The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1914-05-09
Houu Burbank
Prop gates
Plant Life
THE WIZARD DIVUIGEs METH.
obs OF PRODUCING VEGE:
TABLES.
PHENOMENAL THINGS. ACCOM-.
PLlSHED IN THE DOMAIN
UF PLANT CULTURE. n
tCopyrighted 1914. i

copyrighted d914.)
z / asked Luther Burbank the othei
day what he thought was his greet
est achievement. a smile came L
his mouth, followed by burrows Il
his brow, He had been asked tho
same question perhaps ten thousand
times in the last ten years. one way
OF answering II Is reference 10 hit
eatalogued creations with prompi
dismissal OF the subject. But this
time he gave the question deeper
thought.
i The greatest thing have ever
done" he said, "ls the lesson that
have taught the world that Plant
Life is PLANT
And there he stopped. For the
next twenty-five or thirty minutes
he furnished enough cxemplifica.
ton and amplificatinn of the Thought
for the foundation and sllperstruc
tnre OF hundred rOmanccs YET
each was but a story Of the unfold.
ing Of nature in It's simplest, mos;
elemental form.
Continuing, Burbank said: "Fo.
untold centuries man was content 10
assume. that the evolutionary proc,
esses in plant life were Interchangeable
by him. As nature declared, so must
il be- or, rather us accident deter
mined. so must it be accepted. AND
nature, unaided by unn, went along
evolving here and there improve.
ments on the old-with wonderful
results. perhaps, but never shaped
shaped along lines predetermined BIS
man. II is now an unrontested fact
that plant life is Dliant.
TO cite an example: Three years
ago a man came TO me and asked me
III could produce an edible Sweet
pea of certain uniform isze and
taste, Of specified color and texture
quality, peas that would ripen early
and all at til emaseeitmtaoinupuI
and all at thesame time. He want.
ed them for canning purposes. Ii
seemed to the packer that he was re.
Questtng an unusual, radical thing
and lie doubted that the matter could
be put upon contractual basis, like
IN order for a suit of clothes, or a
building, or anything else made by
the hand Of man. He was genuinely
surprised when / answered, with q
positive Yes Just three years later
the plant that would produce the de.
sired kind of pea was ready for him
Six planting stages were. all that
were necessary, but each one repre.
sentcd selections from Thousands
and thousands OF grown plants. The
packer has his pea, and It is n per.
manent variety-it will never sc
back to It's forbears."
Three years is short time in
which 10 create new variety. AS
a rule, Burbank needs cycle or
more to evolve new creations. II
took him sixteen years 10 eliminate
the thorns from Spiny Cactus. But
once the finished product leaves the
Burbank factory-the soil of MS
proving grounds-it is fixity. the
same as manufactured article OF
commerce fashioned after u pattern
designed by. the hand of man and
run OF In endless duplication in ma \ .
made machines. To give n new
shade TO Il rose; TO make nature re.
move or so modify the pit in a plum
that II is practically stonelcss; to
produce a cherry bigger than any
cherry ever known. and TO get more
clusters at tile. same time on the In
diyidual tree: TO force a walnut tree
to an eight-years' growth In tlree;
not TO speak OF making superior
potato Quality'of a size that would
be preserved as anphenomehon sand
commonizc 1t throughout the world;
10. eliminate the tllorns from cactus,
and a hundred and more other
achievements, and to be able to do
all of them upon actual predetcrmin.
cd specification, is the remarkable
element in the Burbank accomplish
ment. 1t is truly teaching tile lesson
that plant life is plant.
The world is always interested in
tile phenomenal yet strange to say;
that thought has never dominated
Bnrbank's intent. He is primarily
invested with n desire to produce
that which will serve a.useful world
ly purpose, and when the mans life
work is written. in Its entirety, the
good that he has done for mankind,
the bettermcnts that he has accom-
plished in living, will be the signal
strokes in his biography.
E. c. Jones exclusively handles
the Burbank seeds In this city:S