Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-04-13

| seed,
seeds under widely different condi-
tions of climate, fertilization and nour-
| ishmeht. The product would in turn
be submitted to radical changes from
J it's natural elements and so the arti-
ffduct of this world undergo further
! experimentation and so the artificial
evolution progressed until the final
| result either met the wizards re-
ouirements or was abandoned as use
less,
| 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 inexhaustible
patience, that enabled Burbank to inn
part delightful odors to naturally ILL.
smelling flowers; to grow gigantic
! plants from dwarf varieties, and to
produce perfect Gala lily only one
inch in diameter when full grown.
These are but few of the queer
anomalys resulting from the hereto
fore unheard of liberties he took with
natures vegetation
santa Rosa and Sebastopol, nearby
town, became mecca for statesmen
kings, princes, philanthropists, horti-
culturists, biologists, botanists and hu-
manitarians as the fame of their own
er spread Never of commercial
turn. Burbank permitted an assoc1a-
tion known as The Luther Burbank
society. chartered by the state of Cali
fornia and endowed by wealthy pat
rons. to disseminate the knowledge OF
plants and vegetables which he work
ed out.
* In addition to the congressional
grant of land, his work was recog-
nized by the Carnegie Foundation in
1905 by a 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 completed
Ia new $500, 900 park, it was named
after Luther Burbank. He turned the
first shovel of earth in the construc-
| tion. and later laid out the gardens,
which cover 41-acre tract.
The state of California also hon
ored it's distinguished resident some
years ago by naming March Z, Bur
banks day, as Bird and Arbor day
and the occasion has since been cele-
brated as a school holiday throughout
the state.
! Burbank married Elizabeth J. Waters
of Hastings, Mich, December 81. 1916.
AS a New Years gift to the world,
the naturalist on January 1, 1926, an
nounced a group of new flowers and
plants.
One of these was the new camassla'
a striking blue flower, which exceed
ed all others of it's Kind in beauty and
ability to multiply. From his Rain
bow corn, he produced the Rainbow
teosinte, plant that grows eight feet
in height and bears eight to fourteen
ears to each stalk.
The third was new giant cactus
Towering zinnia, while among the
| others were hybrid tritomas, new
| species of the torcholily; an improved
strain of the Shasta asdaisy, much larger
and more colorful than the old, and a
! new kind of fluffy giant aster.
II can say that I am satisfied with
my years work." he told visitors at
his gardens, "for 1 must be satisfied.
/
of my busiest. 1 have worked and en-
joyed every day of it and I will go on
! with the new year"
A few weeks later, Burbank created
comment throughoutl the country by
declaring that "as a scientist l cam
not help but feel that all religions are
on a tottering foundation" He also
repeated former assertions that he was
/ "an infidel in the true sense of the
word"
Most of the comment was in opposi-
: ton to the horticulturist's statement,
a group of Chicago clergymen brand
! ing his remarks as "unscientific" and
! nonsense" while Chauncey M. De-
pew, in New York, said he regretted
/ sincerely that such prominent man
as Mr. Burbank should adopt this at
titude, as it is contrary to the senti-
ment of ninety-nine per cent of the
American people today"
Appearing in the pulpit of the First
, Congregational church in San Fran
cisco, Burbank declared he had 'nomi-
mated" himself an "infideI' so as to
cause people to think.
81 reiterate The religion of most
people is what they would like to be-
lieve, not what they do believe and
very few stop to examine it's founda-
/ tion," he said.
'The idea that good God would
send people to a burning hell is utter
ly damnable to me. The rawlings of
insanity; superstition gone to seed.
! don't want to have anything to do
4 with such a God. I am lover of men
! and Christ as a man and his work,
J and all things that help humanity
but, nevertheless, just as he was an
infideI then, 1 am an infidel today.
"I prefer and claim the right to wor-
! ship the infinite everlasting almighty
{ God of this vast universe as revealed
] to us gradually step by step by the
! demonstrable truths of our savior sci
| ence.
s'Do you think Christ or Mohammed,
| CONTIGUOUS, Baal, or even the gods of
ancient mythology are dead? Not so.
! Do you think Pericles, Marcus, Aure-
| lius, Moses, Shakespeare, Spinosa, Aris-
totle, Socrates, Plato, Empedocles,
Humboldt, Darwin, Tolstoi, Franklin,
Emerson are dead? No. Their very
personality lives and will live forever
in our lives and all of those who fol-