The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1913-02-15
WHAT BURBANK HAS DONE.

Some Of the Achievements of tn,
Noted Plant-Breeder in Fort,
Years of Effort-Wonderful Dis
coveries and Methods to b.
Given to the World.
[ have heard of Burbank, Just as
have heard of Edison-but what has
ne done that is of practical and last
i ing value? asked a man who was
discussing Luther Burbank,s work.
Out OF the results of forty years OF
daily achievement, it is hard to pick
single illustration that will answer
the question: What has he done?,
But there is for example, the com.
mon potato. Thirty-fiye years ago po
tatoes were round, red-skinned and
small. The potatoes of today are
long, White-skinned and large.
It would be difficult, now, to find
specimens of those little, round, red
skinned potatoes of olden days, for
the Burbank potato has become prac-
tlcally universal-it no longer pays
to raise the other kind.
Luther Burbank did three things to
the potato: He increased its size;
ne increased the number that grow
in a hill; and, third, he improved the
quality and flavor.
The United States Department Of
Agriculture, in one of its bulletins,
has said the Burbank potato is add
ing seventeen million dollars a year
to the agricultural income of the
country. On this basis, and remem-
berlng that Burbank products are
not limited to America, but are, In
fact, better known abroad than at
home, it is easy to compute that the
Burbank potato, in the thirty-five
years since its discovery, has added
to farm incomes a grand total in the
neighborhood of six hundred million
dollars.
In other words, Luther Burbank,
with this one single plant improve
ment, has given the farmers of the 1
world an added income which COM
pares fayorably with the whole esti-
mated earnings Of the Standard OIL
Company since Its inception
And the casual inc auIrer who had
-
and who had never seen, tasted Or
even heard Of any other potato. ask
ed what Burbank had done that was
Or, to pick at random another ex-
ample::- Americas S most precious
tree, the walnut, is practically ex-
tinct-at least as a source Of market
able lumber. The walnut tree, as
nature planned it, is slow to grow.
IN thirty-five years it usually reaches
4 height of twenty feet and cir
Of eighteen inches.
Burbank has produced walnut tree I
equal, If not superior in the quality t
If the lumber-Whieh, in only seVens
cen years, has attained a height Of
sighty feet, las against twenty feet
n twice that long), and a circumfer-
ence of seventy-two inches, (as
against eighteen inches in twice
hat longl. At the cost of So
'er tree for planting, this new wal
tut can yield in twelve years a lum-
Ter value of three thousand dollars
,er acre.
Or, to put it another way, in these
lays when forest conservation is an
cute issue, Luther Burbank has
'iven us shortcut to refofestra-
ion, has enabled us to make good
lumber shortage, due to our own
yanton recklessness, and to do all
t this, not a generation from now, {
ut in the mere span of a dozen
ears.
Yet the question is asked: What
as he done that is PRACTICAL. s
There are three billion acres of j
esert in the World, barren, arid
esert on which the highest form !
vegetable life Is the worthless, i
piny cactus. It took the imagina- j
on of a Burbank to conceive a way i
} transform these three billion acres
ito productivity. He did 1T not by e
nding new plants which would i
lrive on desert soil and under desert i
onditions. He did it by making the
ommon cactus which already grows i
lere produce rich, juicy fruit i
nd then by making the cactus thorn Z
SIS, he added a great forage crop f
fter the fruit is picked. He SO s
ansformed the cactus that it grows s
lornless and covers itself with beau Is
full, highly scolored, pearsshaped
uit, as juicy assa ripe watermelon, i
ith a flavor between that and the.
artlett pear. E,.
Under fayorables conditions. corn : :
,oduces 9A the basis Of about one : :
n and a half of food per acre, Al !, !
lfa produces as high as five tons : :
food per acre. The Bur bank cactus {
Is shown that it will produce as !, =
gh as two thousand tons Of food !, :
II acre-or. IN money, tt can pro- : :
Ice $1,000 worth of denatured al : :
'ho1 per acre as against $35 from :. s
acre of Indian corn. :. :.
If, merely by improving the COM Z E
on potato, Burbank has cgeated an : :
tual wealth equal to that Of Stan !, !,
I'd Oil, what estimte can be made :. :.
the value Of this new Burbank : :
cd cactus, with three billion acres :. :.
unproductive land to plant it to- :, :
IN the size of type in WHICH this Ia ia,
tieIe is sci, 1t would take more :, :.
an twenty-five pages merely to :,
talog the plant experiments and =; =