The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1926-04-29
AN INTERVIEW WITH LUTHER
BURBANK
Oh. H. Dunn in Popular Science
Monthly
Second Installment

nat we need most Iou@y'
Mr.. Burbank said to me, rs not
more varieties of food-produclng
plants, but greater production
from those we have, so that the
same number of acres with the
labor of fewer men shall pro
luce many times as much food.
This will release from the sou
men needed for the manutactur-
ing industries and for other vital
work, especially transportation
GIN the next few years | nope
to produce fruits that will have
he power to resist heat, cold,
dampness, and the attacks OF fun
81 and insect pests. | hope also
to produce fruit without seeds,
stones, spines, or thorns.
"The world needs, and we
shall develop, better fiber plants;
better coffee and tea plants
more productive spice shrubs
trees that will produce purer
rubber in large quantities and
can be tapped as are maple trees
Now. in the tropical rubber for
ests, the gathering of the rubber
means the destruction OF the
trees. 49,,
eve need. too, nuts which
contain more oil, new and better
dyewoods, plants that WILL pro
duce starches in profitable guam,
titles, and plants that will ylelo
better perfumes than the syn
thetic perfumes now manufac-
tured. We need trees exclusively
for wood pulp, and other trees
that will grow more rapidly than
wild trees and produce larger
quantities Of timber.
every one of these develop
ments. and thousands more, are
within u reach. Man IS JUST
beginning to realize that ne may
some time control certain forces
Of nature and guide them to pro
duce desired results with a rapid
tv and sureness hitherto undream-
Of"
Luther Burbank's first import
ant contribution to more prouuc-
t;,,o o~oriculture was the Burbank
potato. For this discovery ne re,
ceived $3.50, and with this modest
capital and a supply of his fam
Gus tubers, he left his native state
of Massachusetts for California.
If he had been able to patent thls
improved potato and had received
= ROYALTY Of one cent on each bush
81 that has been grown and SOLD.
he would today be the worlds
richest man. But in the mild ell
mate of California he found things
that were more valuable than vas'
wealth: the health he was seeking
and the opportunity to continue MI
llifework of improving the vege'
table kingdom. I,
He studied plant life, and he al
90 studied mankind. And soon NJ
found a close connection between
the plant world and the anima
world. In his autobiography n
says:
each atom lives; there is NJ
gulf between the quick and tn
dead, and the elements of the hu
man brain are found alike in tn
pebbles underfoot and the blaz
ing suns of space"
1t is most difficult to induc'
Burbank to talk about his plan
for future plant developments
His way is to announce his won
ders BY presenting to the worl'
the growing, producing, perma
nent result of his study and ex
periment. But on the improve
ment of the human race touh'
him willing to talk at length.
He believes that the most I'm
~portant lesson he has learned Il
more than a half century OF stua:
of nature is that the laws appll
cable to the production OF improv
ed plant life may be applied Wit
aoual ucces to the improvement
of human beings.
"One law governs all; it govern
the plants, and it governs us. n
said to me earnestly. "Natur'
does not plan; nature is not tryln'
to produce better plants or bette
men. Nature is neither good no.
bad, kind nor unkind, cruel no.
merciful. Nature is unconcerned
"In human breeding, as IN plan
breeding, there is no satisfactor!
substitute for intelligent selection
and crossing. Here in Amerlc;
nature is forming a mighty com
bination of various aces. LII tn
right principles are followed, WE
may hope for a race far better
and stronger than Americans O
today; a magnificent race, far su
perior to any that the world has
seen. But crossing, even WheI