The Calumet news., 1911-01-14
Hancock Department.
HANCOCK BARBER
RIVALS BURBANK
CLAIMS TO HAVE DISCOVERED
METHOD OF PROMOTING RAPID
GROWTH OF PLANTS AND
VEGETABLES.

Luther Burbank, the California hor-
ticultural wizard. has done some re-
markable stunts i'm creating new spe-
cies of plants and i'm perfectng differ
ent varieties of vegetables, but he has
nothing on Leo Ebertoski, of Hancock
i'm the way of making two blades of
grass grow where one grew before, if
some experiments that the latter has
been making prove practicable.
IL the results claimed by Mr.. E1er-
toski are found generally attainable,
the high cost of living" will receive
a solar plexus blow, and every avail
able bit of ground can be made to
blossom like, the rose. and produce
abundantly.
Mr.. Ebertoski is a Hancock barber
and has q penchant for raising ruta-
bagas and beets, pumpkins and pars-
nips He claims to have performed
some agricultural miracles through the
application of substance, the nature
of which he naturally declines to
divulge. as he is considering the ex-
pediency of applying for a patent on II.
Aside from telling the name or ma
ture of the stuff which performs these
horticultural wonders, Mr.. Ebertoski
was not averse To telling a reporter
about what 1t had done for his little
garden patch.
ut came about" he says, Through
reading in the daily and monthly pub
lications. discussions of high prices for
farm products, and the idea occurred
to RE that if the producing capacity
of plants could be increased, without
requiring any more ground To be plant
ed il would help some. Pondering over
the matter it struck me that a certain
article obtainable in any drug store.
applied to the roots, would increase
their productivity. l bought some and
tried it on some plants that were be-
ing grown in the house i'm winter, but
which failed to thrive. The results
were remarkable. After a couple OF
applications OF the substance, the
leaves began to brighten up, and i'm
few days assumed the luxuriance and
brightness of plants grown outdoors in
the height OF the summer"
This was the beginning. Mr.. Eber
toski then turned his experiments to
garden products. His garden had very
poor soil. he says, and when he inform
ed his neighbor. who also had a gar
den. that he was going TO try a new
experiment, he was laughed at. When
ever he appeared in his garden the
neghbor would ask him If he was
watching his beets grow. He was
patient however, and shortly after the
leaves began to sprout aboYe the
ground. the growth progressed with
such remarkable rapidity that he was
gathering large full sized beets while
those of his neighbor on the other
side of the fence were no bigger than
n walnut. In order TO make sure that
these results were attributed to the
new discovery, several plants were left
untreated, and produced only measly
little vegetables Strawberries and to-
mato vines matured i'm an amazingly
short time. producing crops double I'm
quantity any he had been able to get
before, also enabling him To gather
from them daily up to the time the
heavy frosts of autumn came. Grains
such as rye, corn, wheat. etc, also
benefited from the applications, he
claims, but some varieties of produce,
such as cucumbers, melons. and squash
did not seem to be affected, their man
ner of growth being of a peculiar ma
ture, which seemed to render the sub
stance Ineffective.
The possibilities opened up by the
application of Mr.. Ebertoski's discov
cry, If ii will do what he claims. with
out causing the soil to deteriorate,
(and he declares it viii not), are tre-
mendous. The summer season i'm the
copper country is brief at best, but
If crops can be brought to maturity
with the speed and luxuriance claim
ed by Mr.. Ebertoski 1t would make it
possible to secure almost double the
present results. in the same period
and on the same areas as are now
planted. Those initiated in the mys-
teries of gardening might be inclined
to be skeptical but Mr.. Ebertoski says
he believes that he has made discov-
cry which is destined to make fruit
and vegetable growers sit up and take
notice, and make the life of the farmer
one grand sweet song.