Milford chronicle., 1930-06-06
President Hoover
Signs Bill Which
Grants Plant Patents
Measure Unanimously Passed By Congress Designed
To RetOard Breeders And FrWstrGte Piracy;
Fortunes Are Lost And Won

climate and a growing condition as
nearly like that in which the rose |
or the azalea was developed as he |
can, and then work out his testing |
experiments. When you think that |
on crOss-breeding one rose the hor- |
ticulturist sometimes has to wait |
FIVE years for a development, you |
will see that the poet or fabulist
who wrote: Rome was not built In
a day" was telling no lie. This
points the way to a long wait 1or
the patentee, but it is worth 1t If he
has discovered a rose that takes
with the public. There is no business
so profitable as growing roses, when
it is profitable.
Rose Gardens To Multiply
It is clearly obvious that when
this new law gets going, with all
sixteen cylinders hitting, it will
greatly enlarge the race of rose
| growers already here in the United
States. If it did not promise to stim-
ulate plant breeding, and extend the
activities of the Department of Agrl-
culture. the 48 State departments,
the thousand and one horticultural
/ societies, and the overwhelming flor
| ist business, it will be a miserable
! failure. Greater hopes than these are
pinned to 1t, and they are that the
chance to patent a new plant Will
stimulate amateur plant breeders
who are more numerous than we
know anything about, to carry on
their, patient and intelligent expert
ments. .....,--.
| It is these amateurs who have
done some of the finest work in de-
Welcoming new plants, but who have
seen the fruit of their years. of toll
and careful thinking taken from
them by plant pirates, who. have IN
troduced their discoveries under an
other name. One rose, as we shall
see now sells under four or tiVe
aliases. while the original producer
has lost all the profits that SHOULD
have been his and the diseoYerer
the wealth that he had so nobly
earned il he could have patented ms
discovery.
Within a few years the botanical
section OF. the. Department OF Agrl-
cnltllre will be forced to extend its
botanicaI gardens by establishing
J. arborehIms in every section OF the
country where plants are grown.
These viii not devote their energies
alone to testing out plants for whlcn
> natents have been applied, but VIII
he governmental stations and plant
breeding grounds to be used for the
development of new species OF
flowers of medicinal herbs. fruits
. nuts and trees of every description l.
This would not be possible II. a
new energizer like this little Dill
t sponsored by Senator Townsend, OF
Z Delaware, and Representative Pur-
! nell. of indiana, had not been ere,
i. ated.
Burbank's Widow Approves
Among those who have. given thell
enthusiastic support to the bill Is
> the widow of Luther Burbank, tht
California plant wizard. Mrs. BUT,
= bank wired the sponsors OF the Dll
tbat if Mr.. Burbank had depended
: on the earnings that came from MS
| lovely creations he would nave
D starved to death many times. H'
lived on the royalties of his writings
: and ON money earned, from MI
L speeches, and spent it in his hortl
cultural experiments. He is the out
? standing, though not the greatest
: horticulturist of his day.
u Mr.. Burbank had good pres
q agent-Llither Burbank, and Calllor
! MIA. Every real estate agent Wh'
? ever sold a lot in California threV
u in, Luther. Burbank for good meas
7 ure. He came before the climate, tn
: nrunes and the seedless dill pickles
IF this bill had been law in nj
g dav Mr.. Burbank would have lei
. his widow millions instead of 10
of daisies. the Burbank potato, tn
: spineless castus and the Well-knowI
It head-stand.
be II would have done more for Cal
: ifornia than the tariff will ever DC
Ie | II would have made California th
e garden spot of the universe, for 0
j. now her roses and her other won
a derful flowers would have perfume
e her peaches be grown on her nil
J. instead of in Oregon and her eg
IS Gro ppicked from bushes instead {
IS dropped by Petaluman pullets'
'. No man took more lively interef
% in this bill than Mr.. Thomas A. Ed
10 son. the well-known electrical WIZ
At ard, who, among the multitude {
activities which interest his neVe
l. idle brain, has taken up plant breeC
le | ing at a recent one. In Florida ne
,r experimenting with various plant
n to find a substitute for rubber an
It. has found it in the goldenrod, whlc
re luxuriates all over this country. ID
in friend, Henry Ford, is planting se'
IN eral thousand acres Of goldenrod Q
n his plantation in Georgia. Mr.. Ed
"a SON is a multi-milionaire, Mr.. For
toll owns to few millions himsel
Or These two amateur plant wizarC
il can. afford to experiment on lart
he scale with rubber plant; but no
D. many. others could?
WIN Produce Many Burbanks
al Nothing that Congress could
to help farming would be of grea
a er value and permanence than