Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1923-07-31
PRESERVE THE WORK
OF LUTHER BURBANK.


years old and there is no one
ready to take his place.
Experiments completed and in
complete must be lost to human
itv unless something is done and
that very quickly. Because of his
advanced age, he has already sold
part of his California experimental
farm, from which invaluable
plants are being burned to make
way for a graveyard.
The United States Department
of agriculture should buy Bur
banks place at once and place
there the governments best men.
The money wasted every year in
free seed distribution, probably
would be sufficient.
Burbanks claims that to a large
extent his efforts have been
wasted because of his inability to
distribute the millions of perfected
seeds and plants.
These could be distributed by
the government and if honestly
managed, the demand from farm
ers, gardeners and state agricul-
aural experiment stations would
absorb every seed and plant pro-
duced.
Much Of Burbank's work is still
in process of development. You
will be interested in the following
extracts from one Of Burbanks
articles in the Dearborn Indepen-
dent:
For sixty years my chief
work has been the development
of plants. The cumulative eff
feet of this work is now appar-
ent. | now have more expert
ments under way than ever be-
fore-about 3,000-and am now
producing more new and improv-
ed varieties in a day than | used
to produce in twenty years. The
average is at least 1000 year
of better forms of plant life
than ever before existed. The
new creations include fruits,
flowers vegetables, nuts, grain,
and trees. gs4
But this measure Of success
is not without its melancholy as
pect. Most of these improved
varieties are going to waste and
it is not unlikely that they will
be wholly lost. The world is
unable to absorb what we pro-
duce as rapidly as We produce.
1t is not that the human race
does not need these superior
forms of plant life. 1t needs
them very much. But the world
moves slowly, weighed down as
1t is with 9 great lethargy-a
great inertia. 1t is much more
difficult to introduce an im-
proved plant life than it is to
produce it.
"At the height of the grow
ing and ripening season some
times as many as forty superior
varieties are found on our farms
in day-better fruits, grain.
nuts vegetables, or flowers than
ever existed before on this
earth, some Of them the prod
ucts of experiments that have
been going on for thirty years.
What can We do with them?
The only way they can be intro
duced to the public is through
seedsmen and nurserymen. No
scotsman or nurseeryman wants
more than two or three new
plants a year, recall that one
dealer took ten new varieties
one year, but this is very I'M
usual. At any rate, we can put
out through dealers only a small
fraction of our product. They
assert that it disorganizes their
business. to take more.
What becomes of the remain
der? 1t stays on our farms, UNI
used and unknown to the public.
| have thirteen acres of land at
SebastOpol, California, that
would be worth to the world
billion dollars an acre if all of
the new creations upon this land
were introduced 10 the world
and put to use. | had sixteen
acres at Sebastopol until | sold
three acres a few months ago.
1t was sold to a cemetery as
ISOLATION and every plant on it
is being pulled up and burned so
that the tract may be plotted
for graves. Among the thou
sands of new and improved va
rieties on this little three acre
tract were more than forty new
selected thornless blackberries
that would have been worth
$4,000 if they had been intro
duced to the world In addition,
there were some thirty varieties
of new hybrid roses from a Sc
lection of several thousands, a
choice collection of some rorry
varieties Of loquats a large num-
Der Of new apples, chestnuts,
plums, peaches, nectarines, dah-
las and so on.
Il am seventy-four years old.
My strength is good for my age,
but it is not what is used to be.
/ sold part of the Sebastopol
experimental farm because l
could no longer operate it.
The remainder will have to be
sold for the same reason. On the
thirteen acres that are left at
Sebastopol are 1000 varieties Of