Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-06-09
THE WIZARD BURBANK.
The Product of His Active Brain
and Experiments to be Con-
.trolled by Trust.


of the brains of Luther Burbank.
A San Francisco dispatch printed in
the Omaha World-Herald says: 1.-The
men who have made a trust of Mr.
Burgank's genius in Horticulture are
all well known California million
aires. They propose to sell his mir
aculors products just as the beef
trust puts out the meat it controls.
And there is no limit to the corpora
tion's rights, save in the case of two
or three small contracts for hybrid
specimens which Mr.. Burbank has al
ready under way of fulfillment. The
millions of acres of desert lands in
Arizona and New Mexico, now worth
less for any human purpose, will be
brought under cultivation of the
cactus and an effort made thereby to
revolutionize not only the cattle
business of America, but perhaps the
sugar industry of the world. For
instance it is now known for the first
time that Mr.. Burbank has discover
ed more in the thornless cactus than
nutritious food for cattle. He has
developed cactus rich in saccharine
products, capable of yielding not only
sugar, but alcohol. The sugar cac-
tus,' it is hinted, is capable of de-
velopment that will give the sugar
cane and the sugar beet hard race
for commercial supremacy. Another
new creation by the Santa Rosa
Wizard is a potato, golden in color
as the sweet potato, and yet possess
ing all the delicious mealiness of
the Irish potato. So closely has Mr..
Burbank kept the news of this dis
covery that not even the people of
Santa Rosa know anything about it.
How much has been paid Mr.. Bur-
bank for the past and future crea-
tios is not known, but it is known
now that for the first time in his
life he has realized something like
adequate compensation for his work.
Among the more wonderful vegetable
and floral creations of the Burbank,
which this new corporation will con-
troll and sell are these: Spineless
Cactus-A plant that grows on the
desert without water, attaining
bulk of 600 pounds in three years;
every ounce making excellent nu-
triton for man and beast; designed
to revolutionize the cattle industry
Of the United States. The Plumcot-
A union Of the plumb and the april
cot, with the flavor of a Bartlett
pear; absolutely a new species in
pomolcgy. The Pineapple-Quince-
A new fruit with all the hardness
of the ounce and the delicious fiov-
or of the pineapple. The Pomato-
A plant bearing potatoes at the roots
and an edible vegetable hardly dis
tinguished from the tomato on the
vines. A New Walnut-The most
rapidly growing tree in the temper
ate zone, the wood worth 500 per
1000 feet, the nut with shell as thin
as paper and the meat white as milk.
A New Chestnut-The tree bearing
nuts in from eight to eighteen
months after the seed is planted, the
nuts 5urless. Seedless apples. pit
less prunes and pitless cherries, with
all the deliciousness of flavor without
the seeds or stones. Peach-Almond
"A tree bearing nuts similar to al
monds, with the delicious flavor of
meat of the peach stone. The Shas-
ta Daisy-A development of the
common field daisy; an exquisite
flower rivaling the Japanese chrys-
anthemum, with petals five inches
long. Flower rivaling the Japanese
chrysanthemum, with petals five
inches long. Flower crimson pop
py that blooms the year round, cai1
ma lilies fully ten inches in diameter
and also less than two inches in di-
ameter; verbena with the fragrance
of the trailing arbutus; gladious
taught to bloom around the stem in
stead of on one side. Fruit Trees
So hardy that they will stand freez-
ing in bud and blossom.