The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1923-03-08


sponsiale for all variation l.. i.;lal
life, just as he has proved it to b.
responsible for all variations and de
velopments in plant life. BY thi
crossing and selection he has Great
ed-not merely developed actually
created new species which never be
fore existed.
Life is self expression-a chal
lenge to environment" Mr.. Burbank
said to me at his home in Santa Rosa
Life is action in certain definite di-
rections, based on mechanical or or
chemical changes. In nature we FIND
varied animate and inanimate forms
of life, many of which have motions
some of which in the higher forms
we call emotions. These sometimes
end in action; at other times in
thought. What man can do knowing
ly in the breeding, selecting, develop
ing and improving of plants, that
Nature is doing blindly and much
more slowly. Just as the best of
plants are produced by wise selec-
ton, crossbreeding and development,
so mankind can be improved through
the succeeding generations of human
children. This cannot be done, how
ever, in either plants, animals or
man, by blind crossing, for the bet
ter types so produced are only acct
dental"
Everyone knows the Burbank po-
tato, Of which California alone pro-
duces and ships more than 182,O00,-
600 pounds every year, and which
is grown in every habitable country.
Yet not everyone knows of the hum
dreds of other vegetables, cereals,
fruits, nuts and flowers which have
been created, developed and improv-
ed by the hand of Luther Burbank,
speeding up and directing the hand
of Nature. There is a new asparagus
almost as large as the shoots of the
bamboo, yet more tender than any
yet grown. There is an artichoke
whose blossoms are three to four feet
in circumference; there is a sweet
corr which produces IL rows of large
kernels to the ear, compared to the
eight rows usually produced by corn;
there is a pop corn whose popped
kernels are masses of fluffy white
three times as large as those from the
original pop corn. He wanted a sun
flower which would not turn its face
to the sun, thereby fooling the food
seeking birds, and which would grow
to the ground, foiling the wind,
Luther Burbank took the known
sunf1owers, and by cross breeding and
selection, produced a sunflower only
three feet in height, with blossoms
Is inches in diameter, turned toward
the ground.
Care and work, properly directed,
will produce good results, with
either plants or human beings, in the
belief of the Santa Rosa plant ex-
pert. He showed the truth of this
when, beginning with the or
tomato, he produced a tomato
which bears two full crops a year,
md from whose fruit the skin peels
EASILY without scalding. He took the
we'll known chive, and gave
t a-fower like a freesia, so that it
became a beautiful border plant, as
.xon x,ooo+oL1n Eroya ,1ontc of
he Solanum family, he produced a
'ruit almost exactly like the buckle
Jerry, called the "Sunberry," grow
ng on a plant not unlike a tomato.
lie crossed a number of varieties of
trawberries, and produced an ever
caring vine. He took the thorns off
he blackberry, as he had also done
rom the cactus, and to take the
Tory from the Mexican pepper
rowers, he developed, from their
wn seed, a pepper nine inches long
nd four inches thick, the largest
epper ever grown.
agriculture is the foundation of
VlllZdtlOI, Sdlu NIL. Dui DdIh, anu |
!, bring agriculture to it's highest
oint we must furnish the agricul-
lrist with better, more productive
We must make every acre of
farm produce not only more, but
etter food stuffs." Following these
mes of belief, he started to provide
etter grains for the farmer. He de-
a flax yielding a limpid white
j, II per cent more in quantity
ian any other known flax. After
'veral years of close application, he
resented grain-growers with a wheat
to short seasons, arid soil
dry climates, ripening weeks
than other wheat, as well as
ore resistant to disease. 1t has
ken first prize throughout Canada
i'd the United States, and is now
own from Tasmania, to Alaska.
hen Mr.. Burbank extended his ope-