Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-09-06
LIFE AND WORK OF BURBANK.
A Story Which Always Sounds Like
Tale of Magic.

| Circle. There Is no wizardy In hi!
achievements. Yet to accompany hin
to his cactus patch and there see thu
great, heavy leaved desert plant, 81
covered with fierce thorns that even t
stand near 1t makes one squirm, ant
then follow step by step, where, in diff
ferent sections, he shows the cactu:
slowly losing its thorns, until yot
stand before a group into which III
suddenly dives headlong, taking thu
great leaves and rubbing his face ant
hands against them-this does seen
like magic.
1t Is even more pleasing and equally
surprising to sit at his table and have
served to you the fruit Of this same
cactus-the prickly pear Of the Indiar
but wholly free from thorns ant
changed from the tasteless, fibrous
seedy fruit to a richly favored, juicy
delicious table luxury.
In his garden, not far from the cac.
tus patch Is his wonderful crimson
rhubarb. Here is the popular pie plant
with stalks two inches thick, and
growing all the time, winter and sum-
mer, so that the ubiquitous pie may be
made fresh from the garden all the
year around.
Are you interested in flowers? Their
come and look at these gorgeous and
splendid creations. Here are poppies
bed after bed of them, all under test
This last bed is about fifty feet square
and there are about 1000 plants in it
Here are poppies. the like Of which
were never seen before since tn world
began-hybrids, the results Of cross
ings upon which Mr.. Burbank has beer
working for years.
There are no two alike. The leaves
are wonderfully diverse, and the whole
foliage and blossoms bewilder us by
their strange diversity.
Some of these popies are vast In
size. Seven of them placed side by side
vertically are as tall as a man, eight
as high as a giant, and one could hide
completely behind q dozen Of them. In
color they are mass of crimson and
black and white, with many interme-
date blendihgs, and unlike the ordi-
nary poppy, which blossoms only fol
two or three weeks, these are peren-
malls and flower all the time.
The amaryllis also shows the mar
velous life power Of his work. In q
few years he has developed II from q
small flower with a few inches OF
breadth to nearly a foot in diameter
with every shade Of crimson, pink OF
scarlet and many astonishing combi-
nations of color.
But to do this the whole plant
bulb, stem and leaves-had to be
changed. 1t seems like magic to the
ordinary mind to see the gradual trans
formation of a small bulb to one four
times its size and five or more times
its weight and with its power Of mui-
tiplication increased eight to tenfold
To watch the development or creation
OF a new stem is equally magical. The
old amaryllis stem could never have
held these large new flowers, so q
stocky, strong, low stem was created
Burbank has taken lily and work
ed wonders with 1t. I have stood Side
by side with him looking at a bed OF
lilies upon which he had worked fol
twenty years. you are looking
with me upon flowers that the eye OF
man has never seen before" And then
one by one he tenderly touched score
or more Of them, calling attention to
their wonderful colorings, differences
in size, LEAKAGE, etc.
His achievements with the daisy are
more fascinating than a fairy tale
From England, Japan, Germany, Aus
tralia-everywhere that daisies gre"
he got seeds Of the best varieties
not few. but hundreds. thousands
These were carefully planted and
watched.
They were all going to be slain, but
out Of their death was to come a new
daisy, larger, more beautiful. more
hardy and would flower in every cli-
mate perennially. The result was his
Shasta daisy, one Of the most beautiful
flowers ever seen-of clear brillian,
white, great size, the centre OF pure
yellow, resting upon slender yet strong
stems.
No., ,bo,,opd OaadS ranuired for this
one experiment? Yes, and often the
ten thousand become fifty or a hun
dred or five hundred thousand before
he gets what he wants. 1t is this large
dealing that has differentiated Mr.
Burbank's plans from those Of Other
men.
He speedily learned that great re-
suits are not to be obtained from mad
auate methods. The ten thousand
daisy seeds were only starter. Mil
lions and millions of daisies were
grown from these seeds, and 1t was
only after the experiments were COM
peted and the habits Of the Shasta
permanently fixed that the expert
mental plants were destroyed.
In vegetables he has produced equal
lv wonderful results. AS elsewhere re-
lated the potato that bears his name
was his first achievement. Tomatoes
forage plants. sugar beets have felt his
magic touch to the great enrichment
Of the world.
In fruits his labors are startling. He
has made a giant plum, rich and de-
licious in flavor. juicy, hardy, pro-
| life bearer and the largest known; MS
prune Is full Of sugar. larger, carrier
and more productive than the best oi
the old varieties He welded the plum
and the apricot and has given the
world the plumcot, which combines the
hardness of the plum with the ricf
deliciousness of the apricot.
The same process has given us
ounce with the flavor Of the pineap'
pie, thus increasing the fruit value o.
the former. He is working at thu
blackberry and we shall ultimately re-
ceive at his hands a large, rich, lus
fun nr thraa inches IN