Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-04-12

the world in new usefulness through
months and years of patient and
frequently discouraging experiments.
Wonderful as many of Burbank
achievements with vegetable, plant
and flower life seem to the layman,
the methods by which they were
accomplished were not in them
selves remarkable. Patience was the
chief requisite to his success. De-
Gliding first what he wished to Gre
ate. make or improve upon in the
vegetable world, he began by care
fully selecting robust specimens. al
lowing them to go to seed, then ex-
perimenting with the seeds under
widely different conditions of eli
mate, fertilization and nourishment.
The product would in turn be sub
mitted to radical changes from its
natural elements and the product of
this would undergo further expert
mentation and so the artificial evo-
luton progressed until the final re-
suit either met the wizards require
ments or was abandoned as useless.
When experiments with seeds alone
were not entirely satisfactory, graft
ing upon the seeds or upon fresh
young shoots often was employed. 1t
was through a combination of these
methods, fortified by his ineXhaust-
ible patience, that enabled Burbank
to impart delightful doors to natur-
ally ill-smeling flowers; to grow gil
gantic plants from dwarf varieties,
and to .,roduce a perfect Gala lily
only one inch in diameter when full
grown. These are but few of the
queer anomalys resulting from the
heretofore unheard of liberties he
took with natures vegetation.
Burbanks experimental farms at
Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, a nearby
town, became a Mecca for statesmen,
kings, princes, philanthropists, horti-
culturists, biologists, botanists and
humanitarians as the fame of their
owner spread. Never. of a CONNER
cial turn, Burbank permitted an as
ISOLATION known the The Luther Bur-
bank Society, chartered by the State
of California and endowed by veal
thy patrons, to disseminate the
knowledge of plants and vegetables
which he worked out.
In addition to the Congressional
grant of land. his work was recog-
nized by the Carnegie Foundation in
1905 by gift of $4,000 annually for
a period of 10 years to insure con-
tinuation Of his experiments. In 1921.
when the city of Santa Rosa COM
pleted a new 100000 park. it was
named after Luther Burbank. He
turned the first shovel of earth in the
construction, and later laid out the
gardens. which cover q 41-acre tract.
The State of California also hon.
ored it's distinguished resident some
years ago by naming March {, Bur-
banks birthday, as Bird and Arbor
Day and the occasion has since been
celebrated as a school hiliday
throughout the state.
Burbank married Elizabeth J. Wa
tiers, of Hastings, Mich, December
81, 1916.
AS New Years gift to the world,
the naturalist on January l, 1925 an
nounced a group of new flowers and
plants.
One of these was the new camas-
STA, striking blue flower, which ex-
ceeded all others of it's kind in geau-
ty and ability to multiply. From his
Rainbow corn, he produced the Rain
bow teosinte, a plant which grows
eight feet in height and bears eight
to fourteen ears to each stalk
The third was a new giant cactus
Towering zinnia. while among the
others were hybrid tritomas, new
species of the torch lily; an improved