Luther Burbank

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Luther Burbank

Luther Burbank (March 7, 1849 – April 11, 1926) was an American horticulturist and pioneer in developing new varieties of fruits, vegetables, berries, grasses, cacti, and other plants.

Personal life

Luther Burbank was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts on March 7, 1849 as the thirteenth of fifteen children. His education ended with high school, although he certainly studied the works of Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel, and others concerned with evolution and genetics. After inheriting some money from his father, at the age of 18 he bought a 17-acre farm. There, he developed the Russet Burbank potato that is one of his major claims to fame. It is still one of the most widely grown potatoes in the United States. Selling rights to that cultivar brought $150 that enabled him to move to Santa Rosa, California in 1875 to set up a nursery for his experimentation.

Burbank continued working in in Santa Rosa for the rest of his life. He was married to Helen Coleman in 1890, with a divorce in 1896, and then in 1916 married Elizabeth Waters. His wife Elizabeth and one of his sisters were at his bedside when he died on April 11, 1926. He had no children of his own, but adopted a daughter. He was known for being kind, generous, patient, and modest.

Luther Burbank with spineless cactus

Career

When his experimental farm was established in Santa Rose, the Stark Brothers Nurseries and Orchards Co. provided additional funding and promotion to support his work in developing new varieties of fruits and vegetables. Thomas Edison and the Starks helped Burbank to get legislation passed to recognize the patent rights of plant breeders.

Burbank created hundreds of new varieties of fruits, berries, vegetables, cacti, grains, grasses, flowers, and ornamental plants, trying to improve their quality, flavor, productivity, and vigor by crossbreeding and grafting. He was especially known for his plums, spineless cacti, and Shasta daisies. For counts of the types of plants he developed, see Wikipedia. He called himself a plant breeder rather than a scientist, and was criticized by the scientific community for his intuitive and practical approach to crossbreeding that lacked adequate record keeping. Gardeners loved him, though, and he became a famous public figure. He was visited by Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Helen Keller, Andrew Carnegie, Jack London, and other celebrities.

After Burbank's death, his wife Elizabeth sold most of the business to Stark Brothers. Burbank has been honored in the names of at least fourteen schools, plus parks, towns, and a bank. A postage stamp was issued in 1940 with his portrait. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, was painted by Frida Kahlo, and received many other accolades and awards.

Worldview

In a lecture to the American Pomological Society, Burbank spoke of his unorthodox methods in plant breeding, which were observational, empirical, and intuitive, rather than reliant on traditional scientific method.

In pursuing the study of any of the universal and everlasting laws of nature, whether relating to the life, growth, structure and movements of a giant planet, the tiniest plant or of the psychological movements of the human brain, some conditions are necessary before we can become one of nature's interpreters or the creator of any valuable work for the world. Preconceived notions, dogmas and all personal prejudice and bias must be laid aside. Listen patiently, quietly and reverently to the lessons, one by one, which Mother Nature has to teach, shedding light on that which was before a mystery, so that all who will, may see and know. She conveys her truths only to those who are passive and receptive. Accepting these truths as suggested, wherever they may lead, then we have the whole universe in harmony with us. At last man has found a solid foundation for science, having discovered that he is part of a universe which is eternally unstable in form, eternally immutable in substance.[1]

Near the end of his life, in 1926, Burbank made a famous speech at the First Congregational church of San Francisco He said:

I love humanity, which has been a constant delight to me during all my seventy-seven years of life; and I love flowers, trees, animals, and all the works of Nature as they pass before us in time and space. What a joy life is when you have made a close working partnership with Nature, helping her to produce for the benefit of mankind new forms, colors, and perfumes in flowers which were never known before; fruits in form, size, and flavor never before seen on this globe; and grains of enormously increased productiveness, whose fat kernels are filled with more and better nourishment, a veritable storehouse of perfect food—new food for all the world's untold millions for all time to come.[2]

Theosophical Society involvement

Writings

Burbank wrote for the journal of the American Breeders Association and many other periodicals.

Burbank field notes
Burbank field notes

Books

In addition to these materials that Burbank wrote, the Luther Burbank Society published numerous volumes such as its "Plant Life" series.

  • New Creations in Fruits and Flowers. 1893.
  • The Training of the Human Plant. New York: The Century Co., 1907. Burbank advocated improved treatment of children and eugenic practices such as keeping the unfit and first cousins from marrying." Available at Library of Congress.
  • Luther Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries and Their Practical Application. 12 volumes. N.Y. and London: Luther Burbank Press, 1914. "Prepared from his original field notes covering more than 100, 000 experiments made during forty years devoted to plant improvement, with the assistance of the Luther Burbank Society and its entire membership, under the editorial direction of John Whitson and Robert John and Henry Smith Williams." Available at University of Wisconsin Library, Internet Archive, and other online sources.
  • How Plants are Trained to Work for Man. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company, 1921. 8 volumes. Covers plant breeding, grafting, and related subjects. Available at Internet Archive, Biodiversity Heritage Library, OpenLibrary.org, and other online sources.
  • The Harvest of the Years. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1927. AUtobiography written with Wilbur Hall.
  • An Architect of Nature: being the autobiography of Luther Burbank. London: Watts, 1939. Edited by Wilbur Hall.
  • Partner of Nature. New York; London: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1939. Edited by Wilbur Hall. "A transcription of Mr. Burbank's voluminous material."

Catalogs and bulletins

Additional resources

Articles

Video

Websites

Notes

  1. ↑ W. T. S. Thackara, "A Plant's-Eye View of Life" Sunrise magazine, June-July 1974.
  2. ↑ Denis Murphy, Plant Breeding and Biotechnology: Societal Context and the Future of Agriculture (Cambridge University Press, 2007), 38.
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