few years new varieties Of plant
life that might otherwise have taken miIlen-
NUNS TO develop, that, by the doctrine Of
chances. might more likely never have come to
frution at all
OF course. there is nothing new in the mere
breeding Of improved varieties of plants and
vegetables. Horticulturists and forlculturIsts
have been devOting their efforts TO this end for
hundreds Of years. and with excellent results
What distinguishes Mr.. Burbank's work from
that Of those who have preceded him is due to
his deeper insight, to his greater faith and to
the wider scope Of his experiments. He has
not been content to confne his observations to
a few selected plants. but. by copying the prodi-
gal wastefulness Of Nature he has proportion
ately reduced the time Of arriving at the re-
suits at which he aims. His work may be de-
scribed as science informed with genius and
characterized by all Of geniuss capacity for
taking infinite pains His method I'm general
may be summarized the breaking up Of the
inherited characteristics Of plants by means of
cross breeding. and selecting from the widely
varying forms resulting from this disturbance
those most nearly approaching the form he has
In view, and destroying all the others. From his
chosen variation he proceeds as before until he
succeeds in producing a hybrid seeding IN
which the desired characteristics are per-
manently established and will be reproduced
In the ordinary manner from seeds or cuttings.
Not IN every case has Mr.. Burbank been sue
cessfuI in his experiments and some Of his new
varieties have been widely different from what
he set out to accomplish; but in the main he has
obtained what he wanted, and he has amply
demonstrated the possibility Of breeding for any
desirable quality. such for rapidity Of growth
or Of development. for hardness. perfume, color
and size Of flower, fruit or leaf for flavor or
what not. He has shown that undesirable quail
tiles may be bred out of a plant, just as desir-
able qualities may be bred into IT. The most
notable example Of this is the improved thorn
less and spiculess edible cactus, afording nour-
ishing food for man and beast in the desert
regions OF the earth. The primus- berry. the
first recorded instance Of the creation of new
species. was obtained from the union Of the
raspberry and the blackberry. The phenomenal
Of the California dewberry and tie raspberry;
while from the plum and the apricot has come
the plumcot which is now on the way to become
a definite new self-reproducing species Space
forbids an attempt to enumerate the long list
Of Mr. Burbank's inventions in plant life which
Mr.. Harwood has recorded.
The interesting result has been that in accom-
pIishing all this Mr.. Burbank has apparently
dsproyed many accepted laws" matured by
scientific experimenters working in the gentle
atmosphere Of the laboratory or in the calm
seclusion Of the library" Thus he has not only
demonstrated the falsity Of the theory that "ac-
quIred characteristics are never transmitted" but
has shown, indeed in a way that hardly be
controverted, that acquired characteristics are
the only ones that are transmitted Mr. Bur
bank also believes that his experiments have
overthrovn The widely accepted theory of "mu-
tation" or "saItation," which holds that
parents by a sudden leap or bound, evolution
thus going on by rare and sudden leaps
Instead OF any law or other force governing these
peculiar mutatous-wLlch mutations II has been
held produce new and stable varieties from which
times without number has produced these strange
mutations al VII. me- can Df De- pIoauCeu, ne
10 disturb the life habits Of the plants. Thus the
peculiar phenomena which scientific Observers ON a
at last come 10 consider the result Of a supreme
a.
in addition, he has demonstrated that that which
DDS lhc plant life al all, but only states or con-
diti0us. the results Of hereditary tendencies ana
% Fr-7 mon. ,ar5atiors and mutations In a haIt
binary variations in a thousand generations
Out Of the years Of his Investigations DE has eS-
Of all the effects of all the environment Of past
generations on the responsive ever-moving life
forces: or. i'm other words. "A record kept by the
vital principle OF its struggle onward and upward
from simple forms OF life, not vague IN any re-
spect. bur irdelbiy hHed by repetition lie con
Eeusts this into the statement, "HeTedity is the
sum Of an past environment
This. il VIII be noted, appears to be the exact
opposite of the conclusion arrived at by DR..
Frederick Adams Woods I'm his recent volume,
Mental and Moral Heredty I'm Royalty lately
reviewed in these columns Mr. Burbank, il is
only fair TO saw is not concerned with the mental
and moral attributes of plants. and Or. Woods
acknowledges that his theories do not seem TO
he -r-Fetautiated by the experiences Of vege-
table life The grant Of $4,000 by the Carnegie
Institution for the purpose OF promoting and
observing Mr. Burbank's investigations and Of
bringing them under closer analytical study than
has been possible hitherto VIII doubtless result
f- throwing much desired light on conflicting
theories and iu establishing data for the f1rmu-
lation Of The laws Of evolution and Development