!l i I ill .1' I!

JEAN *. BILL LANE

HORTICULTURAL LI3RAR.Y
 vED

SANTA ROSA NUT MEATS

i Xiv
T

In developing the Santa Rosa

walnut, Mr. Burbank had in mind not
merely thinness of shell and abundant
bearing, but also the various Qualities
of meat that are desirable. Among
other things, he eliminated the super-

fluous tannin, which gives the nut a

disagreeable astringency as well as

brownish color. The whiteness of the

meats of the Santa Posa is evidence of
his success in this regard.

ED
 HOW PLANTS ARE TRAINED
TO WORK FOR MAN
BY LUTHER BURBANK Sc. D

TREES BIOGRAPHY INDEX

VOLUME VIII

EIGHT VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED

PREFATORY NOTE BY DAVID STARR JORDAN

P. F. COLLIER & SON COMPANY

NEW YORK
Univ Ubrarv
<
if Santa Craz 1999

Copyright, 1914
BY THE LUTHER BURBANK SOCIETY
All rights reserved

Copyright, 1914
BY THE LUTHER BURBANK SOCIETY
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
All rights reserved

Copyright, 1915
BY THE LUTHER BURBANK SOCIETY
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London.
All rights reserved

Copyright, 1921
BY P. F. COLLIER & SON COMPANY
MANUFACTURED IN U. S. A.
 ^r ^

123

CONTENTS
PAGE
NUTS AS A PROFITABLE CROP ... 7
THE PAPER SHELL AND OTHER WALNUTS 27
THE CHESTNUT BEARING NUTS AT Six
MONTHS 51
THE HICKORY NUT AND OTHER NUTS 77
GROWING TREES FOR LUMBER ... 97
TREES WHOSE PRODUCTS ARE USEFUL
SUBSTANCES 125
TREES AND SHRUBS FOR SHADE AND
ORNAMENT 149
PERSONAL AND HISTORICAL .... 175
THE STORY OF LUTHER BURBANK . . 217
MY EARLY YEARS AT SANTA ROSA . 243
PATIENCE AND ITS REWARD . . . .271
A SUMMARY OF THE WORK . . . 309
THE BEARING OF THIS WORK ON HUMAN
LIFE 349
i
A Bur. Vol. 8
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
SANTA ROSA NUT MEATS .
Frontispiece
PAGE
A DWARF CHESTNUT TREE .... 10

A BASKET OF CHESTNUTS .... 16

THE PAPER SHELL ON THE TREE . . 30

SANTA ROSA WALNUTS 86
PARENTS AND OFFSPRING .... 44

SIX-MONTHS-OLD CHESTNUT TREE IN

BEARING 54

YEARLING CHESTNUT TREE IN BEARING 58

A SIX-MONTHS-OLD CHESTNUT TREE . 62

BUR AND CATKIN 66

WELL PROTECTED ....... 70

CHESTNUTS IN THE BUR 74

HICKORY NUTS 80
A PECAN TREE 84
A VARIETY OF TROPICAL NUTS ... 88
CHINQUAPINS AND CHESTNUTS ... 92
s
4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE WILD NUTMEG 104
OLIVE TREES 116
THE CALIFORNIA CHINQUAPIN AS AN
ORNAMENTAL TREE 130
THE Box ELDER
VARIEGATED . . . 138
AN ACACIA TREE IN BLOOM . . . 144
A YOUNG SEQUOIA GIGANTEA . . . 152
THE LARGEST TREE IN THE WORLD . 158
YELLOW PINE 162
THE JUDAS TREE OR RED-BUD . . . 166
THE HYBRID ELM 170
OLIVE Ross BURBANK, LUTHER BUR-
BANK'S MOTHER 184
LUTHER BURBANK'S BIRTHPLACE . . 202
THE OLD HOMESTEAD AS IT Now APPEARS 212
MRS. LUTHER BURBANK 224
LUTHER BURBANK AT THE AGE OF
TWENTY-FIVE 246
MY FIRST ADVERTISEMENT .... 252
VIEW IN THE SANTA ROSA GARDENS . 258
MIDSUMMER'S VIEW 266
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 5

PAGE
A SIMPLE BUT IMPORTANT EQUIPMENT 274
SOIL- STIRRING IMPLEMENTS .... 280
SEEDS IN THE GREENHOUSE .... 286
CLEANING SEEDS . 292
A COLLECTION OF SIEVES .... 298
MARKING Rows FOR PLANTING . . . 304
PERMANENT LABELS 312
AN EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENT . . . . 318
HYBRIDS AND PARENTS 324
UNNAMED BEAUTIES 330
TIGRIDIA SEEDS AT WHOLESALE . . . 336
MIDSUMMER AT SANTA ROSA . . . 342
BACK VIEW OF MY HOME SHOWING
VINES 354
TROPICAL LUXURIANCE 362
A STRIKING CONTRAST IN SEEDLINGS 370
 NUTS AS A PROFITABLE
CROP
THE BUSINESS SIDE or NUT GROWING

A CHESTNUT
"that is
bushf* exclaimed a visitor;
the greatest marvel I have seen
I was brought up under chestnut
yet.
trees; but when I see chestnuts growing on
huckleberry bushes I am certainly having a new
experience."
And no doubt this experience would be new
to almost anyone who has not visited my experi-
ment farm at Sebastopol. For, so far as known
to me until very recently, there have been no
chestnuts growing on bushes anywhere else in the
world. But there are plenty of them in the
orchard at Sebastopol that is to say, if a sprig of
;

a shrub only three feet or so in height and three

feet across is entitled to be called a bush.
Moreover the nuts that are borne on these
miniature trees are of the finest variety large,
plump nuts, at least as large as half a dozen of
the ordinary eastern nuts you are likely to find
7
8 LUTHER BURBANK
growing on chestnut trees of the largest size;
and they are sweet in flavor.
If it is added that some varieties of the new
chestnuts bear when only six months old, when
grown from seed rivaling corn or wheat, and
seeming quite to forget the traditions of their
own tribe a further glimpse will be given of
the modification that scientific plant develop-
ment has wrought in the status of the nut-
bearing tree.
No other tree, to be sure, quite rivals the chest-
nut in this regard but some of the new walnuts
;

bear at eighteen months of age, which is quite

remarkable enough. And in general the time of
bearing of these nuts has been so hastened that
the growing of a walnut orchard to-day is an
altogether different matter from what it was
a generation ago.
Moreover, a way has been found to induce the
walnut tree to grow about four times as fast as
itformerly did; and the wood of the tree is of
the finest quality for the use of cabinetmakers.
Of course the latter fact is of incidental interest
only to the grower of nuts; yet it is not quite a
negligible factor. And, from another stand-
point, obviously, the wood-producing capacities
of the new trees have a high degree of
importance.
 PROFIT IN NUTS 9

These and a few other transformations in the

nut-bearing trees, brought about by careful
selective breeding, have prepared the way for
an entire change of attitude of the horticulturist
toward the question of producing nuts as a busi-
ness, comparable to the business of the fruit
grower.
THE FOOD VALUE OF NUTS
Meantime there has been a marked change of
attitude on the part of the medical profession,
and, following them, of the general public, as to
the value of nuts in the dietary.
In fact, nuts have most substantial merits as
food,and these merits are yearly coming to be
more fully recognized. In the older countries,
nuts have already assumed indeed have long
held a position of economic importance, and
convincing evidence of their growing recognition
in America found in the reports of experiment
is

stations of the Agricultural Bureau, which in

recent years have from time to time urged the
merits of various nuts upon the attention of
growers. Astudy of the market reports shows
that nuts of many kinds are handled on a com-
mercial scale in our cities.

There should be nothing surprising in this;

for, of course, in a wide view nuts are the seeds
of fruits, and there is no obvious reason why they
A DWARF CHESTNUT TREE
This bushlike tree is an example of
our hybrid chestnuts. The workman
who stands beside the tree is five feet
seven inches tall. Note the abundant

crop of nuts on the tree and under the

tree. Gathering chestnuts becomes a
simple matter when the trees are of
this type. This tree bore its first crop
of nuts eight months after the seed
was planted, and has now borne ten full
crops of nuts when only ten years
of age.
 PROFIT IN NUTS 11

should not have unusual dietetic value. More-

over they are for the most part grown on peren-
nial shrubs or trees rather than on succulent and

perishable annuals, and thus have close relation-

ship with the fruits of the orchard.
But the fact that nut-bearing trees for the
most part have received no special attention
from the cultivator of the soil, their product
being gathered only casually, has caused them
to be regarded as wild products not falling
within the scope of the horticulturist. In most
parts of the United States the nut-bearing trees
have received no attention whatever from the
cultivator of the soil, and their product has been

regarded as a more or less superfluous luxury,

rather than as having dietetic consequence.
In the Gulf States and in California, in recent

years, there has been a radical change of attitude.

In these regions the cultivation of nuts is already
becoming an industry of
great importance
More recently, industry has extended to
the
New York and even to Canada. Meantime, the
use of nuts on the table in all parts of the United
States has become more and more
habitual, and
they are beginning to take their proper place
among the important products of the soil. Their
recognition as really valuable foods is so com-
paratively recent, however, that it would not be
12 LUTHER BURBANK
superfluous to briefly run over the list of com-
mercial nuts, with reference to their food values
and their present and prospective economic
importance.
Such an outline may advantageously prepare
the way for the detailed account of the experi-
mental work through which new varieties of
several of the more important nuts have been
developed.

THE CHIEF MARKETABLE NUTS

The marketable nuts include almonds, Brazil
nuts, filberts, hickory nuts, pecans, Persian or
English walnuts, chestnuts, butternuts, walnuts
pine nuts, peanuts, and coconuts, not to men-
tion several less known and little used species.
The
coconut, the fruit of a palm tree, is indig-
enous to tropical and subtropical regions, and
may very likely have played a part in the history
of developing man not unlike that ascribed to
the date and the fig. It a most important
is still

article of diet to inhabitants of tropical islands,

being prized not merely for the meat of the nut

but for the milky fluid which it furnishes in large
quantity. The natives sacrifice the partially ripe
nut for the sake of the milk, but most north-
erners find this a taste to be acquired with some
effort.
 PROFIT IN NUTS 13

The meat of the ripe nut, as comes to the

it

northern market, is extremely palatable, and in

a dried state, grated, it is widely employed to
flavor sundry delicacies.
The coconut is raised extensively in Cuba, and
to a limited extent in Florida and lower Cali-
fornia, the total number of these nuts produced
in the United States
in 1899 being 145,000.
Most of the other nuts are similarly used as
accessories of diet, for variety rather than as
substantial. They are capable, however, of
playing a more important role, as the chemical

analysis of their constituents shows that they are

in the main highly concentrated foods, having
little waste aside from the shells. They contain
all the important constituents of diet proteins,
fats, and carbohydrates and are thus in them-
selves capable of sustaining life. They do not
contain the various elements in proper propor-
tion, however, to make them suitable for an
exclusive diet. Moreover, their highly concen-
trated character makes them somewhat difficult
of digestion if taken in too large quantities.
The chestnut differs from the other nuts in
having a relatively high percentage of starchy
matter, 42 per cent of its edible portion being
found in the carbohydrate division a propor-
tion which no other nut except the acorn
14 LUTHER BURBANK
approaches. The amount of fat in the chest-
nut is proportionately small only about 5 Via
per cent, as against the 64.4 per cent of the
English walnut and the 71.2 per cent of the
pecan.
As to
protein muscle-forming matter- the
chestnut has but a little over 6 per cent, while the

English walnut has 16.7 per cent, and the

American black walnut and the butternut head
the list with 27.6 per cent and 27.9 per cent
respectively.
Chestnuts when fresh have a very much higher
percentage of water than other nuts no less
than 45 per cent, whereas nuts in general have
but three to five per cent.
It appears, then, that the meat of the chestnut
furnishes a less concentrated food than other
nuts supply, but one that is rich in digestible
starches, of which it contains six or seven times
the proportion common to other nuts. This
excess of starchy constituents explains why the
chestnut is not generally relished so much as
many other nuts in the raw state. But it explains
also why this nut may be eaten in quantity when
cooked.
In France and Italy chestnuts are very gen-
erally eaten, usually being prepared by boiling,
and they constitute a really significant item in
 PROFIT IN NUTS 15

the dietary of the poorer classes. Large quantities

of the nuts are also dried and ground to a flour,
which keeps for some time without deteriorat-
ing, and from which sweet and nutritious cakes
are made. It is said that in Korea the chestnut
takes a place in the dietary not unlike that which
the potato occupies with us, being used raw,
boiled, roasted, or cooked with meat.

PRODUCTION AND VALUE OF NUTS

Until the chestnut blight came in very recent
years, threatening the entire growth of chestnut
trees in the northeastern United States, there
seemed a good prospect that the cultivation of
this nut would become an important industry in
the near future.
Meantime, there is no present indication that
the other nuts indigenous to the northern parts
of the United States are likely to be extensively
cultivated until they have profited by the experi-
ments of the plant developer. The thick shells
of hickory nuts and butternuts, and of the native
walnuts, interfere with their commercial value.
We shall consider in another connection the pos-
sibility of remedying these defects, but for the
moment the nuts that are grown on a commercial
scale are almost solely those that will flourish in
the warmer climates, and hence the industries
A BASKET OF CHESTNUTS
These are chestnuts of mixed herit-

combining the traits of European,

age,,

American, and Japanese species. Their

large size seems all the more remark-
able when it is known that they are

grown on pygmy bushes, quite unlike

the chestnut trees with which most of
us are familiar.
 PROFIT IN NUTS 17

associated with their production are confined

mostly to the Gulf States and to the Pacific
Coast.
To be sure, the aggregate wild nut crop of
the Central and Northern States represents a
considerable value. But no official estimate has
been made as to the precise figures involved. In
general, the nuts obtained from such trees are
not looked upon as a commercial crop. They are
for the most part consumed on the farm or in

neighboring villages.
Only three kinds of nuts are grown on a com-
mercial scale in the United States at the present
time, these being the Persian or English walnut,
the pecan, and the almond.
According to the official reports of the Census
Bureau, the total nut crop reported for 1909 was
62,328,000 pounds. This was 55.7 per cent
greater than the crop reported for 1899, and the
value, $4,448,000, was 128.1 per cent greater.
"California is by far the most important State
in the production of nuts, and Texas ranks next.
No other State reported as much as $100,000
worth of nuts in 1909."
The Census Report takes note of nuts other
than the three just named, but the total value of
all the others is relatively insignificant, the com-

bined value of the Persian walnuts, pecans, and

18 LUTHER BURBANK
almonds amounting to $3,981,000, or about
nine-tenths of the total for all nuts.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the
report on the production of nuts is the very rapid
increase in recent years. The crop of Persian or
English walnuts in 1909, for example, was more
than twice as great as that ten years earlier.
The production of pecans in 1909 was more than
three times as great as in 1899. The production
of almonds, on the other hand, had decreased
somewhat in the decade under consideration.
As to the actual number of trees under culti-

vation, the almond heads the list, the trees in

bearing in 1910 numbering 1,187,962, and young
trees not in bearing numbering 389,57,5. By far
the greater number of these are in California,
which has 1,166,730 almond trees in bearing,
whereas Arizona, the second State, has only
6,639, and all other States combined have only
14,593. The total production of almonds in 1909
was 6,793,539 pounds, with a value of $711,970.
The almond is a native of western Asia, and
has been cultivated from time immemorial. It is
mentioned in the Scriptures as one of the chief
products of the land of Canaan. In California
it has been more or less under cultivation since

about 1853. The best manner of its cultivation,

however, was not well understood, and the
 PROFIT IN NUTS 19

greater ease and certainty with which the walnut

can be grown has led to the abandonment in
recent years of many of the almond orchards.
Nevertheless, the crop is one of considerable
importance, as the figures just given show.
The total number of Persian or English wal-
nut trees in bearing in 1910 numbered 914,270,
of which all but about sixty thousand are in
California. The rapid
increase of the industry,
and its prospect of still greater increase in the
near future, is shown in the fact that the number
of young trees, not yet of bearing age, was
reported in 1910 as 806,413.
The extension of the industry is shown also in
the fact that of the trees not yet in bearing no
fewer than 177,004 are in the single State of
Oregon, and 5,513 in Mississippi. These figures
forecast the spread of industry to meet the grow-

ing demand for walnuts in America.

The total production of Persian walnuts in
1909 was 22,026,524 pounds, with a valuation
of $2,297,336.
It will thus be seen that the walnut takes rank
as a commercial crop of genuine importance.
The value of the crop approaches that of the
total crop of apricots, although not as yet
approaching the value of the half dozen more
popular orchard fruits.
20 LUTHER BURBANK
THE CULTIVATION OF THE PECAN
In 1899 the pecan ranked third among nut-
producing trees, both as regards number of trees
under cultivation and actual product. The pecan
trees in bearing at that time numbered 643,292,
with a net product of 3,206,850 pounds.
In the ten succeeding years the pecan industry
came ahead very rapidly, and in 1910 the pecan
was second to the almond as to number of trees
in bearing, and second to the Persian walnut as
to weight and value of its crop. Moreover, the
number of pecan trees under cultivation, but not
yet of bearing age in 1910, was actually larger
than the number of trees in bearing; showing a
surprisingly rapid increase of the industry.
The actual number of pecan trees in bearing
in 1910 was 1,619,521, and the number of young
trees under cultivation 1,685,066, making a total
of 3,304,587, a number in excess of the combined
numbers of almond and Persian walnut trees
under cultivation.
The production of pecans in 1909 was
9,890,769 pounds, with a value of $971,596. The
total production of 1899 was only 3,206,850

pounds. Thus, as already noted, the production

increased by more than three hundred per cent
in ten years. There seems every prospect that
 PROFIT IN NUTS 21

the increase will be still more rapid in the coming

decade.
Peculiar interest attaches to the pecan because
it is the one nut indigenous to the United States

among those that at present have actual com-

mercial importance. The pecan, indeed, must
be looked to as now holding the position in the
southern portions of the United States that the
chestnut should occupy in the northern that of
premier nut. In recent years its merits have
begun wide attention, as the figures
to receive

just quoted show, and the cultivation of pecan

nuts for the market is likely to become a very
important industry. Already there are numer-
ous named varieties on the market, each having
its champions.
varieties have peculiar interest because
These
of the fact that each one of them represents not
an artificially developed product, as in the case
of most varieties of fruits and grains, but merely
the progeny of an individual tree.
It appears that here and there, particularly in
the State of Mississippi, there has grown a pecan
tree of unknown antecedents that became locally
famous for the large size and unusual quality of
its fruit.

These trees, it will be understood, are all of

one species, and the nuts are obviously all of one
22 LUTHER BURBANK
kind; no one would think of mistaking any one
of them for anything but a pecan. Yet the
individuality the personality of each tree is
revealed in the average character as to size,

shape, and peculiarities of shell and kernel, of its

fruit, and also as to the great difference in pro-
ductiveness and earliness or lateness of bearing.

THE VARIETIES or PECAN NUTS

Of course such individuality is precisely what
we have become accustomed to expect in orchard
fruits and other plants under cultivation. But
until recently it has not been generally under-
stood that such diversity is commonly to be
found among wild plants. So the case of the
pecan furnishes an interesting illustration of the
variation of plants in the wild state. The pecan
trees that show these individual variations are

precisely like the cultivated varieties of orchard

fruits in that they do not breed true from seed.
Doubtless it might be possible to develop true
fixed varieties from each of them by selective
breeding, but this is not necessary any more than
in the case of orchard fruits. For, like other
trees, the
pecan may be propagated by grafting
or budding.
Nothing more is necessary than to make cut-

tings of twigs or buds from the parent stock,

 PROFIT IN NUTS 23

grafting these as cions on an ordinary pecan

stock, to produce new trees in indefinite numbers,
all of which retain the precise quality of the
parent.
Such grafts were made in the case of each of
a score or so of the famous individual pecans
above referred with the result that as many
to,
varieties have been given assured permanency.
For the most part, these varieties have been
named after the location where the parent tree

grew, as the San Saba, the Rome; or else after

the original owner or an early cultivator, as the
Jewett, the Pabst, the Post, the Russell, the
Stuart.
According to a recent report of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, there are ten of these
varieties that have now been advertised and
propagated for a sufficient time to gain wide
distribution.
Extensive orchards of pecans are now under
cultivation in almost all of the Southern States;
yet the industry is so recent that, with a single
exception, the parent trees of all the ten promi-
nent varieties are still alive and in a more or less
vigorous condition of bearing.
Unfortunately the pecan is restricted as to
habitat, but it flourishes as far north as St. Louis
in the Mississippi Valley, in all the Gulf States,-
24 LUTHER BURBANK
including Texas, and along the south Atlantic
seaboard. Texas is the chief producer (5,832,367
pounds in 1909), Oklahoma second (894,172
pounds), and Louisiana third (723,578 pounds).
Without doubt hardier varieties, which may be
grown farther north, may in time be developed.
Meantime it is held with reason that within the
territory to which it is naturally adapted, no
other nut, native or foreign, can be considered to
compete with it.

The pecan as a dessert and

qualities of the
confectioners' nut are familiar to everyone; but
the best varieties have hitherto been raised in
restricted quantities, and hence have not found
their way extensively into the northern markets.
With the increase of the industry to commercial
proportions, this defect will soon be remedied,
and the pecan may be expected to advance rap-
idly in popular favor. But, for that matter, the
demand already greatly exceeds the supply.
Observation of the deferred recognition of the
merits of the pecan suggests the inquiry as to
whether there may not be other indigenous nuts
that have similarly been ignored.
There is certainly not another of comparable
merit, but there is at least one neglected one that

the amateur at any rate might find worthy of

attention, whatever its defects from a commer-
 PROFIT IN NUTS 25

cial standpoint. This is the familiar hazelnut, a

near relative of the
European filbert. The
hazelnut is smaller than its European cousin,
but it is of course susceptible of improvement in
that regard; and the hardy nature of the shrub
makes it suitable for waste lands, or as an
adjunct to the chestnut orchard, even far to the
north, but none of this class are suited to dry,
warm climates.
The hickory, the black walnut, and the butter-
nut, already referred to as of doubtful commer-
cial value, are nuts that may well appeal more

confidently to the amateur. They grow wild in

many regions of the Middle West where the
chestnut is not indigenous, and the black walnut
and hickory in particular are widely famed for
their lumber or were before the vandalism of
the early settlers practically exhausted the sup-
ply. As to palatability, there are many persons
who would be disposed to place the butternut
near the head of the list of edible nuts; and no
one will deny the fine quality of hickories and
some of the black walnuts.
All in the opportunity for diversion and
all,

profit in this unexplored direction seems pecul-

iarly inviting; and it is one that is likely to be
eagerly seized by an increasing number of grow-
ers as the years go by. The fact that nut-bearing
26 LUTHER BURBANK
trees add permanent beauty to the landscape
gives them an additional claim on the interest of
that growing body of city dwellers who are now-

adays harking back to the soil for esthetic rather

than for commercial reasons. Meantime the fur-
ther fact that an unfruitful tree may ultimately
be valuable as lumber should make additional
appeal to those nature lovers who, though calling
themselves amateurs, enjoy none the less to have
their hobbies bring them a certain monetary
return.
 THE PAPER SHELL AND
OTHER WALNUTS
THE METHOD USED TO PRODUCE THEM

fact that more than 13,000 tons of

THE walnuts are now raised annually in Cali-
fornia, chiefly for shipment to the eastern
markets as against 2,300 tons raised in the year
1895, suggests better than any amount of com-
mentary, the growth of this new
industry.
Part, at least, of the increased popularity of
the walnut may be ascribed to the introduction
of varieties having thin shells and more delicious
meats. All Persian, or so-called English, wal-
nuts have relatively thin shells as compared with
the American walnuts, but the production of the
"paper-shell" varieties puts these nuts in a class
quite by themselves.
And this matter of the shell is one of real sig-
nificance from the standpoint of the consumer.
A nut like the American walnut, which can be
cracked with difficulty, requiring the use of a
hammer, can never gain great popularity. The
27
28 LUTHER BURBANK
difficultiesencountered in extracting the meat of
the nut are too great. But a nut that has a shell
so thin that it can easily be crushed in the fingers
is sure to make its
way and to be found more
and more generally on the dinner table.
The terms "paper-shell" and "soft-shell" as
applied to the walnut are interchangeable. There
are now several varieties of walnuts on the mar-
ket that are generally classified under one head
or the other. Their name merely refers to the
ease with which the nut can be cracked. As
to this there is great variation among ordi-

nary walnuts, and the soft-shell varieties also

show a diversity. But the best varieties are
so friable that they can readily be crushed in
the fingers.
The walnut is so variable that it is possible for
the plant developer to consult his own wishes in
the matter of modifying its shell. I have devel-
oped a variety in which the shell became so soft
that could readily be penetrated by birds; in
it

fact, also, a nut that had a mere rim of shell,

being thus comparable to the stoneless plum.

There would be no difficulty in maintaining this

variety of shell-less walnuts, but its thinness of

shell was a disadvantage, and I found it de-
sirable to breed the variety back to a somewhat
thicker shell covering, by striking a compromise
 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 29

between the old hard-shell varieties and a nut

that was practically without its protecting shell.
One of the thin-shelled new walnuts was intro-
duced under the name of the Santa Rosa Soft
Shell. It was produced by the usual method of
selective breeding, and in producing it, of course,
other qualities were in mind besides the thinness
of shell. In particular, selection was made for
early and abundant bearing, whiteness and pal-
atability of meat, with absence of tannin it
being tannin which gives the brown color and
bitter taste to the older or ordinary walnuts.
The perfected Santa Rosa may be depended
upon to give much larger crops than the French
variety known as the Franquette.
It should be explained, however, that there are
two varieties of the Santa Rosa. One blooms
with the ordinary walnut trees, while the other,
like the Franquette, blooms two weeks later,

generally escaping the frost that sometimes

affect the early bloomer. In producing the new
soft shell, nuts of the ordinary walnut were
tested from many sources. There is great varia-
tion among these nuts, and some were found
that were almost entirely without shells. One
seedling had nuts with the meats half exposed;
that is, with shell covering a portion of its sur-

face, suggesting the abortive stone of the little

 THE PAPER SHELL ON
THE TREE
In the course of experiments we have
produced walnuts that were devoid of
shell, but this proved a disadvantage as
the birds soon learned the secret. It

was necessary, therefore, to select

specimens with thin shells, instead of

those with no shells, to continue the

experiment. The ones here shown have

shells of the ideal thickness and
delicious white meats.
 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 31

French plum from which the race of stoneless

plums was developed.

By selection among the seedlings of this
almost shell-less walnut, it was found that a
walnut without any shell, bearing simply a husk,
could readily be produced. But, as just related,
the birds were quickly aware of the fact, and
soon taught me that, except for its scientific
walnut had no value.
interest, the shell-less
After that the experiment in walnut breeding
was carried on in a somewhat different direc-
tion, a shell being obviously desirable. In due
time two varieties were developed that had the
shell of just the right consistency; combining
this trait with the habit of early and abundant
bearing and excellent quality of the nuts
themselves.
Cions from these trees, grafted and regrafted,
make up the race of true Santa Rosa Soft
Shells. I am informed, however, that trees

grown from the seed have been extensively sold

as Santa Rosas, although they may depart very

widely from the characteristics of the parent

form.
The name cannot be applied with propriety to
any trees except those that are grown by graft-
ing, for the walnut is a variable tree and cannot
be depended upon to come true from the seed.
32 LUTHER BURBANK
The original Santa Rosa, however, was grown
from and of course, it was necessary in per-
seed,
fegting the varieties to grow successive genera-
tions in the same way.
The parent was a walnut growing in
tree
San Francisco. It bore the most valuable nuts
of the kind that had ever been seen in Califor-
nia. Mr. Alfred Wright first called my atten-
tion to this tree about thirty years ago. I found
that bore not only abundantly but regularly,
it

and that the nuts were of exceedingly fine qual-

ity, and ofrelatively thin shell, their chief fault
being that the two halves would sometimes sepa-
rate slightly, leaving the meat exposed to the air,
so that the meat did not keep as well as if in a

thoroughly sealed shell.

The original tree was destroyed soon after my
attention was called to it, to make room for a
street, but I had secured nuts and had a colony
of seedlings under inspection. Among these
there was a great variation, giving me good op-
portunity for selection. Selection being made
with reference to the desirable qualities of
all

the walnut in addition to thinness of shell, pres-

ently there was developed a variety that seemed

worthy of introduction, and cions and trees from
thiswere sent out under the name of Santa
Rosa.
A Bur. Vol. 8
 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 33

The nuts of this variety are of medium size,

ripening about three weeks earlier than any

other walnuts then grown in the State. The
meat is white and unsurpassed in flavor. The
thin shell is also light-colored. The tree bears
enormous crops, and about its only defect is
that it may, on occasion, be caught by the late
spring frosts. But even with this defect, it pro-
duces a larger crop of nuts than any other tree
that I have seen.
Without doubt the most productive walnut
tree in America and perhaps on earth is one of
these Santa Rosas, now standing at Campbell,
Santa Clara County, California. The owner
writes me as follows: "Regarding the Santa
Rosa walnut tree, we kept no record of the first
few crops. The record since is as follows:

1897 .... 250 Ibs. 1904 . . .481 Ibs.

1898 .... 300

"
"
1905 .... 250
'

"
1899 .... 229 1906 .... 200
"
1900 .... 600
"
1907 .... 380
1901 .... 237
"
1908 .... 712
'

"
1902 .... 478
"
1909 .... 575
"
1903 .... 380
"
1910 .... 600

These nuts have always sold for from two to

five cents more per pound than the 'No. IV
from southern California."
B Bur. Vol. 8
34 LUTHER BURBANK
COMBINING WITH THE JAPANESE WALNUT
The Paradox has extraordinary qualities of
growth, but it is almost sterile, producing only a
few nuts on an entire tree, and these nuts of the
poorest quality.
Another hybridizing experiment that had
great interest was that in which the Persian wal-
nut was crossed with the Japanese walnut,
known Juglans Sieboldii. The Persian wal-
as
nut in these crosses was used as the pistillate
parent.
The first generation hybrids of this cross show
a combination of qualities of the two parent
species as regards the nuts, which are not borne
abundantly. The foliage is very much larger,
however, than that of either species, the bark is
white, and the of enormously en-
tree itself is

hanced growth. It probably makes about twice

as much wood in a given period as either of the

parent species. The leaves are quite hairy on

both sides, even more so than those of the Japa-
nese parent. The branches are inclined to droop.
The nuts of the Japanese walnut have an ex-
ceedingly hard shell. The meat of the nut, how-
ever, is delicious, perhaps equaling that of any

other nut, with the exception of some varieties

of the pecan. But it is very difficult to get the
 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 35

meats from the shell, as they are usually broken

in cracking the nut.
There is, however, a form of the Japanese
walnut which is so variant that it is sometimes
regarded as a distinct species, under the name of
Juglans cordiformis, but which I think not cor-
rectly entitled to this rank, inasmuch as the two
forms are closely similar as to general appear-
ance and growth. The chief difference is in the
nuts, which in the cordiformis are usually heart-
shaped, somewhat similar in appearance to the
form of the Central chestnut where these nuts
grow three in a bur. The nut is exceedingly
variable, not only in size but in form and thin-
ness of shell. Some individual trees bear nuts
that are fully six times as large as those borne
on other trees from the same lot of seed. The
shell is much thinner than that of the Japanese

walnut, and the meat is of the same excellent

quality. Among all the numerous seedlings of
cordiformis grown here, nearly every one pro-
duced Sieboldi trees and nuts, therefore it may
as well be understood that cordiformis is only an
occasional wide variation from Sieboldi.
I speak thus in detail of this variety of the
Japanese walnut because its qualities are such as
to merit fuller recognition than it has hitherto
received. The tree is perhaps as hardy as the
 SANTA ROSA WALNUTS
The picture shows the large
size of

the Santa Rosa walnuts and the

smoothness of
symmetrical form and
the shell The shell itself is so thin that

it can readily be crushed in the fingers.

 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 37

American black walnut ; as easily grown, and

it is

perhaps even less particular as to soil and cli-

mate. The trees are very productive, especially
as they grow older. The branches droop under
the weight of the nuts. Where other walnut
trees bear nuts singly or in clusters of twos or
threes, the Japanese walnut tree bears long
strings of nuts, sometimes thirty or more in a
single cluster. The nuts are thickly set about
the axils, the cluster being from six to twelve
inches in length.
The meats of the cordiformis drop out com-
plete when the thin shells are cracked.

HYBRIDIZING NATIVE WALNUTS

The cross between the Persian and Japanese
walnuts, like that between the Persian and the
California black walnut, did not result in pro-
ducing a tree that had exceptional value as a
nut producer. This cross, like the other, brings
together strains that are too widely separated;
and while there is a great accentuation of the
tendency to growth, so that trees of tremendous
size areproduced, there is relative sterility,
so that a tree sometimes bears only a few indi-
vidual nuts in a season.
But the results were very strikingly different
as regards the matter of bearing when the Cali-
38 LUTHER BURBANK
fornia black walnut was hybridized with the
black walnut from the eastern part of the United
States. These two trees are most closely re-
lated species, and have diverged relatively little.
Doubtless the time when they had a common an-
cestor is relatively recent as contrasted with the
period when that common ancestor branched
from the racial stem that bore the Persian and
Japanese walnuts.
Yet the differences between the walnuts of
the eastern and western parts of America are
sufficient to introduce a very strong tendency to
variation.
Indeed, the result of crossing these species
was in some respects scarcely less remarkable
than that due to the crossing of the Persian wal-
nut with the black walnut of California.
In this case, as in the other, the hybrid tree
proved to have extraordinary capacity for
growth. Indeed, I have never been able to de-
cide as to which of the hybrids is the more rapid

grower. But in the matter of nut production,

the discrepancy was nothing less than startling.
For, whereas the first-generation Paradox wal-
nut produced, as we have seen, only occasional
nuts, the hybrid between the two black wal-
nuts it was named the Royal proved perhaps
the most productive nut tree ever seen.
 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 39

I have elsewhere cited a tree sixteen years of

age, that produced twenty large apple boxes full
of the nuts in a season, so extensive a crop that
I sold more than $500 worth of nuts from this
single tree that year. And the following year
I sold nuts from the same tree to a value of
$1,050. The nuts were used for seed to produce
trees of the same variety. In 1918 the nuts
from this tree were counted and before they had
quite all fallen from the tree there were 17,160
nuts making a little over forty-five bushels as
they fell in the husk.
This extraordinary difference between the two
hybrids is doubtless to be explained by the
between the parents of the
slightly closer affinity
Royal. Their relationship chanced to be pre-
cisely close enough to introduce the greatest
possible vigor and the largest tendency to varia-
tion compatible with fertility. The parents of
the Paradox, on the other hand, were removed
one stage farther from each other, permit-
ting the production of offspring of vigorous
growth, but bringing them near to the condition
of infecundity. They were not absolutely
sterile, but their fecundity was of a very low
order.
The seedlings of the Royal hybrid vary in
the second generation, as might be expected,
40 LUTHER BURBANK
although the variation in size and foliage is less
than in the case of the Paradox. The extraor-
dinary range of some of the second-genera-
size,
tion hybrids being giants and others dwarfs,
has been elsewhere referred to. It will be re-
called that some of these second-generation hy-
brids grew to the height of four feet in the first
year, while beside them were others that grew
only six or eight inches and some only one and
one-fourth inch. The nuts from which they
grew had been picked from the same tree, and
planted the same day side by side.
To make sure of securing trees having ex-
actly the traits of the original Royal, it is neces-
sary to grow the trees from grafts either of the
first-generation hybrid or a selected second-gen-
eration hybrid showing rapid growth. The num-
ber of the latter, however, is sufficient to insure
a reasonable proportion of good trees from any
lot of seed; and the Royal has been in general
demand as a tree to furnish stocks on which
the Persian walnut may be grafted, and for
forestry.
It found that on most soils a Persian wal-
is

nut grafted on roots of the Royal hybrid will

produce a much larger crop than if on its own
roots. Moreover the trees under these condi-
tions are relatively free from the blight.
 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 41

The nuts of the Royal hybrid are similar to

those of the parents, except that they are larger
in size. The very thick shell is objectionable, as

already noted. Doubtless the shell can be made

thinner by selective breeding, but no compre-
hensive efforts in this direction have as yet been
carried out. The black walnut, in spite of the

really fine quality of its nuts, has never become

an important article of commerce. But there
are great possibilities for it if the shell could be
reduced to a condition comparable to that of the
English walnut.
The nuts borne by the Paradox are interme-
diate in form and appearance between the types
of nuts of its parents. Exteriorly they resem-
ble the Persian walnut, but the shell partakes of
the thickness and solidity of that of the black
walnut. In at least two instances among the
thousands of second-generation Paradox wal-
nut trees that have been grown, the trees pro-
duce extra large fine walnuts in abundance.
However, both of these are quite thick-shelled,
but from their second-generation hybrid, which
can be multiplied abundantly, good, hardy, thin-
shelled varieties may yet be produced.
It is possible that further hybridizations* in
which the Royal and Paradox hybrids were
themselves crossed, might result in the develop-
42 LUTHER BURBANK
ment of a variety, properly selected, that would
retain the good qualities of the Persian nut,
and combine these with the size and prolific bear-
ing of the Royal. This has later been accom-
plished with striking results.

HYBRIDIZING METHODS
But, of course, whoever undertakes improving
the nut trees must be content to make haste
slowly, for the black walnut has not as yet been
made to bear when very young, as the chestnuts
and some strains of the English walnuts now do.
But in this regard also there would doubtless
be rapid improvement under selection.
The actual method of hand-pollenizing is very
simple. Nothing more is necessary than to break
off the flower-bearing branch, just at the right

time, and shake it over the flowers of the pis-

tillate parent.

course, one cannot make sure that some of

Of
the flowers will not be self -fertilized, and this is

wholly unnecessary, for by planting a large

number of the nuts any good judge can deter-
mine from the appearance of the seedlings
which ones are hybrids. Also where the trees
grow close together there are sometimes natural
hybrids, though this was not generally known
when I made my first experiments in 1875-1880,
 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 43

When making these first experiments at

hybridizing the walnuts, seeds of the entire tree

were planted. In the rows of seedlings, anyone
could at once determine which ones were hybrid-
ized, as these grew far more rapidly than the
others, besides differing notably in general ap-
pearance.
First, experiments were made with two black
walnuts, and itwas the success of this that led
me to hybridize the Persian and California wal-
nuts the following year. The hybridization in
which the Japanese walnut was used was made
a few seasons later. The results, as regards the
production of nuts, have been sufficiently de-
tailed. Up to the present no variety of com-
mercial value as a nut bearer has been produced,
although the indirect influence of the hybrids on
the Persian walnut industry, through their use
as stocks, has been quite notable.

THE BUTTERNUTS
There a very near relative of the black wal-
is

nut, known as the butternut, that was formerly

well known in most forest regions of the east-
ern United States. The two trees are of closely
similar appearance, and the nuts have the same
characteristic thick and corrugated shell. The
butternut, however, is oval in shape, whereas the
PARENTS AND OFFSPRING
At the right, a
specimen of the
Persian or English walnut at the
a specimen of the Japanese walnut,
left,

known as Juglans SeiboldiL In the

center a hybrid between these two
species. It will be seen that the hybrid
is much larger than either parent, and
that it shows qualities of each, following
the Persian parent in its general
appearance, and the Japanese parent
in the form of the shell.
 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 45

walnut is nearly round. The meat of the butter-

nut is also somewhat richer in quality, and it is
generally regarded as superior in flavor. The
meat itself is by many people regarded as
superior to that of any other nut. The difficulty
isthat the shell, like that of the blacfc walnut, is
very thick, making it difficult to extract the meat
without breaking it.
The butternut thrives generally where the
black walnut does. It makes a more spreading
tree, but the wood is softer and far inferior for
cabinet purposes.
There is also an Asiatic species, known as

Juglans Manchurica, that may be regarded

as intermediate in form between the butter-
nut and the black walnut. The trees rather
closely resemble the Japanese walnut in general
appearance, but bear a nut with rough surface
like the butternut, and the meat is also similar
in quality and appearance to that of the

butternut, being superior to that of the black

walnut.
This tree be said to form a connecting
may
link between the Japanese walnut, the American
black walnut, and the butternut. Without doubt
itcould be used advantageously in a hybridizing
experiment that would ultimately blend the
strains of these different species.
46 LUTHER BURBANK
CULTIVATION or THE WALNUT
The idea of growing walnuts commercially is
one that has scarcely been thought of in the tem-
perate regions of the United States. Even in
regions of the Middle and Eastern States where
the English walnut will grow, it has never been
cultivated extensively, and of course this tree is
yet too tender to be profitably grown in the
colder Northern States. But the black walnut
and butternut, on the other hand, are exceed-
ingly hardy trees, thriving even in regions where
the winters are excessively cold.
All of these trees, however, require a deep, rich,
moist, loamy soil, in order to thrive. Trees that
produce wood of such extraordinary hardness of
texture, and nuts so stocked with fats and pro-
teins,could not be expected to draw adequate
nourishment from impoverished soil. In fact,
the black walnut and the butternut, in the re-
gions of the United States to which they are in-
digenous, are usually found growing along the
rivers, or in rich alluvial valleys. The idea that

they could be raised to advantage on soil that is

too poor to produce ordinary crops of cereals or
vegetables is fallacious.
At the moment, there is not demand enough
for the black walnut or the butternut to justify
 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 47

the raising of these trees on a commercial scale.

It will be necessary to produce new varieties by

hybridization and selective breeding before these

nuts can be madepopular. But, as before said,
there is every reason to believe that a series of
experiments looking to the production of im-
proved varieties would be more than justified by
the results obtained, and I shall point out in an-
other connection the commercial possibilities of
producing lumber trees in this way that make
the project doubly attractive.
It may be well to call attention to one or two

peculiarities of the walnut that should be known

toanyone that attempts hybridizing experiments.
In particular it should be understood that the
staminate flowers of the walnut usually bloom
and shed their pollen from one to four weeks
before the fruit-bearing nutlets appear.
One would naturally suppose, under these
circumstances, that the pollen would all be lost
and that there could be no crop. But the pollen
appears to retain its vitality for a long time, and
even where it has been shed some weeks before ,

the ripening of the pistillate flowers, there may

be a full crop. The hand-pollenizer must bear
in mind this tendency of the walnuts to mature
their flowers at different times. Still, as already

suggested, the pollen appears to retain its vital-

48 LUTHER BURBANK
ity,and ultimately to be able to effect fertiliza-
tion even though applied some time before the
full maturity of the pistils.
In parts of France the early spring frosts are

likely to be very destructive to the ordinary wal-

nuts, and the French nut raisers have come to
depend largely on the Franquette, a variety
already referred to. While this variety is in
some respects inferior, it has the one supreme
quality of not blossoming until the season of
spring frosts is over. It blooms perhaps four
weeks later than ordinary varieties. This in-
sures a good crop from the Franquette variety,
even in years when others have been damaged by
frost, so that the average production of this va-

riety throughout a term of years may be higher

than that of some others that in any given sea-
son may surpass it.
There is opportunity to cross this variety with
the other varieties of the Persian walnut that
blossom earlier,but produce a better crop of
nuts. Such crossing has supplied material from
which races have been developed that retain the
late-blooming habit of the Franquette, com-
bined with the nut-producing qualities of the
other parent.
Wehave seen that a tendency to bloom late in
the season is usually correlative to a tendency
 PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 49

to early ripening of fruit, so that late bloomers

are adapted to growth relatively far to the
north. But this exactly opposite with the
is

Franquette, this being a late walnut.

But for the production of very hardy races
it isprobable that hybridizing with the black
walnut, the same cross that produced the
Paradox, must be looked to, to supply the foun-
dation for a series of experiments in selective
breeding.
The pioneer work has been done in the pro-
duction of the Paradox walnut itself.
It mayreasonably be supposed that further
experiments, in which this hybrid is used as a
parent, will lead to the development of alto-
gether new races of nuts that will have economic
importance.
The entire matter of the development of com-
mercial nuts has only recently begun to attract
the attention of the growers. There is reason to
expect that the developments of the next few
generations will be comparable to the progress
of the past century in the development of
orchard fruits.
 THE CHESTNUT -BEARING
NUTS AT SIX MONTHS
A TREE WHICH RESPONDS TO EDUCATION

a boy in Massachusetts, I used

WHEN to observe the great variation among
American chestnuts in my
the native
father's woodlots. Like most boys I was fond
of nuts, and in gathering them soon learned that
there were certain trees that bore large, glossy,
rich brown nuts with sweet meats, and that there
were other trees that bore only small, flat, ash-
colored nuts of insignificant size and inferior
quality.
I observed that the trees that bore these seem-
ingly quite different nuts differed also in size
and in foliage, and particularly noted that such
variations were not due to any local conditions,
inasmuch as the trees bearing fine nuts and those
bearing poor ones might stand side by side.
Similar variations were noted regarding a
good many other trees and plants of various
kinds. But the variations among the chestnuts,
51
52 LUTHER BURBANK
and also among the pignuts, hazels, hickories,
shellbarks, and butternuts made a very vivid
impression on my mind. seemed strange that
It
trees obviously of the same kind should show
such diversity as to their fruit.

When,at a later period, experiments were

my
started in California, it occurred to me that a

plant showing such inherent tendency to vary

should afford an unusual opportunity for devel-
opment for bytime I had come to fully
this

appreciate the value of variation as the founda-

tion for the operations of the plant experimenter.
But I had conceived the idea also as our
earlier studies have shown that there would be
very great advantage in hybridizing the best
native species of plants with plants of foreign
origin. And mind among
the chestnuts were in
others when I sent to
Japan and Italy and the
Eastern States for new plants with which to
operate. So the very first lot of plants that came
to me from Japan (in November, 1884),
included twenty-five nuts that I find listed in a
memorandum as "monster" chestnuts. The same
shipment, it may be of interest to recall, included
loquats and persimmons with which some inter-
esting experiments were made; pears, peaches,
and plums of which the reader has already heard ;

and climbing blackberries and yellow and red

 THE CHESTNUT 53

fruited raspberries that had a share in the devel-

opment of some fruits that presently attained
commercial importance.
But perhaps there was nothing in the entire

consignment that was destined to produce seed-

lings with more interesting possibilities of devel-
opment than the twenty-five "monster" chest-
nuts. For the hereditary factors that these nuts
bore were to have an important influence in de-
veloping new races of chestnuts of strange habits
of growth chestnuts dwarfed to the size of
bushes, yet bearing mammoth nuts, and of such
precocity of habit as sometimes to begin bearing
when only six months from the seed.
To be sure, other chestnut strains were
blended with the Japanese before these anom-
alous results were produced; but it is certain
that the oriental parents had a strong influence
in determining some at least of the most inter-

esting peculiarities of the new hybrid races.

VERY MIXED ANCESTRY

That the antecedents of the precocious chest-
nuts may be clearly revealed, let me say at the
outset that the Japanese forms were hybridized
with the three other species as soon as they were
old enough to be mated, and that the hybrids in
turn were crossed and recrossed until the strains
SIX-MONTHS-OLD CHESTNUT
TREE IN BEARING
This is a veritable infant prodigy.

Only months ago its cotyledons

six

broke the soil; and to-day it bears

good clusters of maturing fruit, as the

picture shows. To cause a tree to take

on this habit of an annual plant is a
remarkable triumph in selective

breeding.
V*!
 THE CHESTNUT 55

had been blended of all the different kinds of

chestnuts that could be obtained.
These included, in addition to the Japanese
species just cited, representatives of the Euro-
pean chestnut in several of its varieties one of
which came from China and of the native
American chestnut of the familiar type; and
also the little native species known as the
Chinquapin.
It interesting to record that the chinquapin,
is

with its almost insignificant nut, crossed readily

with the Japanese species, the mammoth nut of
which would seem to place it in quite another
class.
But there is apparently a very close affinity
between all the different chestnuts. All of them
have varied and thus perpetuated forms that
more or less bridge the gap between the typical
representatives of the different species, and, so
far as my observations go, all of them may read-
ily be interbred. In a word, the chestnut fur-
nishes most plastic material for the purposes of
the plant developer. Just how I have utilized
that material will appear as we proceed.
At the time when the chestnuts were received
from Japan, there were already at hand trees of
the European and American species of various
sizes. So soon as the Japanese seedlings were of
56 LUTHER BURBANK
sufficient size, I grafted them on these Euro-
pean and American trees, in this way being able
to stimulate development, and to observe the

progress of cions from several hundred seedlings

on the same tree.

This, of course, is precisely the method used

with my plums and other orchard fruits. The
advantages already detailed in connection with
the orchard fruits were, of course, found to
apply equally to the chestnut. The ingrafted
cions were led to fruit much earlier than they
would have done on their own roots; there was
saving of space; and it was easy to hybridize
the many cions that were thus collected on a
single tree.
Of was carrying forward numerous
course, I
experiments with the chestnut all at the same
time crossing each species with every other spe-
cies, so that in a single season there would be a

large number of hybrid forms of different par-

entage. So when two of the hybrids were inter-
bred the strains of four different species or vari-
eties were blended. Thus a hybrid of the second
generation might combine the ancestral strains
of the Japanese and European and American
chestnuts and of the little chinquapin.
Thus opportunity was made for wide selec-
tion among hybrids that combined these various
 THE CHESTNUT 57

strains in different ways. And

for the next gen-
eration, I could combine different hybrids or in-
breed a given strain or introduce the traits of
any different variety chosen.
All these methods were utilized, and in addi-
tion, of course, the usual method of rigorous
selection was employed, so that soon a colony of
chestnuts was developed, not only of the most
complicated ancestry, but also a carefully se-
lected colony in which none that did not show

exceptional traits of one kind or another had

been permitted to remain.

PRECOCIOUS TRAITS
Of the many rather striking peculiarities of
the new hybrids, doubtless the one that attracts
most general attention is the habit of precocious
bearing.
From the outset these hybrids were urged to

early bearing, by the method of grafting and

selection, as already noted; and of course there
were saved for further purposes of experiment
only the individuals that were the most preco-
cious, if othergood qualities predominated.
But, even so, I was not prepared to find some of
these seedlings bearing large nuts in abundance
in eighteen months from the time of planting
the seed. Yet such extraordinary precocity as
YEARLING CHESTNUT TREE
IN BEARING
These precocious chestnuts are com-
pleoo hybrids, combining the traits of
European, American, and Japanese
ancestors. Such chestnut bushes as

this may perhaps take the place of

the devastated chestnut forests of our
Eastern States.
 ?>-*
.*,*
 THE CHESTNUT 59

thiswas shown by many of the seedlings in the

third and subsequent generations.
Moreover, if the grafts were taken from the
seedlings and placed on older trees, they would
produce nuts within six months after grafting.
During the past ten years, many of these seed-
lings have produced nuts, like annual plants,
the first year of planting, while growing on
their own roots, and when not over twelve to

eighteen inches in height.

The value of such habits of early bearing,
from the standpoint of the plant developer, will
be obvious. Ordinarily one must expect, in deal-
ing with nut-bearing trees, to wait for a long
term of years between generations. In the case
of the hickory, for example, after one has planted
the nut, it cannot be expected that the seedlings
will bear flowers and thus give opportunity for
a second hybridizing for at least ten years, and
no large crop of nuts may be produced till the
tree is forty or fifty years old. So even two or
three generations of the hickory compass a large
part of a century.
But with these new hybrid
chestnuts, genera-
tion may succeed generation at intervals of a
single year, just as if we were dealing with an
annual plant instead of a tree that may live for
a century. And of course to this fact very
60 LUTHER BURBANK
largely I owe the rapid progress of these experi-
ments in the development of new varieties of
chestnuts.
Not only do many mixed hybrids show
of the
this extraordinary precocity, but some of them
also develop the tendency to bear continuously.
On the same tree throughout most of the year
may be found flowers and ripe nuts. Flowers
both staminate and pistillate appear on the same
tree from time to time, season after season, and
in due course the flowers are replaced by grow-
ing nuts, so that there is a regular succession
month after month.
This habit of continuous bearing, manifested
by a tree that ordinarily produces its flowers and
in turn its nuts at fixed seasons, is perhaps
scarcely less remarkable than the habit of early
bearing. Doubtless the two are genetically
associated.
CHESTNUT SEEDLINGS
The care of the chestnut seedlings presents
no important complications.
The general plan in selecting seedlings for
further tests is the same employed in the selec-
tion of seedling fruit trees. Prominent buds,
large leaves, thick, heavy twigs, almost invaria-
bly forecast large, fine fruit. There is, however,
an exception to be noted in the case of the Jap-
 THE CHESTNUT 61

anese chestnut, which has smaller leaves. It is

necessary to bear this in mind in dealing with
seedlings that have a Japanese strain. It is
needless to say that the capacity to select the
right seedlings for preservation is highly impor-
tant, as an element in saving time and expense
in the practical development of improved vari-
eties of chestnuts.

Already, I have referred to the saving of time

that may be accomplished through grafting the
chestnut seedlings instead of waiting for them to
develop on their own roots. Unlike most other
trees, the chestnut should not be grafted until
just before the bark begins to slip in the spring.
If grafted much earlier it is necessary to protect
the grafts by tying a paper sack over them until
they start growth to prevent evaporation; but in
every case it is better to wait till shortly before
the bark begins to slip. This is unlike the
cherry, which must be grafted very early or suc-
cess is extremely doubtful.
When grafting is performed after the bark
begins to slip, it is necessary to tie down the
bark against the graft with a string to keep it
in place, otherwise it rolls away from the graft
and union does not take place. If grafting is
done at the right time and with reasonable care,
it is usually successful.
 A SIXMONTHS OLD
- -

CHESTNUT TREE
The picture shows the way in which
the chestnut burs form in relation to
the catkins. Many of the hybrid
chestnuts have the peculiar quality of

putting forth blossoms at almost

every season, so that flower buds and

blossoms and mature fruits may be

foimd on the same branch.

 THE CHESTNUT 63

In the main, very little attention has been

paid to the chestnut by cultivators of nuts.
Until very recently, such chestnuts as have
appeared in the market have been gathered
from wild trees or imported from Europe,
Recently, however, the possibilities of cultivating
the chestnut have gained attention and in a cer-
tain number of cases orchards have been started.
I have introduced three different varieties of
hybrid chestnuts, the Hale, the Coe, and the
McFarland, and these have been grafted on
ordinary chestnut stocks to form the basis
of many chestnut orchards of the Southern
States.
In some cases the roots of the
chinquapin
have been used as the foundation for grafting,
in regions where the ordinary chestnut does
not occur. Chestnut orchards have also been
started by planting the seed. Reasonable success
attends this method, but of course it lacks the
certainty of grafting. No one should attempt
to startan orchard except by grafting.
Unfortunately there has developed within
very recent years a disease that attacks the chest-
nut tree and invariably destroys it. The disease
appeared in the neighborhood of New
at first
York City about the year 1904, and it has
spread in all directions, each year reaching out
 64 LUTHER BURBANK
a 1920 there were very few
little farther, until in
chestnut trees unscathed within fifty or sixty
miles of the original center of contagion.
The cause of the disease is a fungus that is

perpetuated by minute spores that are presum-

ably carried through the air and that, when
they find lodgment, develop in such a way as to
destroy the cambium layer of the bark, pres-
ently causing the death of the tree. The small
twigs of a single branch will often first show the
influence of the fungus and the leaves may die
and become brown and shriveled on one or two
large limbs of the tree when no other part of it
is affected. But in the ensuing season the dis-
ease is sure to spread, and the tree seldom sur-
vives beyond the third year.
Asyet no way of combating the pest has been
suggested, except the heroic measure of cutting
down trees immediately they are attacked, and
burning every portion of their bark. In this
way it is hoped to limit somewhat the spread of
the disease, but it is by no means sure that the
method will be effective. There appears to be
danger that the pest will spread until it has dec-
imated the ranks of the chestnut throughout the
eastern United States ; and of course there is no
certainty that it may not find its way to the Pa-
cific Coast, although the lack of chestnut trees
 THE CHESTNUT 65

in the desert and plateau regions of the Middle

West may serve as a barrier.
The precise origin of the fungus that causes
the disease was not known until the summer of
1913, when it was discovered by Mr. Frank N.
Meyer, of the United States Department of
Agriculture, that the fungus (which bears the
name Endothia parasitica) is indigenous to
China. The oriental chestnut trees have be-
come practically immune to it, however, and it
does not destroy them, but merely blemishes
their bark here and there with canker spots. No
one knows just how the disease found its way to
the United States, but it may have come on
lumber brought from the Orient.
The appearance of this pest came as a very
discouraging factor just at a time when interest
in the chestnut as a commercial proposition was
being thoroughly aroused. Government bul-
letins had called attention to the value of its nut
and its possibility as a paying crop.
But, of course, expectations were nullified
all

in the regions where the ravages of the chestnut

fungus are felt.

Fortunately, appears that some of the
it

hybrid races that bear the oriental strain are

immune to the disease. Reports show that
hybrids between the Japanese chestnut and the
C Bur. VoL 8
 BUR AND CATKIN
It always seems matter for surprise
that the round burs of the chestnut
should grow in catkins that seemed
destined to produce fruit clusters of
a quite different type. Here is a
the contrast,
picture that emphasizes
as shows a well-developed bur in
it

connection with the remains of the

catkin.
 THE CHESTNUT 67

American chinquapin are peculiarly resistant.

The chinquapin itself is at least partially immune
to the disease, but of course this tree bears a nut
that is too small to have commercial value. The
hybrids, however, in some cases are said to retain
the good qualities of the chestnut tree combined
with the capacity to bear large nuts acquired
from their oriental ancestor.
It is obvious, then, that here is another case in
which the introduction of new blood from the
Orient may be of inestimable value. The loss of
our native chestnuts is a calamity, but it is a
calamity that is not irreparable. may have We
full assurance that new chestnut groves will

spring up in the wake of the pest.

It is obvious that the early-bearing chestnut
offers great advantages for such reforestation.
The probability that these will prove immune
to the pest gives them added attractiveness. If,
however, the existing varieties should prove not
to be immune, it will be necessary to develop
resistant varieties. For it is obvious that the cul-
tivation of the chestnut will not be abandoned
merely because it has met with an unexpected
setback.
It has already been pointed out that the chest-
nut has exceptional food value on account of its
high percentage of starchy matter. It therefore
68 LUTHER BURBANK
occupies a place in the dietary that is not held by
any other nut. So there is an exceptional
incentive to reintroduce the trees in devastated
regions.
THE CHESTNUT ORCHARD
Possibly the coming of the chestnut plague,
even though it has resulted directly in the
destruction of the entire chestnut groves through-
out wide regions, may be a blessing in disguise,
as it may make necessary to bring the chestnut
it

under cultivation in order to preserve the nut

at all, whereas in the past it has grown so abun-

dantly in the wild that little attention has been

paid to it.

Accounts of the destruction of the trees have

doubtless brought the chestnut to the attention
of many people who hitherto have never given
it a thought. The value of the chestnut as an
ornamental tree and its possibilities as a nut pro-
ducer will perhaps be more fully appreciated
than they otherwise would be on the familiar
principle that blessings brighten as they take
their flight. And it may chance that the tree
will be placed under cultivation so generally as
to more abundant twenty-five or thirty
be
years from now in the devastated regions than
it would have been if the chestnut blight had

not appeared.
 THE CHESTNUT 69

In any event it seems now at least as desirable

as ever before to urge the value of this tree both
for ornamental purposes and as a producer of
commercial nuts, and the rules for the develop-
ment of chestnut orchards that have been given
by the Department of Agriculture may be
reviewed to advantage.
Even people living in the infected district
if

are slow to take up the cultivation of the chest-

nut, the orchardists of other regions may advan-
tageously do so. For it is not supposable that
the coming of a fungoid pest will be permitted
to exterminate one of our most valuable native
trees.
In developing a commercial chestnut orchard
it is obviously desirable to graft with the
improved varieties. Quite aside from the mat-
ter of producing trees that are immune to the

fungous pest, the orchard may be made far more

productive if grafted with improved varieties
than if the native species were used.
Some
of these seedlings, for example, produce
nuts two inches in diameter, each weighing an
ounce or more; and these are borne in clusters of
from six to nine nuts to the bur. It is notable,
however, that excessively large nuts are
the
usually lacking in flavor; although the reason-
ably large ones are of the best quality.
 WELL PROTECTED
Most of the hybrid chestnuts have
a spiny covering that affords ample
protection against the attacks of birds
or squirrels. In this regard, the speci-
men here shown resembles the typical
chestnuts of our eastern forests. There
are other varieties, however, that have

given up their spiny covering, leaving

the burs as smooth as apples.
 THE CHESTNUT 71

These hybrid varieties graft readily on the

native stock. They may be counted on to bear
abundantly the second season. It may be well,
however, to pick off the burs as soon as formed
during the first year or two, in order that the

energies of the tree may be given over to the

production of branches.
Even where the blight has destroyed the chest-
nut, the sprouts that spring up everywhere about
the stumps of the trees may be grafted and trees
of more satisfactory qualities than the old ones
and far more productive may thus be developed
in the course of a few years.
Where the chestnut orchard is developed from
the seed or by transplanting seedlings, it is rec-
ommended that it should be located on a well-
drained sandy or gravelly soil. The trees thrive
well on rocky hillsides, and even on rather poor
sand, but observation has shown that they are
somewhat uncertain of growth on stiff clay soils
in the east, although Italian chestnuts in Cali-
fornia are said to thrive on heavy clays. In gen-
eral, it is more important to have a thoroughly
drained soil than of a particular character.
soil

It will be recalled that my new varieties were

developed on the foundation of stocks imported

from Japan. It will also be understood, as a
matter of course, that selections with this tree as
72 LUTHER BURBANK
with all other plants have been made always with

an eye to the exclusion of any races that showed

susceptibility to fungous pests of any kind.
As an illustration of the care with which these
selections were made, in the development of the

improved varieties, I may note that in various

instances only three or four seedlings were
selected out of ten thousand. It may be added
that orchards made by grafting cions of these

improved hybrid chestnuts on ordinary Ameri-

can stock have proved enormously productive.
It has been estimated that rocky and otherwise
useless hillsides may be made productive, where

practically nothing else could be grown that

would be of special value.
This western
golden chestnut (Castanea
chrysophylla) is a remarkable species. On the
heights of the Sierra Nevada mountains it grows
as a shrub only four or five feet tall, much
branched. These shrubs produce nuts quite
abundantly. Along the coast the same species
grows to a height of 150 feet, with an im-
mense trunk. One can scarcely believe that
the little bush and the gigantic tree are of the
same species.
Being an unusually ornamental evergreen the
mountain variety should be extensively planted
in cold climates.
 THE CHESTNUT 73

There is a great difference among the different

chestnuts as to the amount of their sugar con-
tent. In some species the starch is so little trans-
formed that the nuts are scarcely edible unless
cooked. In others there is an abundant sugar
content, the nuts being sweet and palatable. Of
course this matter was in mind in developing
hybrid varieties. But there is still opportunity
for improvement.
It is also desirable to reduce the amount
of tannin contained in nearly all of the
varieties.
Some of the chinquapin varieties also have the
habit of holding the leaves during the winter,

giving the trees a very untidy appearance. Seed-

lings that show this tendency should be avoided
in making selection.

POINTS IN SELECTION
Of course it is elementary to say that the nuts
should be selected for dark, rich, glossy brown
color, for tenderness of flesh, and for productive-
ness. Of my three earlier introduced varieties,
allwere early and abundant bearers, but one
was particularly notable for its earliness, and
another for its combination of good qualities.

Doubtless the feature that is next in line of

improvement in the development of the chestnut
 CHESTNUTS IN THE BUR
In this specimen., as will be seen, the

spiny covering is relatively reduced,, as

compared with the bulk of the nuts
within the bur. Contrast this speci-
men., with regard to its
spiny covering,
with the specimens shown in the pre-

ceding pictures.
r
 THE CHESTNUT 75

is the bur itself. A few of these hybrid seed-

lings were wholly spineless, the covering being

as smooth as that of the walnut. In the wild
state, the chestnut needs a spiny bur to protect
it from squirrels and birds. It has developed this

protective covering through natural selection,

just as the walnut has developed its thick coat
filled with bitter astringent juices.
The new
partially spineless varieties have been
developed merely by selection from a hybrid seed-
ling that produced nuts showing a tendency to
have fewer spines than ordinarily. Of course the
tendency to vary in this regard was accentuated
by hybridization as were other tendencies. Or,
stated otherwise and a little more technically, the
hybridization has made possible the segregation
of hereditary characteristics, bringing to the sur-
face factors for spinelessness that no doubt have
been transmitted as recessive traits for perhaps
thousands of generations.
No doubt difficulties will be involved in per-
fecting a race of chestnuts with smooth burs
similar to those that attend the development of
the thornless blackberry and the spineless cac-
tus. But there reason to expect that the same
is

measure of success will be attained with the

chestnut that was attained with the other spine
bearers.
76 LUTHER BURBANK
A nut that combines all the good qualities of
the hybrid early-bearing chestnuts and in addi-
tion is borne in a spineless bur would have a
combination of qualities that should appeal to
the orchardist,and doubtless will do so when the
idea that chestnuts may form valuable commer-
cial crops gains wider appreciation.
 THE HICKORY NUT AND
OTHER NUTS
IMPROVEMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN MADE
AND SOME SUGGESTIONS

is perhaps no other wild plant pro-

THERE ducing a really delicious food product that

has been so totally neglected by the culti-
vator as the shagbark or shellbark hickory tree
(Gary a ovata).
The better varieties of hickory nuts always
find a ready sale in the market, and are highly

prized by the housekeeper. But such nuts as

find their way to the market are almost without
any exception the product of wild trees, gathered
usually by some wandering boy, and often re-
garded as the property of whoever can secure
them, regardless of the ownership of the land on
which the tree grows.
Even the new interest in nuts as food products
and as orchard crops that has been developed in
our own generation, has hardly as yet included
the hickory, or at least has not sufficed to bring
77
78 LUTHER BURBANK
the hickory tree from the woods and give it a
place within the territory of the orchardist.
The reason for this, doubtless, is that the
hickory is a tree of very slow growth, and that it

is also exceedingly difficult to propagate by

budding or grafting, or any other process except
from the seed.
The prospectof improving the product of a
tree that does not bear until it is ten or fifteen

years old, and that resists all efforts to force it to

early bearing, is not alluring, considering the
short span of human life. Yet we can scarcely
doubt that the hickory nut will soon be brought
within the ken of the plant experimenter,
and that there will
ultimately be developed
nuts of very choice varieties, comparable in size,
probably, to the English walnut, and having a
quality that will place them at least on a par with
any other nut now grown in the temperate zones.
Even in the wild state the best of shellbark
hickories bear nuts of unchallenged quality. It
is a matter of course that these nuts can be

improved by cultivation and selective breeding.

Material for such selective breeding is fur-
nished abundantly by the wide variation of hick-
ories in the wild state, I had observed this varia-
tion in my boyhood days, just as I had noted the
variation in the chestnuts. The shagbark hick-
 THE HICKORY NUT 79

ory, doubtless the best of the tribe, was quite

abundant along the banks of the Nashua River
near my home, and I early learned
to distinguish
the great difference in the products of the trees,
allof which, of course, were natural seedlings.
Among hundreds of trees there would be
scarcely two that bore nuts of precisely the same
appearance and quality.
Some of these hickory nuts were long and
slender, with prominent ridges; some were short
and compact and smooth in contour; some were
very flat and others were nearly globular. The
shell varied correspondingly in thickness, and the
meat varied greatly in whiteness and in flavor.
As a boy I knew very well which trees to seek
in the fall in order to secure nuts that
were plump
and thin-shelled, with sweet and delicious meats.
It was only after the crop of these trees had been
gathered that inferior ones gained attention.
I knew very well, also, that different trees
varied greatly in productiveness, some bearing
nuts so abundantly each year that the ground
was literally covered when the nuts fell. Others
produced nuts very sparingly.
The trees that thus varied as to their fruit,
varied also in form, in size, and in rapidity of
growth. In a word, the wild hickories repre-
sented numerous varieties that a boy could differ--
 HICKORY NUTS
There is marked variation in the size,

form,, and quality of the nuts of differ-

ent hickory trees, even when growing
in the same neighborhood. Thus there
is good opportunity for selective breed-

ing, but unfortunately the hickory is

of such slow growth that few experi-

menters have the courage to undertake
its development. The hickory does not
ordinarily bear nuts until it is ten or
twelve years old.
 THE HICKORY NUT 81

entiate, whether or not a botanist might choose to

classify them as members of the same species.
All these varied members of the shagbark
tribe bear nuts that have an unmistakable indi-

viduality of flavor that distinguishes them from

any other nuts. Much as they varied in size and
degrees of excellence, all of them were hickory
nuts, and could be mistaken for nothing else.
There were, however, other hickory trees grow-
ing in equal abundance on my father's place,
though they differed essentially in appearance
from the shagbark nuts, that produced nuts of a
far less interesting character.
Hickories of this kind were locally called pig-
nuts. They are classified by the botanist as
Hicoria gldbra, or Carya glabra.
The trees of this species are more upright and
symmetrical, and of much more rapid growth
than the shagbark. The nut has a thin husklike
outer cover and a rather thick shell, and the meat
is difficult to remove, and is so ill-flavored that it

prized by anyone. Indeed, the nuts are

is little

usually not gathered at all if shagbark hickories

of any quality can be obtained.
Nevertheless, there was great diversity among
the pignuts no less than among the hickories of
the better species. So with these also there is
doubtless opportunity of improvement through
82 LUTHER BURBANK
selective breeding, although up to the present
time few comprehensive experiments in this
direction have been made.
I have now little doubt that some of the variant
hickories that I knew as a boy were hybrids.
The two species of hickory are closely related
and I have reason to believe hybridize sometimes
in the wild state. I have received specimens of

hickory nuts from different parts of the United

States that certainly were natural hybrids and no
doubt such hybridization occurs not infrequently.
The hickory and the pecan also cross quite
readily.
It is probable that when the attempt is sys-
tematically made to develop the hickory nut, the
method of hybridizing the various species will be
employed to give still wider variation and to
facilitate a wider selection.

SOME ENORMOUS WESTERN HICKORIES

There a species of the hickory nut (C. lacini-
is

osa) that grows in the valleys of the Mississippi

and the Ohio that is of relatively enormous size.
The shell of this variety, however, is thick, and
the meat is not generally as fine in flavor as that
of the eastern shellbark hickory. But the size of
thiswild variety gives assurance that under culti-
vation and selection the nut may be made to take
 THE HICKORY NUT 83

on proportions that will be very attractive.

Doubtless the comparatively small size of the
wild hickory nut has led to its neglect, although
we must recall that the walnut and the butternut
have also been neglected, notwithstanding their
much larger size.

The chief reason why these nuts have been

overlooked, doubtless, is that the idea of making
nuts a cultivated crop, comparable to orchard
fruits, has only recently been conceived in Amer-
ica or at all events has only recently been given

general recognition.
There is reason to expect that the next genera-
tion will see somewhat the same rapid progress
in the art of developing the nut-bearing trees that
has been witnessed in the past three or four in the
development of orchard fruits. And certainly
the hickory nut, walnut, and butternut constitute
better native material than the wild plums, for

example, with the aid of which some of the finest

varieties of cultivated plums have been developed
within most recent years.
And it must not be forgotten that the work of
developing our native nuts has already passed
the experimental stage with regard to at least one
species. This is the nearest relative of the
hickory, a member of the same genus, which is

familiar as the pecan.

 A PECAN TREE
The pecan is closely related to the

hickory, but is a much less

hardy tree,
being confined to the Southern States.
It sometimes hybridizes with the hick-

ory in the wild state, and it is possible

that new and hardy varieties of nuts

might be produced by selection among

the progeny of such a cross. The pecan
is rapidly assuming great importance
as a commercial nut.
 THE HICKORY NUT 85

This nut grows only in the southern parts of

the United States, being far less hardy than the
other hickories. But what it lacks in hardiness it

makes up in quality, and it is

pretty generally
regarded as the best nut that is grown in tem-
perate climates, not even excepting the English
walnut.
The relationship between the northern hick-
ories and the pecan is attested by the fact that in
the regions where the two tribes intermingle, they
hybridize freely.
I have received specimens of the nuts that were
undoubtedly hybrids between the shagbark hick-
ory and the pecan, and these included two or
three varieties that are among the finest nuts that
I have ever seen. Great improvements in the
pecan may result from hybridizing this nut with
the shagbark hickory.

THE CULTIVATION OF THE PECAN

Even in existing varieties, however, the
its

pecan nut has most attractive qualities and it has

;

the distinction of being the only native nut that

has hitherto been placed under cultivation on an
extensive scale and has attained commercial
importance.
We have already referred to the economic
importance of this nut in an earlier chapter, and
86 LUTHER BURBANK
mention was there made of the fact that all the
pecans now under cultivation are directly derived
from a few wild varieties that have been propa-
gated by budding and grafting. It is only in
recent years that a method of grafting this nut
successfully has been developed, and as yet little
or nothing has been done toward improving the
wild varieties.
The fact that the nut in its wild state has such
attractive qualities gives full assurance that
under cultivation and development it will prove
of even greater value.
In selecting the best wild varieties for cultiva-
tion, attention has been paid to the matter of
early bearing, and in particular to persistent
bearing. So the orchards that have recently been
started are stocked with trees that may be ex-
pected to bear crops of nuts in about seven or
eight years, and that may be depended on to pro-
duce a crop each year with reasonable certainty.
But as to both time of bearing and regularity and
abundance of production, there is still oppor-
tunity for much improvement.
Doubtless improved varieties may be secured
through mere selection by raising seedlings from
the nuts grown on trees that were especially good
bearers. But it is probable, also, that the full
possibility of the pecan will not be realized until
 THE HICKORY NUT 87

extensive series of crossing experiments have

been carried out.
Hitherto, no extensive experiments in hybrid-
izing the various species and varieties have been
carried out, although it is barely possible that
some of the wild varieties of pecans that have
been brought into the orchard were natural
hybrids.
It is to be hoped that experiments along this
line will be taken up in the near future, but, of

course, many years will be required before

notable results can be attained.
It is desirable, also, to cross the pecan with the
Japanese walnut. If hybridization could be
effected, it may be expected that trees of rapid
growth, similar to my hybrid walnuts, will be
produced. Not unlikely some varieties that tend
to produce nuts at a very early age, like my
hybrid chestnuts, may also appear as the result
of such combinations. And in any event it may
confidently be expected that new varieties will

give opportunity for wide selection, and for rela-

tively rapid improvement in the qualities of the
nuts themselves.
We have learned that the preeminent quali-
ties of our various cultivated fruits have largely
been given them by natural and artificial

crossing.
 A VARIETY OF TROPICAL
NUTS
Here are a few specimens among
the many tropical nuts with which
we chance to be experimenting at the
present time. Just what will come of
these experiments it is not possible
to predict.
 THE HICKORY NUT 89

The contrast between the tiny beach plum, for

example, and its gigantic descendant a few gen-
erations removed, offers an object lesson in the
possibilities of fruit development by crossing and
selection. And, for that matter, each and every
one of our improved varieties of orchard fruits
teaches the same lesson, even though the wild
progenitor is not at hand for comparison.
So there is every reason to expect that the wild
pecan will similarly respond to the efforts of the
plant developer, and that descendants, a few
its

generations removed, will take on qualities that

even the most sanguine experimenter of to-day
would scarcely dare to predict.
One improvement that might probably be se-
cured without great difficulty is the introduction
of the quality of hardiness, so that the pecan
might be cultivated farther to the north. At
present the pecan does not produce profitably
as a rule, even in the coast counties of California,
as the nights are too cool, thus making the season
too short for the pecan to ripen its fruit. About
Vacaville they thrive much better, and the Sacra-
mento and San Joaquin Valleys, where the
nights are very warm, there is as good prospect
of growing the pecan profitably as anywhere else
in the world. But in the main the cultivation of
this nut has hitherto been restricted to the region
90 LUTHER BURBANK
of the Gulf of Mexico. It is obviously desirable
that so valuable a nut should be adapted to
growth in wider territories.
The fact that the pecan will hybridize with the

hardy hickory obviously points the way to the

method through which this end may be attained.
The peculiarity of the hickory and pecan that
is associated with their long life and slow growth,
is the fact that during their first year the seed-
lings make perhaps 99 per cent of their growth
under ground. They produce enormous roots
before they make any appreciable growth above
ground.
It not unusual to find pecan seedlings an
is

inch high with roots from four to six feet in

length, and an inch in diameter at the widest

part.
Such a root system prepares the tree for the
strong growth that characterizes it later; but a
seedling that makes only a few inches of growth
in the first season a rather discouraging plant
is

from the standpoint of the cultivator. Doubtless

the pecan may be induced to change its habit in
thisregard by hybridizing. The example of the
hybrid walnuts may be cited as showing that a
tree that is ordinarily slow of growth may be
made on the habit of very rapid growth
to take
without relinquishing any of its other character-
 THE HICKORY NUT 91

istics of hardiness and the production of valuable

timber.
The case of the Royal walnut shows also that
the tree that thus becomes a rapid grower may
also have the habit of enormous productivity.
If the pecan could similarly be stimulated to
increased rapidity of growth, and to a propor-
tionate capacity for nut bearing, this tree would
be a fortune-maker for the orchardist. And there
isno obvious reason why the pecan should not
have the same possibilities of development that
have been demonstrated to be part of the endow-
ment of its not very distant relative, the walnut.

FILBERTS AND HAZELNUTS

There is yet another native American nut as
hardy and as widespread as the hickory, that has
been even more persistently neglected. This is
the familiar hazelnut.
There are two familiar types of hazelnut that
often grow in the same region, and that resemble
each other so closely that the boys who gather the
nuts commonly do not discriminate between
them. One
of these grows in husks with a long
beak, while the other has an incurved husk that in
some cases does not fully cover the nuts. There
are sundry varieties of the two species that may
sometimes be found growing in the same patch.
 CHINQUAPINS AND
CHESTNUTS
The chinquapin is a species of chest-
nut bearing very small nuts, which
have, however, the typical chestnut

form and quality. The picture, show-

ing chinquapins at the top and dwarf
hybrid chestnuts below, illustrates both
the similarity in form and the contrast
in size. The strains of the chinquapin

have been combined with those of the

other chestnuts in our complex hybrids.
 THE HICKORY NUT 93

The fact of such variation in the wild species

isof course important from the standpoint of the
plant developer. We
have learned from fre-
quent repetition that where there is variation
there is opportunity for selection and im-
provement.
The hazelnut has a European relative that is

familiar in America as the filbert. This is

merely a larger hazelnut, the qualities of the two

nuts both as to form and flavor being such as to
leave no question of their relationship. But for
some reason the European nut appears not to
thrive in this country. At all events it has never
been cultivated here on a commercial scale.
But for that matter the hazelnut has never
been cultivated on a scale commercial or other-
wise, unless in the most exceptional instances
when has been brought into the garden by some
it

one rather as a curiosity than for any commercial

purpose. Yet the nut is a really valuable one,
and certainly it is one that may repay cultivation
and development.
Attempts have been made to grow the Euro-
pean filbert in Sonoma County, California, both
from seed and from division, but in all cases these
attempts have failed. The purple-leafed hazel-
nut grows and thrives here in California as it does
almost everywhere else in the United States.
94 LUTHER BURBANK
The species known
as Corylus rostrata grows
wild rather abundantly in certain sections, but
it isa shy bearer.
There is no obvious reason v/hy the European
filbert should not be cultivated in this country
if a study is made of its needs as to soil and cli-

mate. Also, there is no apparent reason why it

should not be crossed with the American hazel-
nut. The result of such crossing, if we may draw
inferences from analogy, would be the produc-
tion of a race of hazel-filberts of greatly increased
size,and of improved quality.
There is a so-called filbert, or Chilean hazelnut,
that grows in South America. This plant bears
a nut similar to the filbert, but very much larger
in size and of far better quality. It is difficult,

however, to get a start in the cultivation of this

plant, as its seeds when brought to this country

ordinarily do not germinate. I have at last suc-

ceeded, however, in producing several young
trees. This is a beautiful evergreen tree, and
should prove of great value. In its own country
the young trees are highly prized, selling for a
large sum when only a few inches high.
The European filbert grows readily from the
seed, but does not by any means come true. In-
deed, it proves exceedingly variable. But this,

of course, from the standpoint of the plant de-

 THE HICKORY NUT 95

veloper could not be regarded as a fault. If

through selective breeding a variety could be pro-

duced that would bear regularly and abundantly,
and in particular if the size of the nuts was in-

creased, this would be one of the most important

of all nuts. As yet, however, a variety that is
adapted to growth in this country has not
been produced.

SOME FOREIGN POSSIBILITIES

A nut that has come to be fairly well known

in the market in recent years, but which has
hitherto scarcely been grown in this country, is
the Pistachio. The on which this nut grows
tree
is a member of the sumac family. The nuts are
small, but on the best trees are produced in
profusion.
In recent years the Department of Agricul-
ture of the United States Government has im*
ported a great number of plants and seeds of the
pistachio, wjhich are now being grown experi-
mentally, and which, it is hoped, will form the
basis of an extensive culture of this nut. The
experiment has not as yet progressed far enough
tomake predictions possible as to the results. My
own experience with the nut is limited to the
growing of a few plants about thirty-five years
ago, which, after they had been cultivated for a
96 LUTHER BURBANK
dozen years or more were found not to be a fruit-
ing variety, and so were destroyed.
An Australian tree-shrub, a small tree called
the Macadamia ternifolia, has been introduced in
California in recent years, and is regarded as a
valuable acquisition. The tree is ornamental,
and bears a fruit that regarded as of value. At
is

the center of the fruit is a round, delicious nut,

much larger than the ordinary filbert, sometimes
almost equaling a small English walnut, that is
fully equal in flavor to the best filbert or almond.
The Macadamia has proved hardy in this
vicinity, but requires a well-drained soil. A wet
winter very destructive to the trees, unless they
is

are on dry, well-drained land.

There are several species of Macadamia,, the
one that I have raised most extensively being
known as Macadamia This is a hand-
ternifolia.
some evergreen, the leaves of which resemble
those of the magnolia, but are thinner and
rougher. The nuts are often an inch in diameter,
with rather thin but hard shells, and large, round,
delicious meats. Further tests will be necessary
before the climatic limitations of the Macadamia
are fully established. But in regions where it can
be grown, it must prove a nut of great value.
 GROWING TREES FOR
LUMBER
PROFITABLE FORESTRY

years ago I had a talk with an

MANY official connected with the Department
of Forestry, at Washington, in which I
suggested that the problems of his department
could best be met by the development of new
types of forest trees.
The official regarded the suggestion as

grotesque. In common with nearly everyone

else at that time he looked upon the tree as
a fixed product of nature, quite beyond the
possibilities of any change that man could
direct.
There was a time when Darwinism, although
it had pretty fully established itself in the scien-

tific world, was still on trial in the minds of the

people in general. And even those who accepted

the general truth of the Darwinian doctrine of
evolution for the most part did not realize that
evolution is a process that is going on about us
97
D Bur. Vol. 8
98 LUTHER BURBANK
to-day along the same lines that have character-
ized it in the past.
To accept the doctrine of evolution at all re-
quired the overturning of the most fundamental
ideas. After the conception had been grasped
that in the past there had been eras of change
and development, it was a long time before even
the most imaginative scientist fully grasped the
notion that our age also is a time of change and
transition, and that the metamorphoses of plants
and animals through which new forms have
evolved in the past are being duplicated under
our eyes in our own time. And in particular, as
regards so massive and seemingly stable a struc-
ture as the tree, was it peculiarly difficult for
botanists to conceive of flexibility and propensity
to change, or to evolve, in the present time.
It is true that no very keen observation was
required to see that trees differ among them-
selves within the same species, but it is also true
that these divergences always fall within certain
limits and that on the whole they may be re-

garded as insignificant when weighed in the

balance against numberless characteristics in

regard to which the trees of a species seem

practically identical.
Take, for example, all the individuals that one
could observe of, let us say, the common shag-
 LUMBER TREES 99

bark hickory, the variations of which were re-

ferred to in the preceding chapter. Attention
was called to the fact that the hickories observed
as a boy in the neighborhood of my New Eng-
land home differed in size and form, and that the
nuts that they bore were sometimes oval, some-
times rounded in form, sometimes rough, some-
times smooth, sometimes thick, and sometimes
thin of shell, and equally diversified as to the

quality of their meat. But of course I should

be foremost to admit that all these diversities
were in the aggregate of minor significance in
comparison with the characteristics that even the
most divergent of the hickories had in common
each with all the rest. All were trees that at-
tained a fair size as trees go.
All have roots and trunks and branches of the
same general form and aspect as much alike,
for example, as the bodies and arms and legs of
human beings.
All of them had leaves that could at once be
distinguished as being leaves of the hickory and
of no other tree.
All had bark with the same characteristic
whitish colorand the same tendency to scale off
in layers; and although the bark of some was
much rougher than that of others, any fragment
of bark of any hickory tree could readily enough
10Q LUTHER BURBANK
be distinguished as characteristic of the species,
and as not by any chance having grown on any
other kind of tree.
Then, too, if the hickory treewere felled and
cut into firewood, the texture and fiber of the
wood itself enabled anyone who glanced at it to

pronounce hickory as definitely and with as

it

much certitude as if he had seen the tree

while living and in full leaf. No other wood
had quite the same whiteness as the pignut
hickory, or quite the same strength and elasticity
of fiber.
The Indians had learned this in the old days,
and had used the hickory of a preference always
in making their bows.
Weboys, in our barbaric age, followed the
Indian's example. We
knew that a bow of
hickory had elastic qualities that no other bow
could hope to match.
All in then, the hickory, despite the trivi-
all,

alities of variation which are mentioned in the

preceding chapter, stands apart when we come

to examine it comprehensively, as a tree differ-
ing from all others and obviously entitled to
stand as a unified and differentiated genus.
And what
is true of the hickory is no less true

of eachand every species of tree in our forest.

Each walnut and oak and beech and birch and
 LUMBER TREES 101

pine and linden and locust has a thousand points

of unison with every other member of its own
species, could we analyze its characteristics in
detail, for every conspicuous point of divergence.
If we consider minutiae of detail as to size and
exact form of leaf and all the rest, no two in-
dividuals are identical. But if, on the other

hand, we take the broad view, it is clear that each

recognized species stands out in a place apart,

grouped with all the other members of its own
kind, and somewhat isolated from all other
species.
Such being the obvious fact, it was perhaps
not strange that the botanists and foresters of
twenty-five years ago looked almost with sus-
picion on anyone who suggested that the differ-
ent species of forest trees might be interbred
and modified and used as material for building
ofnew species that would better fulfill the con-
ditions of reforestation than any existing species.
Even botanists who thought that
they fully
grasped the idea of Darwinian evolution looked
askance at such a suggestion.
It seemed to bid defiance to the laws of
heredity, as they understood them.
It appeared almost like an affront to Nature
herself to suggest that her handiwork might thus
be modified and improved.
102 LUTHER BURBANK
MATERIALS FOE SELECTION
And it well be questioned whether this
may
point of view would have been altered even to
this day had it not been for a conspicuous and
notable demonstration of the possibility of modi-
fying existing species of trees.
The demonstration was made when I took
pollen from the flower of a Persian walnut and
transferred it to the pistils of the California
black walnut.
Here were two species of trees so notably dif-
ferent in form and shape of leaf and fruit and
color of wood that not even the most casual
observer could confound them. They were not
even natives same continent, and no
of the
botanist would claim that they were as closely
related as are many species of forest trees that
grow side by side in our woodlands and maintain
unchallenged their specific identity.
Yet when these two trees were cross-pollen-
ized they produced fertile nuts, and trees of a
new order grew from these fertile seeds.
The between these not very closely
barriers
related species were broken down, and a new
type of forest tree was produced that differed
so markedly from either parent that no one
could confound it with either, and that excelled
 LUMBER TREES 103

both in the capacity for rapid growth so con-

spicuously as to seem to belong not merely to a
different species but to an entirely different tribe
of trees.
Here referred to only in connection with
it is

the demonstration it gave of the possibility that

new types of forest trees might be developed by
hybridization and selection, quite as had been
claimed in the comment that aroused such skep-
tical and even sarcastic response from the pro-
fessional forester.
But had been made
after this demonstration
it was no longer possible even for the hide-
bound conservative to deny the possibility that
forest trees, like other plants, are somewhat
plastic materials in the hands of the plant

developer.
And in course of time it came to be recog-
nized though even now the knowledge has
scarcely been acted on that the new idea given
by observation of the Royal and Paradox wal-
nuts could be utilized for the practical purpose
of supplying timber trees that might be expected
to restock our woodland in a fraction of the time
that would be required for the growing of trees
of unmodified wild species.
The row Paradox walnut trees which at
of
fifteen years of age were two feet in diameter
 THE WILD NUTMEG
The nutmegs belong to the genus
Myristica. They are mostly tropical
plants and must be cultivated under
glass if grown in northern regions.
This is a handsome evergreen, rare even
in California. It is in no way related
to the tropical nutmeg except in the

appearance of the fruit.

 LUMBER TREES 10,5

and towered as beautiful and symmetrical trees

to the height of sixty feet, standing just across
the street from their Persian parent, which at
thirty-two years of age was nine inches in diam-
eter and perhaps forty feet high, afforded an

object lesson that even the most skeptical could

not ignore.
The Royal and Paradox hybrids and their fel-
lows must be called upon to restock the ravaged
timber lands of America. New hybrids must
be produced by the union of varied species of
pines, oaks, and elms, and other timber and
ornamental trees, to give diversity to the
landscape and to supply different types of
wood for the uses of carpenter and cabinet-
maker.
The Royal and Paradox walnuts as the
working model for a new order of mechanism
a timber tree that shall be able to reforest a
treeless region in half a human generation
with a growth ready for the ax and saw of
the lumberman.

THE MATERIALS AT HAND

In preparing this new material for the making
of forest trees, it will be possible, no doubt, to
bring trees from foreign lands, either for direct
transplantation or as hybridizing agents.
106 LUTHER BURBANK
Thus, as we have seen, one of the parents of
the Paradox walnut was a tree not indigenous to
America. But we may recall also that another
hybrid walnut, the Royal, which sprang from the
union of two indigenous species, the black wal-
nut of the eastern United States and the black
walnut of California, rivals the Paradox in its

capacity for rapid and gigantic growth.

So it is obvious that we are by no means re-
duced to the necessity of making requisition on
foreign lands for material with which to develop
our new races of quick-growing forest trees.
But, on the other hand, the plant developer is
always willing to take his own where he finds
it. So foreign species can be found that will
if

hybridize advantageously with our native species,

they will of course be welcomed. The reader
will recall that I have invoked the aid of num-
berless exotic fruit trees and vegetables and
flower bearers in the course of experiments in
plant development.
In some cases it willbe possible to bring the
foreign species and acclimate them without
hybridization. This has been done with several
species of eucalyptus and acacias which have
been brought to California from Australia and
have proved a wonderful addition to the ranks
of our ornamental and timber trees.
 LUMBER TREES 107

Everyone who visits California marvels at the

eucalyptus, and those of us who watch it year
after year marvel equally, because this tree has

capacity for growth that seems little less than

magical. No other trees, perhaps, ever seen in
America, with the exception of the hybrid wal-
nuts, have such capacity to add to their stature
and girth year by year as has the eucalyptus.
Moreover the eucalyptus may be cut for tim-
ber, its trunk severed only a few inches above
the ground; and it will send forth shoots that
dart into the air and transform themselves into
new trunks, each seeming to strive to rival the
old one. From the roots of the fallen giant
spring a galaxy of new giants, and each new
shoot assumes the proportions of a tree with
almost unbelievable celerity.
Add that the wood
of the eucalyptus, notwith-

standing rapid growth, is among the hardest,

its

and the remarkable character of this importation

from the Southern Hemisphere will be more
clearly realized.
Unfortunately the eucalyptus is sensitive to
cold ; otherwise it would at once offer a solution
of the problem of reforestation throughout the
whole of the United States.
Perhaps the eucalyptus may be made more
hardy by hybridizing and selection. At least we
108 LUTHER BURBANK
must heed the lessonsgives in common with
it

the hybrid walnuts as to the possibility that a

tree may show almost abnormal capacity for

rapid growth and at the the same time may pro-

duce lumber of the hardest texture.
Hitherto it has generally been supposed that
a tree of rapid growth would as a matter of
course produce soft timber. The hybrid wal-
nuts and the various eucalyptus trees serve to
dispel that fallacy.

NATIVE MATERIALS
The one fault of the eucalyptus, its inability
to stand extreme cold, is likely to be shared by
other trees that are imported from the sub-
tropical regions of our own hemisphere.
Although, as just suggested, it may be possible
to overcome this fault through selective breed-

ing, a long series of experiments will doubtless

be necessary before this can be accomplished.
In the meantime we shall be obliged to place
chief dependence, in all probability, upon our
native stock of trees, hybridized perhaps with
allied species of Europe and northern Asia.

But, even so, there is no dearth of material.

America is richly stocked with forest trees.
Moreover these represent, so the geological
botanists assure us, a flora of very ancient origin
 LUMBER TREES 109

which has shown its capacity to maintain itself

through successive eras during which there have
been tremendous climatic changes.
It follows that our native forest trees have in
their heredity the reminiscence of many and
widely varying environments. And by the same
token they have capacity for variation, and
therefore afford exceptional opportunity for
diversified development.
It not necessary here to analyze in great
is

detail the qualities of the different groups of

forest trees. A brief summary of the character-
istics of a few of the more important groups
will serve to suggest the abundance of native
material, and
to give at least an inkling as to
what may be expected, in the light of what was
revealed by the experiments with the walnuts, as
to possibilities of development of the different
tribes.
Of course the great family of cone bearers
stands in the foreground, represented by many
species, and known as the timber trees that give
us the the pine lumber which has everywhere been
the chief material for the carpenter, and an im-
portant foundation material for the cabinet-
maker.
We have but to recall the giant sequoias of
California, the largest trees existing anywhere in
110 LUTHER BURBANK
the world, to be made aware of the possibilities
of growth that are present in the racial strains of
the family of cone bearers. And even if these
giants shall be regarded as representatives of an
antique order that outlived its era, there remain
numerous pines and firs and hemlocks of mag-
nificent proportions to test the skill of the plant

developer for their betterment and there is

every probability that the coast redwood and the
Sierra big tree may be crossed, and a variety
produced that will be adapted to new conditions
and which will outgrow all other trees.
Nothing could be easier than to cross-pollen-
ize members of this tribe, inasmuch as the pollen
is produced in the utmost profusion, and the

pistillate flowers are exposed when mature in

the nascent cones awaiting fructification. That
cross-fertilization occurs among the wild trees

through the agency of the wind is a matter of

course. Doubtless there are hybrid species of
pines and their allies, everywhere often unrecog-
nized or classified as good species. Quite large
forests mostly composed of hybrid cypresses are
found in California, and the oaks are known to
hybridize frequently; also the eucalyptus trees
of various species.
If study were made of individual conifers in
any forest region where different species are
 LUMBER TREES 111

found, it would doubtless be possible to secure by

mere selection new races that would admirably
serve the purposes of the forester.
But of course still better results may be ex-
pected when pollenizing is carried out intelli-

gently, and the racial strains of different species

of conifers are blended and tested to find just
what are the best combinations.
It would not be strange if among the hybrids
there should be found one or more varieties that
will attempt to rival the Sequoia itself in giant-
ism, and that will quite outrival it in rapidity of

growth.
What the pines are as producers of white and

relatively soft wood of straight grain and uni-

form texture, the members of the great family
of oaks are as producers of wood of hard texture,
irregularly grained and knotted, but capable of
taking on a polish and serving almost every
essential purpose of the cabinetmaker.
The most famous of oaks, doubtless, is the
typical British species, but the American white
oak is a close second. Perhaps these two might
be hybridized. If the hybrid thus produced were
by any chance to show the capacity for rapid
growth that the hybrid walnuts have shown, while
retaining the hardness of texture of its parents,
as the hybrid walnuts do, the tree thus produced
112 LUTHER BURBANK
would by itself go far toward solving the prob-
lem of reforestation. The oaks quite frequently
hybridize in a state of nature.
Granted a producer of soft white wood such as
probably can be made by combining the white
pine with some of its allies; a producer of hard
cabinet wood such hybrid between the
as a
British oak and the American white oak would
probably constitute; and the hybrid walnuts
already in existence as producers of woods of
the hardest and finest texture for cabinet pur-
poses granted further that the other new trees
have the capacity for growth which the hybrid
walnuts show and a triumvirate of trees would
be attained that could be depended on to go
forth and gladden the devastated hillsides and
valleys with trees that would jointly meet
every need of carpenter and cabinetmaker,
adding incalculable billions to the wealth of
our nation.
And of course we need not by any means con-
fine attention to these few most typical trees.
There are beeches and chestnuts that are near
relatives of the oak, each of which serves its own

particular purpose as the provider of wood hav-

ing unique quality. The beech and birch, for

example, are prized by the chairmaker for his

furniture, and for the making of carpenter tools
 LUMBER TREES 113

and such like instruments. The chestnut makes

railroad ties that are thought to have no equal
and telegraph poles of requisite strength and
straightness.
Then there are other families that have their
valued representatives. The hickories have al-
ready been referred to. The maples must not be
overlooked, as they furnish highly prized woods
to the cabinetmaker. The tulip tree supplies a
light-colored wood used by cabinetmaker and
coach builder. The basswood or linden gives a
wood of peculiar fiber that meets the needs of
carvers and instrument makers. The willows
and their allies; various members of the birch

family; the buttonwood tree or sycamore; and

the locusts and their allies are other native trees
that are of value as they stand and are well worth
developing.
The plant experimenter who works with these
different trees, being guided by their botanical
affinities, but making careful tests even where he
doubts the possibility of hybridization, will be
almost certain to have his efforts rewarded by the
production of some trees of new varieties that
will not only duplicate the unexpected qualities
of the hybrid walnuts, but will doubtless also
reveal unpredicted traits that will give them
added value.
114 LUTHER BURBANK
Patience will be required in carrying out the
work, for the tree is long-lived and experiments
in itsdevelopment are quite different from those
in thedevelopment of annual plants. Yet some-
thing of the probable results of an experiment
can be judged even from observation of seedlings
in their first year. And by
hurrying the hybrid
plants by the method of grafting, it will be pos-
sible greatly to shorten the generations.
Still, it is not to be denied that the work of
developing new races of trees is one that should
preferably command the attention of the younger
generation. In particular, it should be carried on
under government supervision, as part of the
great work of reforestation, the necessity for
which has only in recent years been clearly
realized by those in authority or by the com-

munity in general.

MESSAGES FROM THE PAST

The oft-cited hybrid walnuts supply us with
tangible evidence of the possibility of developing
new races of trees having much-to-be-desired
qualities of rapid growth,through hybridization
of the existing species.
Such evidence as has been suggested is more
forceful and convincing than any amount of
theoretical argument. But it may be of interest
 LUMBER TREES 115

to support this evidence, and in doing so to reveal

additional reasons for belief that the same prin-
ciples will apply to other forest trees, by recall-

ing briefly the story of the vicissitudes through

which the existing trees have passed and through
which the diversified hereditary factors were im-
planted in their racial heredity.
A knowledge of this story we owe to the
geological botanists. They have sought dili-
gently in the rocks for fossil remains, and by

joint effort, searching all around the world,

have been able to reproduce a picture of the
main story of the evolution of existing forms
of vegetable life.

It is by recalling the story which they tell us,

and thus alone, that we are enabled somewhat
apprehend the possibilities of variation,
clearly to
and through variation of so-called new develop-
ment consisting essentially of the recombina-
tion and intensification of old ancestral traits
that we have witnessed in the case of many tribes
of plants in the course of our experiments.
A
brief resume of this story of plant life in the

past, with particular reference to our own flora,

will serve in the present connection to explain

why there is every warrant for believing that

each and every one of our forest trees contains
submerged in its heredity the potentialities of a
 OLIVE TREES
Until somewhat recently the olive
has been grown chiefly in the region

of the Mediterranean. Of late years,

however, it has become a very impor-

tant commercial crop in California,,
and the California olives have become
famous everywhere for their size and
good qualities in general. The picture
shows a typical hillside olive orchard
near Santa Rosa.
I
 LUMBER TREES 117

development of which its exterior appearance

gives but faint suggestion.
It appears that there is full warrant for the
belief that the modern flora originated in the
Northern Hemisphere, and probably in the
region of the North Pole. During the so-called
Mesozoic Age, the conditions of the Northern
Hemisphere were those that would nowadays be
described as tropical or subtropical. There were
palms growing in Europe and in Alaska, and
such species as the sequoia, the plane trees,
maples, and magnolias grew even at a relatively
late period as far north as the seventieth degree
of latitude. Remains of conifers have been found
within nine degrees of the pole itself; remains of
palms in Alaska coal measures, and of the
sassafras along the western coast.
At this early period the flora of the entire
Northern Hemisphere was, as regards its trees,
essentially comparable to the existing flora of
America to-day.
There were oaks and beeches scarcely dis-
tinguishable from existing species.
There were birches and planes and willows
closely related to the living species known as
Salicc Candida.
There were laurels not unlike their modern
representatives, the sassafras and cinnamon tree,
118 LUTHER BURBANK
and myrtles and ivies that
are represented by
existing descendants of allied forms.
And there were magnolias and tulip trees of
which the existing tulip tree of the United States
isan obviously direct and not very greatly modi-
fied descendant.
All these trees grew far to the north, and
luxuriated, as has been said, in a temperature
that we of to-day would call subtropical, for in

that day it isprobable that the North Pole was

tilted far toward the sun, and that the conditions
that we now think of as tropical existed only in
the region of the pole itself.
Then there came the slow progressive period
of refrigeration. The tropical climate of the
pole was succeeded by an age of ice, and the
successive ice sheets slowly pressed southward,

driving the plants no less than the animals

before them along all parallels of longitude,
until the flowers and faunas that intermingled
in the arctic region were scattered along diverg-
ing paths to people the continents separated
by the wide stretches of the Atlantic and the
Pacific oceans.
It may seem strange to speak of plants fleeing
before the ice sheet. But it must be understood
that the plant is a migratory being, when consid-
ered as a race, notwithstanding the stationary
 LUMBER TREES 119

habit of the individual. Plants put forth mobile

seeds, and devise many strange ways of insuring
their wide dissemination. They are always seek-
ing new territories, and, granted proper condi-
tions,always finding them.
And it is only such plants as could migrate
with relative celerity that were able to maintain
existence and escape extermination by fleeing
southward when the era of cold succeeded to the
warm era in the arctic regions and when the arctic
chillgradually spread southward and encom-
passed all the higher and middle latitudes of the
Northern Hemisphere.
The plants that chanced to flee southward
along the land surface that we now term Europe
found their further flight checked when they
reached the stretches of mountains extending
east and west that we now term the Alps. Here
thousands of species made a last stand and ulti-

mately perished.
But the plants that were fortunate enough to
choose the other avenues of escape, passing down
across the land surfaces that we now term
America and Asia, were not obstructed in their

flight. The long ranges of the Appalachians and

Rockies and Sierras in particular served, as it

were, to guide the line of march and aid the

flight.
120 LUTHER BURBANK
So the American species made their way to the

region of the Gulf, and some of them even to the

southern continent. And when the ice sheet
finally receded, they were able to make their way
northward again, though never to their former
habitat; whereas Europe was treeless until the
plant life of Asia spread westward to repeople it.
Such is the explanation that the paleobotanist
gives us of the fact that the indigenous vegeta-
tion of America to-day is closely similar to that
which stocked the subarctic regions of the entire
Northern Hemisphere in the geological period
known as the Mesozoic a period that seems
infinitely remote when measured in terms of
human history, yet which in the scale of time as
measured by the geologist is relatively recent.
Such trees as the sequoia, we are told, are sur-
vivors of that ancient regime that chanced to find
hospitable shelter on the western slopes of the
Sierras. Similarly the tulip tree of the east, with
the blossoms that seem anomalous for a tree,
should be regarded as the souvenir of a past age
a lone representative of vast tribes that once
flourished in tropical luxuriance in regions that
now give scant support to moss and lichen and
stunted conifers.
All in all, we
are told, the remaining vegeta-
tion of to-day, varied though it seems, is but a
 LUMBER TREES 121

scant reminiscence of that of the period preced-

ing the ice ages. Only a few species, relatively
speaking, were able to make their migration
rapidly enough to escape destruction. These
included a certain number, like the sequoia and
the tulip tree, that were able to reach coigns of
vantage that permitted them to exist without
changing essentially from their sun-loving habit.
But in the main the tribes that escaped destruc-
tion were those that were more plastic and

developed a hardiness that enabled them to

withstand extremes of temperature not far
beyond the limits of the ice sheet. Others
made their way northward again when the ice
sheet receded.
And as the climate of ensuing ages, after the
successive periods of intense refrigeration, every-
where retained, throughout the central and east-
ern portions of America, curious reminiscences
of both the tropical and the arctic, the plants that
finally repopulated the devastated territories
were those that had learned, through the strange
vicissitudes of their ancestors, to thrive where the
thermometer in summer might rise to the one
hundred degree mark, and where in winter the
mercury might freeze.
Such are the conditions under which pines and
oaks and willows and beeches and black walnuts
122 LUTHER BURBANK
and allied trees exist to-day in the regions of
northern America where they flourish.
They can withstand the glare of a tropical sun
in summer because their ancestors reveled in a

tropical climate. And

they can withstand
equally the arctic cold of winter because their
ancestors of other ages were forced to subsist
under arctic conditions.
The versatile trees that, thanks to the racial
recollection of these vicissitudes, can adapt them-
selves to the inhospitable conditions of our mod-
ern climate are but dwarfed representatives of
ancient races of giants. To preserve life at all
it was necessary for them to conserve their
energies; and gigantic growth is feasible only
for plants that can send their roots into rich,
well-watered soils and can likewise draw sus-
tenance perennially from the atmosphere, un-
hampered by long periods of dormancy when
life itself is threatened.
But dwarfed races carry in their germ
these
plasm, submerged but not eliminated, factors
for giant growth; factors for such development
as would adapt them to life in the tropics factors
;

also for such development as would adapt them

for life in the arctics.
Their hereditary factors, in a word, are as
varied as have been their past environments. So,
 LUMBER TREES 123
\

what each tree is now exteriorly gives us but

faint suggestion of what it might be were its
unrealized hereditary possibilities to be made
actualities.
So far as we know at present, the only way in
which these unrealized possibilities may in any
conspicuous measure be brought out is by
hybridizing species that have so far diverged
that they lie almost at the limits of affinity. By
such union of hereditary tendencies that have
long been disunited, racial traits that are reminis-
cent of the old days when the Northern Hemi-
sphere enjoyed a tropical climate may be revived,
and a tendency to repeat a gigantic
growth that
characterizes ancestors vastly remote will be
revealed.
Such the explanation of the strange and
is

otherwise inexplicable phenomena of gigantism

manifested by my hybrid walnuts. And such is
our warrant for believing that all other species
of native have possibilities of develop-
trees
ment that are unrevealed in the exterior appear-
ance of their present-day representatives and
that can be revealed, so far as we know, only by
hybridization.
TREES WHOSE PRODUCTS ARE
USEFUL SUBSTANCES
SUGAR MAPLES AND OTHER TREES

who had good fortune to

the

EVERYONENew England
be born in and to live in
the country will treasure among the most
pleasant reminiscences of his boyhood the recol-
lection of his first visit to a "sugar bush."
The sweet sap drawn through a magic spigot
from a hole in the tree trunk; the boiling kettle
in which the sap was transformed into the most
delectable of syrups; the transformation of the

syrup into a wax of quite matchless flavor by

pouring it on the snow these are things that
have no counterpart. They must be experienced
to be appreciated, and no one who has experi-
enced them is likely to forget them.
To
those who have not been privileged to visit
a sugar bush, the product of the maple is usually
known only in its ultimate crystallized form in
which constitutes a brownish sugar of charac-
it

teristic and delectable flavor. And I regret to

125
126 LUTHER BURBANK
say that many people who suppose themselves
familiar with this product know it only in
a diluted and adulterated form in which
only a suggestion remains of the real maple
quality.
Nor does there seem to be much prospect of
improvement in this regard, for the maple tree
is seldom or never cultivated for the garnering

of its unique crop. The relatively small quantity

of maple sugar that finds its way to the market
is the product of trees that chanced to grow in

the woodland and they are reserved not so much

as sugar producers but as ultimate material for
lumber. Yet maple sugar is a sweet of acknowl-
edged quality, and one that deserves a larger
measure of recognition as a commercial product
than has hitherto been given it.
Possibly the time may come when maple trees
will be cultivated for the production of sugar.
But it ishardly likely that such cultivation of
the maple can ever constitute a significant in-
dustry, because the product of a single tree is

relatively insignificant.
It is only the fact that the sugar maple has
wood of such quality of fiber as to make it valu-
able for the cabinetmaker that could justify
the cultivation of these trees as a commercial
enterprise.
 TREE PRODUCTS 127

On
the other hand, the amateur orchardist
might do far worse than to set a row of "sugar"

maples, as ornamental trees about the borders of

his orchard or gardens, regarding the capacity
of the tree to produce a certain amount of sugar
as an incidental attraction that adds to the value
of a tree that otherwise is deserving because of
itsbeauty of form and general attractiveness.
The production
of the sweet sap that has made
the sugar maple famous gives this particular
species exceptional interest among the members
of a very meritorious family. Just why this spe-
cies should have developed the capacity to pro-
duce so sugary a sap in such abundance, it would
perhaps be difficult to say. A
certain amount
of sap may be drawn from the tissues of other
maples, and even from the walnut and butter-
nut, and in diluted form from the birches; but
only the sugar maple produces sap of such qual-
ity as to be of real value.

WHEN THE SAP RUNS BEST

And it is well known that the sugar
of course
maple has
itself a "flow" of sap that is worth
tapping, for a very brief period each season,
just as winter is merging into spring. It is tra-
ditional at least among the makers of maple
sugar that the sap runs best in those days of
128 LUTHER BURBANK
early spring when the sun shines brightly while
there is a cover of snow on the ground. At this
time, all that is necessary is to bore an auger
hole in the trunk of the tree, and insert a
spigot or grooved stick to guide the sap into
the bucket.
A single tree may be tapped in several places,
and a bucket of sap will run from each spigot
in the course of a day.
The sap itself is a clear, watery fluid, the
sweet taste of which gives assurance of the
quality of sugar it contains. By boiling the sap
to evaporate the surplus water, a thick sirup
is produced which crystallizes on cooling, pro-
ducing the maple sugar of commerce.
Nothing is added to the sap and nothing but
part of its watery content is taken away from
it that is to say, if it is honestly made. The
sugar as the maple supplies it, is a perfect
product requiring no dilution and calling for no
elaborate process of manufacture.
Perhaps it is not so much matter for surprise
thatmaple trees produce this sweet sap in such
abundance as that other trees do not more gen-
erally imitate its example. For the function of
the sugar in supplying nourishment for the
young buds before the leaves are sufficiently
expanded to begin their work of sugar manu-
 TREE PRODUCTS 129

facture is clearly enough understood. All other

deciduous trees must supply nutriment in similar
way to their growing buds.
But in the case of other trees, either the sap
will not flow in abundance or it is of such
quality as to have no value.
The manner of production of the sap may be
more or less accurately inferred from what we
have already learned of plant physiology. We
know that the leaves of the tree metamorphose
water and carbon into sugary substances which
in turn are transferred to various parts of the

plant to be stored, usually in the form of starch.

In the case of the maple, we may assume that the
carbohydrates, as they are manufactured in the
leaf laboratories, are transferred in the current
of sap that flows downward from the leaves

through branches and trunk as a countercurrent

in the cambium until it finally finds its way to the
roots of the tree and is there stored for the
winter.
When spring comes and it is time for the new
leaf buds to put forth, the supplies of nourish-
ment are retransformed into soluble sugars, dis-
solved in the water that is taken in by the root-
lets, and transferred from cell to cell and along
the little canals in the wood under the cambium
layer of the bark, until they reach the twigs
E Bur. Vol. 8
THE CALIFORNIA CHINQUA-
PIN AS AN ORNAMEN-
TAL TREE
This beautiful specimen of the wild
California chinquapin grows on our
grounds at Sebastopol. The California
chinquapin tree has obvious merits of
its own as an ornamental shrub, as

this picture clearly testifies. It is

evergreen, with foliage of golden

color underneath, and is appropriately
named Castanea chrysophylla.
 TREE PRODUCTS 181

where the leaf buds they are to nourish are

located.
5'
It doubtless the so-called "root pressure
is

(which we have been led to interpret as due to

osmosis) forcing the sap upward that causes it to
flow from the wound in the tree made by the

auger. To what extent the interference with the

supply of nourishment that was being convoyed
to the buds retards their development, might be

interesting matter for observation.

But this is something that does not greatly
concern the sugar maker, and to which he doubt-
less never gives a thought.
It also interesting to conjecture whether it
is

might be possible by selective breeding to pro-

duce a variety of sugar maple that will furnish
sap in exceptional quantity and of unusual qual-
ity. The obviously different from that of
case is

the sugar prune or the sugar beet, both of which

have been trained to increase their sugar content.
But there is no doubt that different individual
sugar maples differ widely in their sap produc-
ing, or at least in their sap rendering, quality.
Presumably the difference may be due to the
size of the root system. But so far as I know
there are no accurate observations on the subject,
nor has anything been done to determine whether
a better race of sugar maples could be developed.
132 LUTHER BURBANK
OTHER PLANT JUICES
The extraordinary plant laboratories that
manufacture sugars out of water and air are
capable of transforming these sugars into many
unusual substances, differing in character with
the constitution of the particular plant.
There are certain classes of juicy exudates,
however, which appear to have characteristics
thatmake them useful to plants of many types.
Prominent among these are the milky juices
that when dried constitute rubber, and the
resinous ones that constitute tars and resins
and turpentine.
Nothing could be physically much more dis-
similar than a piece of rubber and a teaspoonful
of oil of turpentine.
But the chemist tells us that each of these sub-
stances is composed exclusively of the two ele-
ments carbon and hydrogen; the only difference
being that the turpentine molecule has ten atoms
of carbon and sixteen of hydrogen, whereas the
molecule of rubber has eight carbon atoms and
seven atoms of hydrogen.
how the elements are compounded, and
Just
just why they should make up substances of such
unique characteristics when brought together in
these particular proportions, even the chemist
 TREE PRODUCTS 133

does not know. Nor, until recently, was he able

to duplicate the feat of building up these com-

plex molecules, even though he is perfectly

familiar with the general properties of the atoms
of both carbon and hydrogen.
In very recent years, however, chemists have
been at work on the problem of compounding the
atoms in such a way as to get them together in
the right combination to produce organic sub-
stances. And, although this work is only at its
beginning, a good measure of success has been
attained.
In particular, the chemists of Germany and
England have recently succeeded in combining
carbon and hydrogen in the proportion of eight
atoms of the former to seven of the latter and
thus have produced an artificial rubber that is not
merely an imitation rubber but is as truly pure
rubber as if it had been produced in the cellular
system of a plant.
The artificial product may be said to be some-
what more pure than the natural, inasmuch as
the latter is more or less contaminated by ex-
traneous products.
Reference has elsewhere been made to the
familiar feat of the chemist through which the
famous dyestuffs, indigo and madder, have been
manufactured in the laboratory, and manufac-
134 LUTHER BURBANK
tured so cheaply as to compete successfully with
the natural product of the indigo and madder
plants. What was
a large plant industry only a
few years ago has thus ceased to have impor-
tance. The indigo plant is still cultivated in the
east, but the entire industry has been changed by
the discoveries of the chemist.
Only a few years ago a plant known as the
tarweed (Madia), to which we have had occa-
sion to refer in another connection, was gathered
and its juices extracted for the making of mad-
der. But it would not pay to undertake this
work now, since the chemist has learned how to
make madder from coal tar and hence has sub-
stituted for a plant industry an enterprise asso-
ciated with the manufacture of gas.
It will doubtless be a long time before the man-
ufacture of artificial rubber makes correspond-
ing encroachments on the industry of manu-
facturing rubber from the plant juices. Still
it is quite within the possibilities that this
may come to pass in the course of the coming
generation.
In the meantime, the rubber industry is a great
and important one, and the principal trees that
supply the juices that on evaporating constitute
rubber are cultivated in vast plantations in vari-
ous tropical regions. Moreover rubber is gath-
 TREE PRODUCTS 185

ered from wild trees of several species, although

in recent years the cultivated trees have largely
been depended upon to meet the growing needs
of the industry.
Trees of the genus Hevea are the most im-
portant source of rubber. But there are many
other trees, the juices of which contain the essen-
tial constituents of rubber in the right com-

bination, and many of these have commercial

possibilities.
I have referred in another connection to my
experiments with tropical plants of the genus
Asclepias, relatives of the familiar milkweed.
Tentative experiments have been undertaken
to discover whether these plants might be devel-

oped to a stage that would make them commer-

cially valuable as producers of rubber. The re-
cent discoveries of the chemist make experiments
in this line somewhat less valuable than they
hitherto seemed. Yet the demand for rubber is

so great, in these days of electricity and auto-

mobiles, that there seems just now little danger
of overstocking the market. And if a plant
could be developed that could be grown in tem-
perate regions, and that would produce the rub-
ber-forming juices in adequate quantity, such a
plant would constitute a very valuable acquisi-
tion for a long time to come, even should natural
136 LUTHER BURBANK
rubber ultimately be supplanted by the labora-
tory product.
The method of gathering the so-called latex or
milky juice, which is virtually rubber in solution,
is curiously similar to the method of obtaining
the sap of the sugar maple. Indeed the latex
may be drawn in precisely the same way, by bor-
ing a hole in the trunk of the rubber tree and
inserting a grooved stick along which the juice
w ill run
r
into a receptacle. But the cultivators
are not usually content with so slow a method,
and there are various methods of tapping the
tree that expose a larger surface of the cambium
layer and thus extract the milky juices in larger

quantity.
In the case of the wild trees it is not unusual
for the natives of Mexico, Central America, and
South America to make a series of V-shaped
incisions in thebark of the tree, placing a recep-
tacle at the point of each "V" and thus securing
a relatively enormous amount of fluid regardless
of the fact that they jeopardize the life of the
tree itself.
Of
course cultivated groves or plantations are
tapped in a more conservative way, but the prin-
ciple involved everywhere the same.
is

The latex of the rubber tree is comparable to

the sugary sap of the maple. It appears to be a
 TREE PRODUCTS 137

mere accident that this juice has the property of

coagulating to form the substance called rubber
which we now find so important. But this sub-

stance, obviously, as man uses it, has small place

in theeconomy of the plant. Coagulated latex
would serve no better purpose in the tissues of
the rubber tree than would coagulated blood in
the veins of a human being.

OILS AND RESINS

Of course the latex of the rubber tree might
exude when the tree received an accidental in-
jury, as from a falling limb, and in such case it
would be advantageous to the tree to have the
juice coagulate, just as coagulated blood is use-
ful to a wounded man. In each case coagulation

prevents excessive hemorrhage.

Possibly this may explain the quality of the
latex, its capacity to coagulate having been de-
veloped through natural selection. But under
normal conditions, at least, the latex is always
fluid, and its properties are little more like those
of rubber than are the properties of the maple
tree like those of sugar.
Of course the same thing is true of the plant
juices that when dried or partially evaporated
constitute the various gums and resins. As
manufactured in the tree they are transformed
 THE VARIEGATED BOX
ELDER
Although popularly known every-
where as an elder, this is really a maple,
listed by the botanist as the ash-leaved
maple (Acer negundo). It is a hardy
tree of rapid growth, much prized for
planting in semiarid regions. There
are several varieties, giving oppor-
tunity for experiments in selective

breeding.
 TREE PRODUCTS 139

sugar products, and they are always in solution.

Only when the juices are exposed to the air, as
when they exude from an injured surface, do
they coagulate to form the gummy or resinous
substances that become articles of commerce.
In some cases the exudate may be separated
into two or more commercial constituents. Such
is the case with the juice of those trees that pro-
duce turpentine. The liquid that flows from the
tree, corresponding to the sap of the maple and
the latex of the rubber tree, may be evaporated
or distilled in such a way as to be changed in
part to a solid gummy or even vitreous substance,
and in part to the somewhat volatile fluid familiar
as turpentine.

Turpentine, unlike rubber, was known to the

ancients, and was an extensive article of com-
merce in classical times. The original tree from
which it was obtained is known as the terebinth
tree. It is a native of the islands and shores of
the Mediterranean and western Asia.
There are many trees, however, the sap of
which has this resinous property, including most
members of the family of conifers. The prin-
cipal supply of common turpentine, in Europe,
is obtained from the so-called sea
pine, grown
largely in France. The Scotch fir, the Norway
pine, and the Corsican pine are other sources.
140 LUTHER BURBANK
In the United States the swamp pine and the so-
called loblolly trees that grow in the swamps of
North and South Carolina and Georgia, are
the chief source of the commercial turpentines,
although various other species are more or less
utilized.
A gum of peculiar quality that
highly is

prized for some industrial purposes is obtained

from the balsam fir (Abies balsamea), and is
known as Canada balsam.
Hitherto, the producers of turpentine have
been found in the wild state, and no one, prob-
ably, has given a thought to the possibility of
developing races of pines that produce an ex-
ceptional quantity of the resin and turpentine-
forming juices. But with the modern tendency
to apply scientific methods to forestation
in gen-

eral, doubtless the question will ultimately arise

as to whether the turpentine trees may not be

improved along with the timber producers.

That trees of the same species differ quite
radically in the amount of the valuable juices is
certain, so there would appear to be no reason
why it not be possible to develop varieties
may
of trees that will be conspicuous for this quality,
just as other trees have been improved as to their
powers of growth 3r their capacity to produce
abundant crops of fruit.
 TREE PRODUCTS 141

VARIED PRODUCTS OF THE PLANT

LABORATORY
An incidental use of the resinous exudate of
various trees is the production of chewing gum.
The gum chewing appears to have
habit of
originated or at least to have gained chief popu-
larity in America in comparatively recent times.
The from the spruce was the
resin that exudes
substance that was chiefly used, under the name
of spruce gum, until somewhat recently. But of
late years the chewing gum industry has reached
proportions that make it impossible to meet the
demand from this source. And it has been found
that ordinary resin, combined with sugar and
linseed oil, with some flavoring added, serves the

purpose of the original spruce gum so the latter

is now seldom seen in the market. More re-

cently chicle, a gummy substance which exudes

from several tropical trees, has been imported in
great quantities, and is now supplanting all other
sources of gum.
The supplying of turpentine and its products
gives the conifers high rank among trees that

produce commercial by-products of great im-

portance. But with the exception of the pines,
the trees that produce really important exudates
or oils or chemicals are indigenous to the tropics,
142 LUTHER BURBANK
or at least are confined to the warm
temperate
zone. I have thought many times in recent years
that I should like to have a plant laboratory in
the tropics for testing tropical plants as to pro-
duction of useful commercial products, and for
development of improved varieties of plants the
products of which are already utilized.
It would be worth while, for example, to make
very extensive experiments by way of testing
the qualities of the different trees that deposit
in their bark the bitter compounds known as
alkaloids, a galaxy of which are prized for their
medicinal properties. These are very complex
combinations of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen. That is to say, they have the same con-
stituents as protoplasm itself and differ from the

gum and resins that we have just been consider-

ing in that each molecule contains at least one
atom of nitrogen.
The sugars, it will be recalled, occupy an in-
termediate place, inasmuch as they, unlike the
resins and rubber, contain oxygen but they con-
;

tain no nitrogen. The formulas given by the

chemist for the different alkaloids are intricate
but they differ from one another only in the mat-
ter of a few more or a few less atoms of one or
another of the four constituents of which they are
all made up.
 TREE PRODUCTS 143

There is, for example, only the difference of

one atom of carbon and of four atoms of hydro-
gen between a molecule of quinine and a mole-
cule of strychnine. Considering that the mole-
cules comprise in the aggregate not far from
fifty atoms, in each case, this discrepancy seems
trifling. That the two drugs should have such
utterly different effects upon the human system
is a mystery that will be solved only when a much

fuller knowledge is gained as to the physiological

processes than anyone has at present.

But the plant developer, of course, has no con-
cern with this aspect of the subject. What in-
terests him is the knowledge that different races
of cinchona trees, for example, are known to

vary greatly as to the proportion of commercial

alkaloid deposited in their bark. And the same
is true of most or all other producers of commer-

cial alkaloids.

Apparently there a splendid field, then, for

is

the plant experimenter, could he establish a labo-

ratory and experiment garden in the tropics, in

the development of improved races of cinchona
and almost innumerable other suppliers of medic-
inal alkaloids. The monetary return from such
an enterprise would probably be larger than that
which usually rewards the efforts of the plant
developer in temperate zones, because the field is
AN ACACIA TREE IN BLOOM
There are more than a hundred
species of acacias introduced into Cali-
from the Southern Hemisphere,
fornia
and many of them have become very
popular. Their value as ornamental
trees is well suggested by this photo-

graph. Unfortunately, they are not as

hardy as could be desired, although
they thrive almost everywhere in
California. One of the African spe-
cies of acacia yields the gum arable of
commerce.
 TREE PRODUCTS 145

virgin, and because there is no present possibility

of competition outside the tropics.
It remains to be said that there are a few other
trees and shrubs of our own latitude that may
advantageously command the attention of the

plant developer for the improvement of quantity

or quality of their products.
It seems not unlikely that the horse chestnut,
or buckeye, could be so educated as to become a
profitable starch producer. At present this tree
produces an abundant crop of nuts, but these are
worthless because they contain a bitter principle
that makes them inedible. Yet the nut of the
buckeye very starchy and if the bitter principle
is

could be eliminated without too much expense

there is no reason why it should not prove both
wholesome and nutritious. The Indians grind
the nuts to make meal. When this is soaked
in water the poisonous principle is partially re-
moved, and the residue is cooked and eaten.
I have experimented somewhat in testing the
tremendously productive western buckeye as to
its possibilities of improvement. As long ago as

1877 I began work on this tree, and continued

the experiments in a small way for a number of
years. It was observed that there was great
variation as to productiveness of trees, as to size
of nuts, and also as to bitterness of the nuts them-
146 LUTHER BURBANK
selves, and I am
convinced that it would be pos-
sible to develop variety in which the bitter prin-
a
ciple would be greatly reduced
in amount and

perhaps altogether eliminated, and that at the

same time a nut having an even higher starch
content could be developed.
It has been found possible with the South
American plant called the cassava to utilize roots
that contain a poisonous principle for the pro-
duction of so important a commercial product as
tapioca. not unlikely that the nuts of the
It is

horse chestnut, if developed until it had a still

higher starch content, could be utilized in some-
what the same way, even though the bitter prin-
ciplewas not entirely eliminated.
There are some members of the laurel family,
also, that produce commercial products that
make them worthy of attention. The camphor
tree is too tender to be grown in the northern
latitudes, but its relative, the sassafras, is a com-
mon Eastern States, thriving
tree throughout the
even in New York and New
England. Its bark
furnishes the characteristic flavoring that is used
for perfuming soaps and for similar purposes.
The production of the sassafras would not con-
stitute a significant industry under any circum-
stances, doubtless, yet there would be a measure
of scientific interest in testing its capacities for
 TREE PRODUCTS 147

improvement, and not unlikely new uses would

be found if it were available in larger quantity.
Another tribe that furnishes a product of a
unique quality is that represented by a familiar
wild shrub known in the Eastern States as the
waxberry or candleberry (Myrica carolinensis)
and sometimes also spoken of as the bayberry
owing to the fragrance of its leaves.
This shrub bears an abundance of small berries
from which may be extracted a quantity of hard
greenish fragrant wax, which was formerly much
prized for the making of candles, and which has
a value for the other uses to which wax is put.
Many years ago, while traveling in the East, I
found a candleberry bush that was of compact
growth and that produced an unusually large
crop of waxy berries. Seed was collected and
brought to California, and for several years it
was worked upon, until by selection a variety
was developed that produced at least ten times
as many berries and ten times as much wax as
the average wild plant. At the same time I
experimented with a Japanese member of the
genus known as M. rubra, and also with the
California species, M. californica, which is a
treegrowing forty to fifty feet in height.
The endeavor was made to cross the three
Myricas in the hope of producing new varieties
148 LUTHER BURBANK
of value, but did not succeed, no doubt because
the attempt was not carried out with sufficient
pertinacity. The California species produces a
wax of much darker color than the eastern one,
but of about the same degree of hardness. I
still have several fine blocks of wax that were

produced from these shrubs and trees during the

time of the experiment. Although not success-
ful in combining the different candleberry
shrubs, the experiments were carried far enough
to show the possibility of great improvement by
mere selection. If there were a market for the
wax, the plant might be well worth improving.
These plants were finally destroyed to make
room for other shrubs. This is another case in
which a product of intrinsic value has failed to
find a market, largely, no doubt, because the

plant that produces it has hitherto not been

brought under cultivation, and hence has not
produced a sufficient crop to bring it to the atten-
tion of the public and to create a market.
It would not be surprising, however, if the
candleberry should be thought valuable enough
in future for development and cultivation on an
extensive scale. For the wax that it produces
is of unique quality, and it is almost certain

to be found of value in connection with some

commercial industry.
 TREES AND SHRUBS FOR
SHADE AND ORNAMENT
SOME MISCELLANEOUS TREE EXPERIMENTS

the most interesting tree in

DOUBTLESS
the world is the Sequoia. The mere fact
that this is the most gigantic of all exist-

ing trees gives it distinction. But it has added

interest because it represents a link with the
remote past.
Of course it might be said that any existing
vegetable represents a link with the past, since
every race has its lines of ancestry tracing back
to primordial times. But the Sequoias represent
the past in a somewhat different sense, inasmuch
as has maintained more fixedly the traits of its
it

remote ancestors than has been done by any

other probably, that now grows in the
tree,
Northern Hemisphere, with the possible excep-
tion of the tulip tree, which represents a quite
different type of vegetation.
The story of the Sequoia's fight for life during
the remote geological ages when the climate of
149
150 LUTHER BURBANK
the Northern Hemisphere was changing, has
been outlined in an earlier chapter. Could we
know the details of the story, we should doubtless
find that the ancestors of the Sequoia migrated
southward before the chilling blasts of successive
glacial epochs, and made their way northward
again in the intervening periods. And of course
the present age may represent merely another of
these interglacial epochs, during which the
Sequoia has carried its return march along the
coast to about the fortieth parallel of latitude.
It maintains in this location its proud position
as the one champion of the ancient traditions.
And perhaps it will still maintain them in some
remote epoch of the future when another ice age
has driven man from the Northern Hemisphere
and reduced the civilization of the twentieth
century to a half-forgotten tradition.
Be that as it may, the Sequoias stand to-day
as sister giants in an age of pygmies. Individual
trees that are still young according to the reckon-

ing of their were gigantic

tribe trees when
Columbus discovered America.
And Sequoias that are moderately old have
witnessed the ceaseless change of the seasons
since the period, perhaps, when Moor and Chris-
tian were battling for supremacy in Europe in
the dark age that preceded the segregation of the
 TREES AND SHRUBS 151

modern nations of Europe. The

patriarchs of
the race were living in the days that saw the
building of the Egyptian pyramids and many
of these now in the prime of life and vigor were
growing when Moses walked the earth.
A tree with such racial traditions and with
such individual representatives is surely entitled
to be considered the most interesting tree in the
world.
Whoever has camped in a primeval forest of

Sequoias will attest that merely to enter into the

presence of these colossal antediluvians is to
experience an almost overwhelming sense of
their grandeur. And it is the common experience
awe grows day by day and
that this feeling of
becomes overpowering if you linger like a lost
pygmy in the shadows of the giants.
From our present standpoint the interest in
the Sequoias hinges on the possibility of growing
seedlings or transplanting saplings for orna-
mental purposes in the parks and fields. It is
rather strange that the attempt to do this has
not been carried out more extensively. Curiously
enough, the redwoods are grown more in Eng-
land than they are anywhere in America outside
the regions where they are indigenous. But
doubtless the climatic conditions account for this.
The trees thrive fairly well in the relatively mild
 A YOUNG SEQUOIA
GIGANTEA
This beautiful evergreen tree is a
young Sequoia about six years old,

growing on my home place. Note the

compact growth of branches from the

very ground. Contrast this young tree
with the old Sequoia shown in the
next picture.
 TREES AND SHRUBS 153

climate of England, but they find the winters of

the north-central and the northeastern United
States prohibitive.
A tree that has weathered successive ice ages
should not mind the winters of the present era,
even at the northern boundaries of the United
States, one might suppose. But such an infer-
ence misses the chief point of the Sequoia's
ancestral story. In fact, the giant trees are alive

to-day in something like their pristine form

because they migrated before the ice sheets and
finally found a place of refuge west of the Sierras
where they were sheltered from the northern
blasts and given protection by the tempered
breezes of the Pacific. As compared with the
other conifers pines, spruces, hemlocks, cedars,
and the rest the Sequoias are really tender
trees. They are hardy indeed in contrast with
their ancestors of still remoter geological times.
But they have never developed that extreme
hardiness that characterizes their modified and
stunted cousins.
Nevertheless it has been found possible to raise
the Sequoia gigantea as far north as central New
York. But the tree does not really thrive in
regions so inhospitable, and the redwood is even
more tender. In central and south-central
regions of the United States, however, the giant
154 LUTHER BURBANK
trees can be to better advantage, and here
grown
they should find a place as ornamental trees that
has not hitherto been accorded them.
In the region of Washington, D. C., the
Sequoia has proved altogether hardy, and of
course it may be grown readily anywhere along
the Atlantic Coast south of this region. It is a
tree of extremely rapid growth, almost equaling
the eucalyptus. The redwood also is of such
rapid growth under cultivation that it soon over-
shadows most other trees. Indeed, it grows so
rapidly and requires so much room that it is
hardly adapted to use as an ornamental tree
except in very large grounds.
I have raised the giant Sequoia (it is known
technically as Sequoia gig ant ea) in the nursery
from seed,and the redwood (Sequoia semper-
virens) from cuttings as well as from seed. The
cuttings do fairly well if started in the fall and
treated like cuttings of other conifers.
As to the matter of selection and development,
the redwood itself may probably be regarded as
a comparatively recent variation from the form
of the giant Sequoia. The ancestors of the red-
wood took up their location in the valleys nearer
the ocean and were modified until they are con-
sidered to rank as a distinct species. But the
similarity of the two forms is obvious, and the
 TREES AND SHRUBS 155

two species stand in a class by themselves obvi-

ously allied to other conifers in the form of leaf

and cone and manner of growth, yet so far out-

ranking all others as to be properly thought

of as representatives of a unique order of
vegetation.
Whether further modifications in the giant
trees could be wrought by hybridizing the two
forms or by selection among variant seedlings
isa question of interest.
Presumably, such modifications could be
brought about were there time for it. But in
dealing with a tree that is a mere child when it
has outlived half a dozen generations of men,
the plant developer feels himself in the presence
of forces thatlie almost beyond his ken.

Moreover the attempt to deal experimentally

with the redwood is made difficult by the fact
that the tree seldom bears seed. Some of the
woodmen claim that it bears once in seven years,
but this is doubtless a mere guess, instigated
by the popular superstition connected with the
number seven. On one occasion, some thirty-
five yearsago, I was informed that the red-
woods were loaded with seed, and went out with
some helpers and gathered a dozen grain sacks
or more of the cones, which could be obtained in

any desired quantity. On drying the cones I

156 LUTHER BURBANK
found that the seeds themselves made up half
the total weight.
There was a wide variation in the cones
themselves and in the seed from different trees.
The seed when dried kept its germinating
quality for seven or eight years. But only a very
small proportion of the seeds will germinate
under any circumstances, even when fresh. This
seems to be especially true of seeds collected
from the younger trees a fact that accentuates
the already sufficient difficulties that confront
the plant developer who cares to undertake the
rather discouraging task of experimental breed-
ing with these antique giants.
Nevertheless, it should be recorded that a
certain amount of work has been done with the
redwood, particularly in the way of selecting
trees that bear weeping branches and other

unique characters. I have observed that seed-

lings usually show the characteristic drooping
branches of the parent form. Most of the seed-
lings show a rather wide range of variation of
foliage, particularly where seed from different
localities is sown. Some are much lighter in
color than others, and there are various interest-
ing characteristics that may be noted by a close
observer, leaving no doubt that there is sufficient
material for the purposes of the plant developer.
 TREES AND SHRUBS 157

Doubtless anyone who

has patience to under-
take the task will be able to produce various
types of redwoods that will reveal interesting
characteristics of the remote racial strains that
now are so blended in the existing representa-
tives of the family as to be scarcely observable.
It not best to attempt to speak except in a
is

general way of the other members of the great

tribe of conifers, the merits of most of which, as
ornamental trees, are familiar to every garden
and landscape architect.
There are some scores of genera and some
hundreds of species of conifers, but the varieties
are too numerous and too intricately blended for
accurate computation.
No other single region has so many forms of
evergreens, and ones that show such wide range
of variation, as the Pacific Coast region. It has
been estimated that there are as many species of
conifers in California as in all the rest of the
world.
But the conifers of one kind and another grow
everywhere throughout the colder regions of the
Northern Hemisphere, some of them making
their way also to parts of the South.

Every one of them is an object lesson in the

possibility of plant variation; for as a class they
represent a modification of leaf form of the most
 THE LARGEST TREE IN
THE WORLD
This giant Sequoia, growing in the
Mariposa Grove, in the Yosemite
National Park, is known as the

"Grizzly Giant" It is 34 feet in

diameter and 225 feet high. It is

estimated to contain more than one

million feet of lumber. The first limb
is 100 feet from the ground, and six
feet in diameter. Doubtless the tree

originally had limbs all the way from

the ground, but the lower ones have
died in the course of the ages that mark
the life of this extraordinary tree.
 TREES AND SHRUBS 159

striking character to meet the exigencies of a

changing environment.
Time was, doubtless, when the ancestors of the
conifers had flat, spreading leaves like the leaves
of other forms of vegetation. But when the
climatic conditions changed, the pampering influ-
ences of warmth and moisture being supplanted
by and drought that presaged the onset
the chill
of perpetual winter, a premium was put on the
conservation of plant energies. Whereas before
the elements favored the tree that could raise its

head highest and thrust out the most luxuriant

growth of spreading leaves to absorb the carbon
from the heavily laden atmosphere, the time now
came when the tree that had a smaller system of
branches to nourish and a less expansive leaf sys-
tem had better chance of maintaining existence.
So in the lapse of ages, the conditions becom-
ing more and more hard, the trees that varied in
the direction of smaller size and narrower leaves
had an ever-increasing advantage. These sur-
vived where their more rank-growing and luxu-
riant-leafed fellows perished.
Thus generation after generation natural se-
lection operated to modify the size of the trees
and to develop a race of trees with narrow leaves,
which ultimately were reduced to the form of
needles.
160 LUTHER BURBANK
Such leaves, offering the largest possible sur-
face in proportion to their bulk, could gain nour-
ishment from an impoverished atmosphere, and
at the same time would obstruct the rays of the
sun but little, so that the entire foliage of the tree
might secure a share of the all-essential light
which now, age on age, became less and less
bright as the earth may have changed the direc-
tion of its axis.
Of course there were other trees that did
not undergo this modification. But these were
forced either to make more rapid migrations to
the south or to give up the fight altogether and
to submit to extermination. The only evergreen
trees that were able to maintain existence in the
regions where the climate became exceedingly
cold were those that had developed the new type
of leaf form, and had learned to conserve their
energies to the last degree.
But of course the trees that took on this new
habit varied among themselves, and as they
spread to different regions such variations were
developed and fixed under the influence of dif-
ferent environments, until many tribes of needle-
leafed trees were developed so differently as to
constitute the races that the modern botanist
terms pine and spruce and cypress and juniper
and hemlock and yew and cedar, etc.
 TREES AND SHRUBS 161

Representatives of all the chief genera of coni-

fers have a recognized place among ornamental
trees and are everywhere popular in cold
climates. The variations among the different

species are so obvious as to attract the attention

of the least observant. And the opportunity to
develop any fixed new form is correspondingly
good.
I have raised large numbers of conifers of
many species, and have experimented with them
in the way of selection, producing in some
cases varieties of considerable interest; for ex-

ample, several beautiful varieties of the various

Abies,, including some very conspicuous forms
with weeping foliage; also some that grew
very compactly, being strikingly different in
appearance from the usual spruce with its long
branches.
Variations in the color of foliage have also
been given attention and have observed varia-
tions from bud sports in the wild specimens of
A. Douglasi and A. amabilis that were of inter-
est. In particular I have seen a single branch
in a wild species (a bud sport) that would droop
several feet below all the other branches. Such
a branch generally be propagated by graft-
may
ing or from cuttings, and trees having this habit
may thus be developed. There are numerous
F Bur. Vol. 8
 YELLOW PINE
There are said to be more species of

conifers in California than in all the

rest of the world, and the very best

of these, from the standpoint of the

lumberman, is the yellow pine, here
shown. Note the absolutely straight

trunk, holding almost the same size

to a great height. Observe, also, that

this isa very large tree, although not,

of course, competing with the giant

Sequoias and the redwoods.

 TREES AND SHRUBS 163

corresponding variations in cypress and other

grown from the seed.
conifers
The Douglas spruce is a common California
form that is quite variable. This has excep-
tional interest, because it is a tree of very rapid

growth. In many cases where a tract of land

has been burned over or the trees have been cut
off,there will spring up what at first appears to
be a growth of oaks alone. But in fifteen or
twenty years the growth of Douglas spruce
will entirely overshadow the oaks, ultimately

destroying them altogether, and presenting yet

another illustration of the practical operation
of natural selection.
But is a very great variation among the
there
individuals of the different species of conifers as
to rapidity of growth. So there is fine oppor-
tunity for the experimenter to select the more
rapid-growing trees, and thus to develop a race
of timber trees of very exceptional value.
The experiment is not difficult with the Doug-
las spruce (A. Douglasi) as it bears seed while
quite young, particularly when
the trees stand
by themselves. The seed remains in the cones
for some time, to mature so that it
may be col-
lected at any season of the year. The seeds ger-
minate readily, the seedlings may be easily trans-
planted, and in general this is one of the easiest
164 LUTHER BURBANK
conifers with which to work. The reasonable
hardiness of the tree and its adaptation to all
soils and climates are further merits that com-
mend it to the attention of the plant developer,
whether he have in mind a tree for ornament or
for reforestation.
The experimenter should know, however, that
the seed of the Abies,, unlike that of the red-
wood and some other conifers, retain their vital-
ity for a short time only. If attention is given
to the securing of fresh seed, the experiments
can scarcely fail to go forward successfully.
There are, of course, almost numberless other
species and varieties of conifers that hold out in-
viting opportunities for the plant developer. A
beginning may made with almost any varieties
be
that chance to grow in your vicinity, and the
facility with which the different varieties may be
reproduced, together with the wide range of
variation, offer opportunity for selection and in-
sure interesting developments, provided you
have sufficient patience to wait for them.

SOME DECIDUOUS FAVORITES

But if there are no broad-leafed trees that

quite equal the hardest of the conifers in capac-

ity to withstand cold and to draw nourishment
from sandy or rocky soils under disheartening
 TREES AND SHRUBS 165

conditions, there are a few tribes of deciduous

trees that make at least a commendable effort
to rival them.
Notable among these is the birch. But the
beech, oak, maple, hickory, and walnut also have
representatives that are able to withstand the
winter in regions where the mercury freezes.
All of these have a certain importance as
ornamental trees, but in the main they are
valued rather for their timber, and we have dealt
with them when we spoke of forest trees.
There is a considerable company of trees of
lesshardy character that nevertheless are resist-
ant enough to thrive in the streets, parks, and
gardens of our Northern States if given a cer-
tain amount of protection, even though some of
them could not make their way in the wilds
in competition with the hardy tribes just
mentioned.
These trees are hardy than the others,
less

presumably because they migrated a little more

rapidly in the old days of changing climates and
kept far enough away from the ice sheet to be
able to retain something of their taste for tropi-
cal conditions. They not only retained the
broad leaf system, but some of them also re-
tained or developed the habit of bearing hand-
some flowers a habit that would have served
 THE JUDAS TREE OR
RED-BUD
This is a hardy tree of very wide dis-

tribution, the eastern species thriving

from New York to Florida. There

are three other species, one indigenous
to Europe., the second to Japan, and
the third growing along the Pacific
coast. Interesting breeding experi-
ments might be made by combining the
various species. The tree is peculiarly

attractive at the flowering time, early in

the spring, before the leaves appear.
..
 TREES AND SHRUBS 167

small purpose for the conifers, since insects

could not thrive in cold regions where they re-
mained to battle with the elements.
Doubtless the most interesting of these trees
that escaped destruction by flight, and the one
that has maintained most
fixedly the tra-
ditions of the Mesozoic era, is the tulip tree

(Liriodendron) .

This beautiful tree, with its unique broad

glossy leaves and handsome flowers isnow the
lone representative of its genus. One species
alone survives as the remnant of a tribe that
flourished abundantly in the Mesozoic Age.
This species made its way to what is now the
southern part of the United States, and has
kept up its aristocratic traditions throughout

intervening ages of such vast extent that it

staggers the mind to attempt to grasp their

significance.
The thoughtful person cannot well escape a
feeling of awe as he stands in the presence of this
representative of a race that in the main was
gathered to its fathers at a time when the ances-
tors of man were perhaps still progressing on
all fours.

But, traditions aside, the tulip tree of to-day

is a thing of beauty, prized for itself, regardless
of its ancestry. It makes a fine tree for avenue,
168 LUTHER BURBANK
dooryard, or park, and it may be grown as far
north as New York and New England.
Being a monotypic tree, one would not expect
it to show very great variation. But no very
keen powers of observation are required to see
that the tulip trees are not identical, and doubt-
less their variation is enough to afford oppor-
tunities for interesting experiments, though
there is nothing on the earth at the present time
with which to combine them.
Exceptional interest should attach to a line of
experiment in which the plant developer is deal-
ing with racial traditions of such antiquity and
such fixity. Meantime, the fact that the tree has
u beautiful flower gives opportunity for a line of
experiment that usually possible only among
is

herbs and bushes, inasmuch as most of our trees,

as the reader is well aware, are wind-fertilized,
and hence do not bear conspicuous blossoms.
There are several other however, that
trees,
resemble the tulip tree in the matter of blossom
bearing, and that are not altogether unlike it
in general appearance, some of which have cor-

responding interest, being representations of

ancient forms, even if not quite rivaling the tulip
tree in the length of their unmodified pedigrees.
The catalpa and the magnolia may be named
as perhaps the chief representatives of these
 TREES AND SHRUBS 169

flowering trees. Both of these are represented

by several species, and the representatives of each
are subject to considerable variation.
There are at least two distinct hybrid catalpas,
involving three species, and I have noted great
difference in the rapidity of growth of seedling

catalpas; also variation in color and abundance

of flowers, in length of seed pods, and in manner
of growth of the trees themselves, some being
much more upright than and I have ob-
others,
served magnolia hybrids also, and have thought
it matter for surprise that there are not more of

them, for the trees are readily cross-fertilized.

Doubtless the fact that different species bloom
at different seasons largely accounts for the rela-
tive infrequency of natural crossing.
There is an opportunity to work with the
catalpa, and I could scarcely mention a plant that
seems to me to give better promise for experi-
ments in crossing and selection than the great
and varied family of magnolias.
If the seeds are planted while fresh,
they
germinate readily. The seedlings are easily
raised almost as easily as apples or pears.
Among the magnolia seedlings now growing
on my grounds, there are some that will grow
three or four feet the first season, while others
grow only as many inches. Some have a branch-
 THE HYBRID ELM
In the background, the hybrid elm
and the Chilean pine. At the left, the
selected strawberry plants that remain

after the bed has been thoroughly

thinned. In the middle ground* a row

of teosinte.
 TREES AND SHRUBS 171

ing habit, and others form an upright growth.

The leaf varies in breadth and length and in
general appearance. Some are early bloomers
and some are late bloomers. There are different
shades of flowers. All in all, there is abundant

opportunity for interesting experiments in selec-

tive breeding.

Among other interesting deciduous trees, all

of which afford ready opportunity for experi-
mentation, are the acacia and its relative the
locust (the seeds of both of which may best be
made ready for germination by boiling), the
alders are quite variable and with which I have
made interesting experiments; the ash, which
affords excellent opportunities for hybridization,
and is especially promising for timber; and the
hawthorn, which has attractive flowers and fruit
that are subject to a wide range of variation, and
which has exceptional interest because of its not
very remote relationship with the great tribe of
trees that furnish our chief orchard fruits.
The names of the dogwood, the pepper tree,
strawberry tree, and numerous others might be
added, but regarding each of them substantially
the same thing might be said. All offer excellent
opportunities for selective breeding; but few or
none of them have been extensively worked with
hitherto.
172 LUTHER BURBANK
THE FINEST OF ORNAMENTAL TREES
There is one peerless tree, however, that I
must single out for a few added words of special
mention in concluding this brief summary of
some of the more notable among the ornamental
trees.
This the elm, a tree that occupies a place
is

apart, having scarcely a rival when we consider

the ensemble of qualities that go to make up an
ideal ornamental and shade tree.
Whoever has visited an old New England
village, and has walked through the corridors of
elms or looked down the vista of streets arched
over by the interlocking branches of the rows of
trees on either side, will not be likely to challenge
the preeminence of this tree. Nothing could
more admirably meet the purposes of a shade and
avenue tree.
The English elm, which is a more compact
grower than the American species, has been

widely planted in California. But the American

elm thrives here also, although not native to the
coast, and it is much less subject to insect pests
than is European species; also the Eng-
the
lish elm is stiff, and quite lacking in the grace-
ful lines that the American elms so naturally
assume.
 TREES AND SHRUBS 173

There is a very wide range of variation among

American elms, notably in the size of the leaves,
and the openness or compactness of growth, and
in the weeping habit.
The variation is never wise
so great that it is

to plant a row of seedling elms along a street or

roadside. It is much better in the interest of

uniformity to secure trees that have been grafted.

The slippery elm, which grows in the same
regions with the common American species, is a
tree of more compact growth, but on the whole
not to be compared with the other species. There
are natural hybrids, however, between the Amer-
ican elm and the slippery elm that exceed either

parent in size, and sometimes are of surpassing

beauty.
The largest tree that I have ever seen in New
England, and perhaps the largest elm that ever
grew, was one that grew in Lancaster, my boy-
hood home, and which I have every reason to
believe was a hybrid.
As I was born and brought up under the elm,
I have naturally an affection for them greater
perhaps than for any other tree. Branches were
once secured of the gigantic hybrid, while on a
visit to my old home, and brought to California

and grafted on roots of a seedling of the Ameri-

can elm on my home place at Santa Rosa.
174 LUTHER BUKBANK
When grafted tree was only fifteen years
this
old it was two and a half feet in diameter. Its
hybrid character is obvious to all botanists who
have examined it and as the original giant Lan-
caster elm has since been destroyed by a passing
hurricane, I now have the only representative of
it still living.
I have not experimented further with the elm
in this direction; but the grafted tree that thus

reproduced the personality of the giant elm in

the shadows of which I passed my boyhood- a
souvenir that links the home of my mature years
with the home of my ancestors is a source of
perpetual pleasure.
 PERSONAL AND HISTORICAL
SKETCH or THE AUTHOR BY His SISTER
EMMA BURBANK BEESON

town of Lancaster, Massachusetts, is

THE one of the most picturesque in all New
England. Its unsurpassed scenery is of
the English type, a wealth of queenly elms of
wondrous size and beauty gracing its highways
and meadows. The gently flowing Nashua
River; quiet, wood-encircled lakes; sparkling
springs of pure, sweet water; rich grassy inter-
vals and gracefully sloping hills all lend a pecu-

liar charm
to its rare beauty. The treasures of
mountain, field, and forest are there the blue of ;

the fringed gentian, the sumac's fire, and the

thousand varied foresttints unite with the wild

flowers, berries, fruits, and nuts to make life

enjoyable. Although may be something

there
of restraint in New England life, there can be
no monotony in a land of such charmingly diver-
sified scenery, and oft-changing seasons. Spring
with its promise-bursting seed and budding
175
176 LUTHER BURBANK
flower;summer with its fullness blue sky and
green grass; autumn with the Indian summer's
myriad colored leaves, and harvest time; winter
with snowdrifts and merry sleigh bells, ice-clad
trees, and warm, cheery sociability each season
has its own attractions.
Lancaster is rich, too, in historic lore: more
than two and one-half centuries have passed since
the town was settled by white men. Before Lex-
ington, Bunker Hill, or Philadelphia and the
Liberty Bell had been called into existence;
before there was any dream of the mighty possi-
bilities of this Western Continent, a tract of land

ten miles long and eight miles wide, in the valley

of the Nashua River, was purchased in the

year 1643 of the Indian chief, Sholan, sachem

of the Nashaways or Nashawogs, a tribe
whose wigwams were located near Washacum
Lake.
In the year 1653, there being nine families in
the settlement, the township was incorporated
under the name of Lancaster.
The soil and climate were not hospitable to
ignorance and indolence, and the great West of
to-day owes much of its prosperity to the high
ideals of these pioneers who laid a sure founda-
tion for future development; and from Maine to
California there is scarcely a community but has
 PERSONAL HISTORY 177

felt the impulse of the high ideals of the sober,

industrious New Englander.
Since the settlement of Lancaster our national
history has been the most inspiring and luminous
in all human experience, and this town has not
failed to furnish its full quota of names of those
who in peace and in war have stood high in the
annals of the commonwealth and the nation.*
This is world of science and of
also true in the
letters. f Only a few of the great mass of man-
kind stand above the others and impress one with
the sense of their individuality. The same is true
of cities and towns, and when Athens, Edinburgh
or Concord is named, there is presented a dis-
tinct picture of life with a quality of its own, like
a face of Van Dyck, or statue of Phidias. The
town of Lancaster, Massachusetts, by general
consent has such an individuality. typical A
New England home in this beautiful town
was the Burbank homestead the large, square
brick house standing well back from the street
beneath the swaying branches of a great elm tree.
It was a sort of rendezvous for ministers, lec-
turers, and teachers, and was charged with intel-
lectual activity. Into this home on the seventh
*
History of .Lancaster, by Abijal P. Marvin, published by the
town in 18T9.

t A Bibliography of Lancastrians, by Henry S. Nourse, pub-

lished in 1901, compiled for the Public Library.
178 LUTHER BURBANK
day of March, 1849, was born the thirteenth child
Luther Burbank.
The year 1849 New England, an
was, in
active, busy year, as goldhad just been discov-
ered in California, creating such an excitement
as with the single exception of that occasioned
by the memorable Boston Tea Party in 1774, and
the consequent events probably had not been
equaled in American history. During this and
the two following years many were preparing to
cross the plains in quest of gold.
Such was the environment into which Luther
Burbank was born. His welcome w*as perhaps
made more tender by the fact that the little
brother and sister who had just preceded him
had been early excused from the school of life
and called away from its stern discipline. When
this frail sensitive child entered the home, older
brothers and sisters, as well as parents, rejoiced
at his coming.
A quiet, serious child, my brother's most
noticeable trait was a love almost a reverence
for flowers. Ablossom placed in the baby
hands would always stay falling tears. Flowers
were never destroyed by him, but if, perchance,
one fell to pieces, his efforts were always at-
tempts to reconstruct it. Flowers were his first
toys and, when he was old enough to toddle
 PERSONAL HISTORY 179

about, became his pets. Especially dear to his

heart was a thornless cactus (Epiphyllum)
which he carried about in his arms, until in an
unhappy moment he stumbled and fell, break-
ing pot and plant. This was his first great
sorrow; although by care the plant was made to
flourish again. Trees and flowers were espe-
cially abundant near our home, and wandering
among them was a pastime he greatly enjoyed.
No child ever entered more fully into the heart
of nature. From my brother's writings I glean
the following reminiscences of his childhood:
"From a distinctly remembered incident I
must from the first have been of an investigat-
ing turn of mind. The first thing that was fixed
in memory happened in this way: my good
mother, conforming to one of the customs of
old New England days, had just finished pre-
paring a large quantity of 'fried cakes,' and had
placed the boiling fat upon the floor in the
rear of the stove. Apparently it was a great
mystery to me how the hot fat could change
the sticky, unpalatable dough into the brown,
crisp and evidently to my infant fingers
irresistible 'doughnuts.' So, when mother's back
was turned, I 'hitched' along, as children do be-
fore they learn to walk, personally to investigate
the subject, and removing the lid from the ket-
180 LUTHER BURBANK
tie thrust my fingers well down into the almost

boiling Distinctly do I remember the pain

fat.

that followed, and also the sympathy of parents

and neighbors extended in this trouble.
"This incident is mentioned partly to show
that young investigators have their trials as well
as older ones, especially if they strike out along
new lines of thought or action for themselves.
I have had reason later in life to know this holds
true in all cases where original investigations,

along any line, are undertaken. The pioneer in

any new line of thought is usually first ridiculed
and frowned upon; then abused; later endured
and pitied; and often afterward accepted as an
oracle. This can be explained satisfactorily:
The partisan does not think deeply, but is
prompted almost wholly by prejudice, and is
always ready to rail at and ridicule any innova-
tion, whether good or bad. Intelligent men and
women suspend judgment until they can have
an opportunity to weigh evidence, and dispas-
sionately decide for themselves whether any
proposition advanced is true or false. Un-
reasoning ignorance may be a necessary check
upon us all; for envious, jealous, and ignorant
enemies are often our best friends in disguise.
"Every man and every woman must meet
some of them sooner or later in life, and each
 PERSONAL HISTORY 181

personally learn the vital lesson that these

friends in disguise are the necessary tests of
character and purpose. Thus folly, stupidity,
ignorance, envy, and jealousy frequently are
made to work for special as well as the general
good.
"The next incident indelibly traced on the

rapidly moving but invisible film of the soul, as

the sum of individual environments is impressed
upon the great heredity spirit of the race, oc-
curred soon after and this time, too, the trouble
was caused by an original investigator. My
nature-loving mother, while gathering the big,
scarlet, luscious, wild strawberries, growing

abundantly over the near our home, had

fields

carefully placed me on a dry spot among the

late June grasses, when a mischievous tame
crow, belonging to one of our neighbors, swooped
down alongside and began pulling hard at my
unprotected toes the pain and fright were most
;

distressing as the crow industriously applied his

sharp beak to my tender toes, and by the most
earnest persuasion I could not induce him to re-
linquish his hold. By repeatedly perforating the
warm June atmosphere with shrieks, help came
and the black rascal was prevailed upon to quit."
Our home was about three miles north of Lan-
caster village, just off the main road to Harvard;
182 LUTHER BURBANK
father was an unusually prosperous farmer and
manufacturer. Besides his farming interests,
with a large family, he found it necessary to
engage in manufacturing. On thefarm was an
extensive bank of splendid clay; and as pottery
then was in great demand he engaged in its
manufacture. This business was carried on for
several years; but later the mammoth manufac-
turing paper and textile plants were established
in the vicinity,which created so great a demand
for brick that he found it profitable to establish
a brickyard on the farm; and as it takes wood
to burn brick he began buying woodlands, of
which he acquired large holdings. His judg-
ment of the value of growing woodlands was
good, and he employed a large number of men
each summer to make and burn the brick, some
of whom were engaged during the winter in
chopping and hauling wood, and in hauling the
brick by teams to the railroad stations, or deliv-
ering them to the various towns and cities within
fifty miles of the farm. Luther, and a younger
brother, Alfred, when quite young, perhaps only
six or eight years of age, used to drive the oxen
with loads of brick to Clinton, Lancaster village,
Harvard, Fitchburg, Groton, Leominster, Shir-
ley, Sterling, Acton, and other near-by towns.
The Lancaster Gingham Mills, the Washburn
 PERSONAL HISTORY 183

and Moen Wire Works, the Crocker Burbank

Paper Mills, and many hundreds of other brick
buildings in Lancaster and the towns surround-
ing were furnished from this source. Father
also furnished much material from the farm and
woodlands for the powder and paper mills in the
neighboring towns; and for Luther it was a
great treat, when taking
material to the carpet,
paper, cloth, and wire manufacturers, to see the
wonderful processes employed in transforming
the raw materials into such intricate forms of
and beauty.
utility
Samuel Walton Burbank, our father, was a
man of sterling integrity, scholarly tastes,

strong convictions, and unusually good business

ability. He was very indulgent, and fond of his
children, and gave to each the best education
within his power. He was always sincere, and
much respected by his neighbors, and greatly en-
joyed his associations with them. He served in
important offices in the government of the town,
but generally preferred his home and business
relations to outside engagements.
Mother, whose maiden name was Olive Ross,
was an active and intelligent woman, looking
after her household duties with scrupulous care.
She seemed always to know where everything
wanted could be found, and, better still, she was
 OLIVE ROSS BURBANK,
LUTHER BURBANK'S
MOTHER
This picture was taken when she was

past ninety years of age. She lived to

the age of ninety-six years and six

months. The last twenty-five years of

her were spent
life in the Burbank
home at Santa Rosa. She was at all
times a source of inspiration and en-

couragement.
 PERSONAL HISTORY 185

usually able to find it. Being naturally expert

in reading human character, she was of great
assistance to father in his business, as he em-
ployed much help and dealt with men of all

classes and of various nationalities. Indeed, she

was truly a helpmate to her husband in all'
respects. She was fond of flowers, and with
all her other numerous duties had the home sur-

rounded by them. After coming to California

she lived in Luther's home, active and interested
in all of his work until her death in December,

1909, at the age of nearly ninety-seven.

We first hear of the Burbanks at Lancaster,

Lancashire, England, from which place five

Bur bank brothers emigrated to America. We
find by the customhouse records at Boston, Mas-
sachusetts, that Joseph Burbank came in the
ship Abigail from London in 1635, and that
John Burbank, from whom our family de-
scended, was made a voter at Rowley, Massa-
chusetts, in 1640.
Father's mother was Ruth Felch, originally
from Wales. Mother's family the Rosses
came from Scotland: "This was a great and
illustrious family in the time of Kings Robert
and Bruce. Among the ancient and noble
houses of Scotland none perhaps ever held
a higher place in the annals of the country
186 LUTHER BURBANK
than the Rosses of Ross-shire, descendants of
the ancient Earl of Ross. As early as the year
1000 A. D., the chiefs of Ross were powerful
nobles, equal to any in Europe, and at one time
their wealth and influence were only equaled by
those of the King of Scotland himself. In fact,
they were connected with the royal family by
a number of marriages, as shown in the coat of
arms of the earls of Ross which were taken from
the shield of the King to show that they were
children of the royal house. Of the descendants
of the earls of Ross, the house of Balnagown, the
was Hugh Ross of Rarichies, second
first laird

son of Hugh, fifth earl of Ross. From the

house of Balnagown sprang many noted
branches of the family, and in tracing the
descent of these branches almost every event of
importance in the history of Scotland is
touched upon. Rev. George Ross of Balblair,
Ross-shire, the emigrant, was the progenitor of
a line of illustrious men who have made as deep
impress upon the pages of American history as
his ancestors had done in Scotland. He de-
scended from the ancient earls of Ross in a
direct line through the houses of Balnagown,
Shandwick, Balmachy, and Balblair. Though
the great feudal power of the family had been
broken, great wealth still remained in the parent
 PERSONAL HISTORY 187

house of Shandwick and Balnagown. Col.

George Ross, one of the signers of the Declara-
tion of Independence, was of this family. The
descent from Malcolm (1165-1214), first earl of
Ross, is traced through the earls of Ross, to the
family in America."*
The name of mother's mother was Burpee, a
family of French descent. Thus it will be seen
that our ancestry, like that of most people in
America,is made up from many nationalities.
The Burbanks were generally farmers, paper
manufacturers, men, teachers, and
railroad

clergymen; while on the Ross side the ancestry

were more often merchants, mechanics, and horti-
culturists. Few families of New England have
more reason to be proud of a prestige so well
and universally sustained as the Burbanks; few
families have been so eminently represented in
the learned professions, in civil enactments, in

military stations, and in all public reforms.

Professor Levi Sumner Burbank, a cousin,
who lived with us part of the time, was a per-
sonal friend and associate of Louis Agassiz, and
in rambles with him Luther's was
love of nature

greatly increased, as he knew

names of the
the
This cousin was at one
rocks, flowers, arid trees.
time principal of the Lancaster Academy, and
*
Clan Ross in America, 1914.
188 LUTHER BURBANK
was one of the first members of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science.
He wrote a number of books on scientific sub-
jects, one of which was entitled "The Eozoonal
Limestones of Eastern Massachusetts." He
frequently took long trips with Agassiz to
places of scientific interest; west to the copper
mines of Michigan, where Agassiz had invest-
ments; south to the Mammoth Cave, and to
other points of interest to naturalists. He was
also at one time Curator of Geology of the Bos-
ton Society of Natural History, and had a large
and well-selected geological collection. In this
way Luther came to know much of Agassiz and
hiswork.
Our Lancaster home was not far from that of
Ralph Waldo Emerson at Concord. The family
were all greatly interested in the characters of
Lincoln, Emerson, Webster, Sumner, Agassiz,
Thoreau, Channing, the Beechers, the Fowlers,
the Fields, and the Alcotts, with several of
whom fatherwas personally acquainted.
We were brought up under the strict New
England regime, though our parents were ex-
ceedingly reasonable and indulgent. They did
not think it well for children to roam the fields
and woods on Sunday; yet, because of Luther's
love for the birds, flowers, and trees, often
 PERSONAL HISTORY 189

allowed him to go out on Sunday afternoons and

roam in the fields among the trees, birds, brooks,
and flowers. The memory of these rambles is
yet recalled by him with much satisfaction.
On our farm were extensive peat meadows, on
which several acres of cranberries were growing.
It was of great interest to Luther to see the men
rake off the cranberries by the bushel with cran-
berry rakes, instead of picking them by hand as
other berries are gathered. When he was twelve
to fourteen years of age it was thought best to
flood the meadows to increase their productive-
ness. A large trout stream ran through the
meadow and Luther conceived the idea of dam-
ming ostensibly to increase the crop of cran-
it,

berries, but chiefly for the purpose of providing

a fine place for skating an Amusement of which
he was very fond. Much hard work was done
by him through the October and November days
in building the dam which later flooded not only
father's cranberry meadows, but a great number
of acres adjoining. One of the happiest days
of his was that on which he first saw this
life

none had been before.

great sheet of water where
Flashboards had been prepared to raise the
water at the dam as desired, and during the
winter when the snow fell, covering the ice, it
was only necessary to add a board to raise the
190 LUTHER BURBANK
water above the snow to make the whole surface
a glassy sheet again, upon which scores of young
people had great sport with sleds and skates.
During the long winters father, with Luther
and Alfred, often visited the woodlands where
the men were employed in chopping and pre-
paring the wood for burning the brick during
the following summer. During the summers
Luther used to help in the brickyard (generally

turning numerous, long rows

against his will) in
of brick on edge to dry, but whenever oppor-
tunity was afforded, he engaged in building
windmills, water wheels and steam engines, mak-
ing statuary, pottery, etc., carrying on a variety
of chemical and other experiments that were of
more interest to him than turning brick on edge
a very arduous task when well done, and one
that always resulted in sore hands and aching
back and legs.
A great source of delight to him were the ex-
cursions into the woods in summer time among
the waving boughs of maple, walnut, chestnut,
birch, beech, aspen, oak, and pine. These wood
roads wound through great gardens of moun-
and magnificent
tain laurel with glistening leaves
crimson, pink, and white blossoms; near by was
Cumbery Pond, with its waters well stocked
with fish; the old "Slate Quarry"; the "Cinna-
 PERSONAL HISTORY 191

mon Roses"; the great "cold spring"; and a

hundred places of interest and pleasure to our
childhood. Nor were the woods less attractive
in autumn, with theirgorgeous tints, rustling
fallen leaves, among which we found the nuts of
the beech, butternut, hazel, hickory, and chest-
nut. A
ride on the great rude wood sleds in
winter among the ice-clad or snow-laden trees
was no less delightful.

Chemistry and mechanics were of great inter-

est to Luther. First the attic, containing the
little wooden cradle, painted blue, in which so

many tired little ones had been hushed to sweet

slumber, the old spinning wheel, and ancient and
dilapidated furniture allured him. Later ex-
periments were begun in the" backyard with an
old tea kettle, and the neighborhood was aroused
by an untiring steam whistle. These experi-
ments continued until he had perfected a mini-
ature steam engine, which he afterward sold to
be used in propelling a small pleasure boat.
An extreme shyness, the result of a delicate
physique and undue sensitiveness, often caused
Luther to be misunderstood and to shrink from
notice, bearing undeserved reproaches in silence.
When one of the many visitors at our home
looked at him across the table he would often
slip off his chair and run out of doors, not
relish-
192 LUTHER BURBANK
ing too critical observation. Even before he
could count, if he saw more places set at the
dinner table than he could ascribe to the mem-
bers of the family, he would quietly say to
mother: "I don't want any dinner to-day."
Habits of observation and classification re-
sulting in the power to individualize were early
developed. Luther knew more than anyone
else about the apples in the orchard, the nuts in
the woods, and the wild berries on the hillside and
in the meadow grasses. Hemade friends of
birds, insects, and animals, and rocks, trees, and
clouds did not escape his notice. An artist and
poet in heart, no doubt even at an early age
dreams were cherished of a great life work,
dreams which a natural timidity caused him to
hide within his own consciousness.
Each winter brought many noted lecturers to
the forum in Lancaster. An especially deep
and lasting impression was made upon Luther's
life by a series of lectures delivered there by

Professor Gunning, on astronomy, physical

geography, geology, mineralogy, palaeontology,
and other kindred subjects, not supposed to be
especially interesting to a child.
Luther's first experience in school life was in
a little red schoolhouse, located about one-half

mile from our home. On his first day the super-

 PERSONAL HISTORY 193

intendents, or "committee men," as they were

called, visited ourwhich was Number
district,
Three, nicknamed "Gotham." The next district
adjoining Number Three on the north bore the
euphonious name of "Skunk's Misery.'? The
other districts had similar distinctive names, such
as "Ponakin," "Babel," "Deer's Horn," "The
Neck," and others which cannot now be recalled.
On that first day at school the rest of the pupils
seemed to have no trouble in reading off
promptly, but itwas a terrible ordeal to Luther,
and when his turn came he boohooed, and was
excused. During the first winter, David, one of
our older brothers, generally took him on a hand
sled to school, after mother had tied a warm,
woolen tippet about his neck and placed some
thick, red and white woolen mittens upon his
hands. After the first day at school, most of his
troubles were over, though the big boys some-
times used to "yaff" at him.
In this school sister Jane, brother Herbert,
and cousins Myra and Calvin, were at times his
teachers. The course of study was the usual one
followed by the schools at that time. His
opinion, as now expressed, is that he began the
study of arithmetic, grammar, and algebra
altogether too early in life, as most children are
required to do to-day; although they are now
G Bur. Vol. 8
194 LUTHER BURBANK
prepared to approach the subjects by successive
steps more natural and reasonable. These
studies were never a pleasure to him until he was
much older; but geography, word and
analysis,
later geometry, pencil and crayon drawing, and
the languages were an unceasing delight.
At the Lancaster Academy, a high-grade
preparatory school, there were usually about
seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five
pupils, local, and from all over New England
and many Western and Southern States. Here,
as at the district school, Luther was a favorite
with teachers and schoolmates. As was the cus-
tom on Friday afternoons, the students were re-
quired to declaim, but owing to nervous timidity
he could not by any possibility do himself jus-
tice in this trying ordeal. And not until recent
years has he been able, with any degree of com-
posure, to address an audience. In order to
avoid these Friday afternoon ordeals, though
standing unusually high in all other studies, he
remained at home on the day for his turn in this
exercise, notwithstanding the fact that it caused
him no little regret to do so. The principal,
though severe in government, was kindly, and
after a time granted him the privilege of writing
a composition each week instead of declaiming
once a fortnight.
 PERSONAL HISTORY 195

From that time on he enjoyed academic life

most intensely. Free-hand drawing was very
easy for him, and even after leaving school and
while at work in the city of Worcester at wood-
working and pattern making, he took lessons in
drawing once a week from the well-known artist,
Professor George E. Gladwyn, so long con-
nected with the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology, who had a large class in drawing and
designing.
Father, observing that all Luther's leisure
moments, before leaving the academy, were em-
ployed in building water wheels, steam whistles,
steam engines, or something of the sort, con-
cluded that he ought to be a mechanic. An
uncle, Luther Ross, was superintendent of the
woodworking department of the great Ames
Manufacturing Company, which had plants at
Worcester, Groton, and Chicopee Falls, Massa-
chusetts. A
place was secured for Luther in the
factory at Worcester, where he was at first em-
ployed in turning the plowrounds, for which he
received the munificent sum of fifty cents a day.
Board was also fifty cents per day, and, as Sun-
day came once a week, he found himself fifty
cents in arrears at the close of each week.
Although he enjoyed the work, the compensa-
tion was insufficient, so his uncle granted him
196 LUTHER BURBANK
the privilege of working by the piece instead of
by the day, and by special activity under this
arrangement he could make two or three times
as much as formerly.
After gaining some experience in this work
he contrived an improvement in the power turn-
ing lathe that enabled him to earn from ten to
sixteen dollars a day. With this good fortune,
he was greatly elated and gave himself to the
work with increased industry; but the clouds of
dust that came from oak lumber began to im-
pair his health, and it was thought best that he
should leave the shop for a time. Later return-
ing to the Ames Works,
he was again employed
at pattern making and wood turning for a short
time.
All this time his love for nature and out-of-
door life had not lessened. Letters written to
friends at home while employed by the manu-
facturing company at Worcester were of
full
references to long walks, the beauty of sky,
trees and flowers, the song of birds, and the pip-

ing of the frogs. His fondness for studying

human nature back to these days at
dates
Worcester, for in one of his letters at that
time he wrote: "I take great pleasure in
studying the hundreds of new faces which I
meet each day."
 PERSONAL HISTORY 197

When Luther was twenty years of age, he de-

cided that the physician's profession would be
the most congenial as a life work, and so he
began the study of medicine; the value of the
knowledge thus gained in practical hygiene and
be
physiology as applied to plant life can hardly
estimated; but father's death, occurring at this
time, the purpose was abandoned, and the family
moved toGroton now Ayer, Massachusetts,
where we lived two years. It seems that nothing
was to turn Luther from his great life work;
and having purchased seventeen acres in the
village of Lunenburg for raising seeds and
market garden products, he began definite ex-
periments with plants, in which field he saw
great possibilities.
Itwas here that the now world-famed Bur-
bank potato was produced and numerous experi-
ments inaugurated for the improvement of plant
life which have been continued uninterruptedly
until the present time. After spending three
years in this work he moved to Santa Rosa, Cali-
fornia, where he has resided since October 1st,
1875.
Although the time intervening between the
date of his decision to come to California and
the time for starting was short, not being more
than sixty days, yet during that period he sold
198 LUTHER BURBANK
all his personal property; and the accounts of

the business transacted had been so accurately

kept that the total amount of these sales was
found to be within a few cents of the amount of
his annual appraisement. The same regard for
system and accuracy in all the details of busi-
ness which have ever characterized his methods
were here shown. Meantime, besides settling up
these matters, he had sent to different parts of
California for copies of various newspapers, pur--
chased and read several books on California, and
interviewed several parties who had visited the
State and from this information he decided that
;

northern California was probably the most suit-

able to his purpose for the production of im-

proved forms in plant life.

Two older brothers were then living in Toma-
les, California George, who came in 1854, and
David in 1859. Having learned before coming
to the State that the climate of Tomales, being
close to the ocean, was too harsh for his experi-
ments, after some hesitation between San Jose
and Santa Rosa, he decided to locate in Santa
Rosa. Sometimes he has thought that the work
might have been slightly more advanced if he had
settled in the larger town of San Jose, in the
midst of the world's greatest fruit-producing
section, but, on the whole, he has been satisfied
 PERSONAL HISTORY 199

with the choice that was made before leaving

New England.
After preparing to go to California, and just
before he left Massachusetts, the "Ralston Fail-
ure" occurred, which all old Californians too
well remember. Friends advised him to change
his mind on account of the reports of the greatly

depressed conditions California was then ex-

periencing, but having sold his property and
made all arrangements for the change he was
not to be deterred, and started overland in

September.
The trip to California was made alone, with
the money mostly obtained by the sale of the
Burbank potato, which had been produced
before and had been sold for one hundred and
fifty dollars to J. J. H. Gregory,
a prominent
seedsman of Marblehead, Massachusetts.
On arrival in Luther had little
California,
with him, except some clothing, books, and gar-
den seeds, and ten Burbank potatoes which Mr.
Gregory had allowed him to take in order to get
a start.
Santa Rosa was then a little village without
a sidewalk; surrounded by wheat fields; no
orchards, no vineyards, but few ornamental trees
and very little employment for anyone except
that of driving great teams of oxen or mules, in
200 LUTHER BURBANK
plowing with gang plows in the winter, or
working with threshing crews in the summer.
Luther's physical strength was not sufficient to
take either of these positions. With little avail-
able means, in a strange land, far from home
and friends, he met with hardships from which
his sensitivenature recoiled, and which would
have turned a less determined soul from its pur-
pose. Letters written at this time to mother and
sister in the old New England home contain
no details of these hardships but are overflowing
with enthusiastic descriptions of the beautiful
scenery, flowers, trees, and birds, of the pure air
and blue sky of the new land.
Seeking work, he no opportunity pass by,
let
often accepting that which was far beyond his
strength; and doing all sorts of odd jobs. Once
hearing that help was wanted on a building then
in construction, he applied and was promised
work if he would furnish his own shingling
hatchet. He spent his little remaining money
for one and reported for work the next morning
only to meet with another disappointment, as the
job had been given to another. Then he went
'to Petaluma where he worked through the winter

and spring of 1876 in the nursery of W. H. Pep-

per, which was established in 1852, one of the
first in California. Here, occupying a room over
 PERSONAL HISTORY 201

the steaming hothouse at night, and exposed to

the damp soil and climate by day, his strength
gave way, and he returned to Santa Rosa only to
be laid low by fever. But for the kindly minis-
trations of agood neighbor his work might here
have ended. A
good woman, seeing his need,
furnished him fresh milk from her family cow,
and, without hope of reward, saved Luther Bur-
bank, not alone to family and friends, but to the
world.
A small piece of land was now rented and
while working at carpentry during the day,
he devoted the long summer evenings to
preparations for starting a small nursery of
his own.
With the nursery, the Burbank potato was
advertised in a small way for seed. This helped
out a little ; he was also employed as collector of
American
native California tree seeds for several
and European seed firms, and in this way became
acquainted with most of the plants and trees that
grow in this part of the State, the locality where
they grow, the time of blooming, the time of
ripening the seed and other particulars that have
since been of considerable importance to him in
his work.
No path had been blazed for his footsteps, for
his work has no precedent, but as Copernicus
 LUTHER BURBANK'S
BIRTHPLACE
This is Burbank homestead
the old
at Lancaster, Massachusetts. The walls

were of homemade brick, sixteen inches

in thickness. It was overshadowed
with great weeping elms, and was a

busy place and a peaceful, happy one

for us children.
 PERSONAL HISTORY 203

studied the movement of the stars through the

apertures in the roof of an old barn back of the

dilapidated house in which he lived, so Luther
Burbank, while employed in the most common-
place tasks, was laying the foundation for future
achievements.
In the summer of 1877, to his great joy,
mother and sister (the writer) came to California
to join him.
By the old sales books shown that the first
it is

year's sales in the nursery business amounted to

fifteen dollars and twenty cents; the next year
itwas eighty- four dollars the third year to about
;

three hundred and fifty dollars and at the end of

;

ten years the quality of the trees and the reli-

ability of the Burbank "Santa Rosa Nursery"
became so widely known that he was selling over
sixteen thousand dollars' worth of trees and

plants per year.

After some years of this prosperity, he con-
cluded thatit would be safe to embark on the life

work which he had laid out. Therefore the nurs-

ery business was sold in the fall of 1888 that
he might devote himself exclusively to the pro-
duction of new varieties of fruits, trees, and
flowers.

Nothing but the most intense love for and

a knowledge of the importance of this work
204 LUTHER BURBANK
could have induced him to have taken it up
as a life work at this time when he was abso-
lutely free to travel, see the world and enjoy
himself.
Previous to Gold Ridge farm
this time, the
near Sebastopol had been purchased, from which
the nursery stock was now removed and the
ground covered by plants for experimental pur-
poses. Many of these plants had already been
experimented upon by him in definite lines for
years. The work was amplified and extended, as
time and space was now afforded, and plants
from all parts of the world secured for still
further development. Through many hundred
faithful foreign collectors he had often obtained
some wild plant whose economic possibilities had
never been apprehended, and which might, per-
haps, have remained unknown for ages. These
plants, when brought under culture and careful
observation, especially for promising variations,
and by combinations with other wild or cultivated
plants from other countries, have produced new
plants possessing qualities both of enormous
economic and scientific value, opening new fields
for further development in various useful
still

directions. Often a certain experiment had been

needed some quality
carried on to a point where it

more than any plant under cultivation had the

 PERSONAL HISTORY 205

power to add, but by judicious combination of

some new, wild, related species, followed by selec-
tion, a most valuable acquisition has been pro-
duced. Curiously enough, a new Asclepiad,
Solanum, Ampelidee, Papaver, Prunus Ribes,
1

Rubus, or whatever was most needed, almost

always came from some thoughtful, generous,
unknown collector, in some out-of-the-way part
of the world, whose name had never been known
to him before, but who, apparently possessed of
a subtle intuition, sent seeds of just the plant
desired at the right moment. This has so often
occurred that to himit is now a matter of expec-

tation; he also has in several countries, which

have not been thoroughly botanized, regular col-
lectors; among the most active of whom was his

highly esteemed collector in Chile, Senor Jose

D. Husbands (now deceased), who has sent over
six thousand hundred new species for trial
five
from the southern half of South America. For
Luther Burbank he has scaled forbidden moun-
tain peaks, waded rivers, visited islands, traveled

through arid deserts, among rock piles and amid

dangers from the native Indians who had never
been subdued by the powder and balls of
any people, but who have of late succumbed to a
more insidious enemy European and Ameri-
can whiskey. Later teachers, travelers, mis-
206 LUTHER BURBANK
sionariesand even wild native North and
South American Indians have been of great
service.
On coming to California, my brother was sur-
prised to observe the great number of varieties
of fruits that could be raised with such ease when
compared with raising them under eastern con-
ditions; also with the fact that the varieties
grown here were nearly all of eastern and
foreign origin, few, if
any, new
varieties having
been produced specially adapted to the new con-
ditions. It seemed desirable that new varieties
should be produced for these new conditions, and
having done some work in that line before com-
ing to California, he was prepared to take hold
of it with a reasonable amount of confidence as
to the outcome.
The then existing seemed to him in
fruits
various ways to be lacking in many important
particulars, and this is true even to-day, although
partially modified. For instance, some trees
would bear large crops one year or, perhaps, two
years in succession; then, from some cause late
spring frosts, heavy winds, too much rain at the
time of blooming, or other more or less evident
causes the crop would be destroyed, thus
making fruit raising, even here, somewhat of a
"hit-or-miss" proposition.
 PERSONAL HISTORY 207

One of the things to attract his notice in

first

the woods and along the creeks was one of our

native lilies, Lilium pardalinum, commonly
called the leopard lily. This flower is quite vari-
able in a wild state, and this induced him to take
up some of its best forms for study and cultiva-
tion in his own grounds.
At first, berries and lilies much of his
took
attention, and the experiments then made with
these plants were the most extensive that had
ever been made. At the same time he was grow-
ing apples, peaches, pears, plums, quinces, and
numerous other fruits from selected seed by the
hundred thousand each year, reserving only those
that were most promising, which were grafted
onto older fruit trees by this means earlier fruit-
;

ing resulted, thus making possible the testing of

a vast number of varieties within the brief period
of from two to four years. If anyone should
think this a simple and inexpensive work, a little
personal experience would disabuse one's mind
of the idea, for it is all outgo, absolutely no in-
come millions of trees raised, just a few saved,
none soldnone of them salable and thus
all but a few were consumed in enormous
bonfires.
After about ten years of this work, it became

plain to him that it must soon become imperative

208 LUTHER BURBANK
either to cease the work, or reengage in the

nursery business in order to obtain means to carry

on the experiments but the work had increased so
;

greatly that if another nursery should have been

started the experimental work would necessarily
have been neglected. These perplexing condi-
tionswent on for some years. At last both his
home and the experiment grounds at Gold
place
Ridge were involved, and he had about decided
that it was best to curtail or perhaps entirely
abandon the experiments, at that time far more
promising than ever before. The circumstances
were well known to many parties in fact, to the
horticultural world generally. Numerous friends

thought he should apply to some university, to

the United States Government, or to the State
of California for assistance, but he was unwilling
to accept any of these suggestions. Finally, his
ever faithful friend and adviser, Judge Samuel
F. Lieb of San Jose, California, could endure the
situation no longer, and with Judge W. W.
Morrow ofSan Rafael, California, and Presi-
dent David Starr Jordan of Stanford Univer-
sity, all valued friends, everywhere honored and
revered as leaders in their respective professions,
and other esteemed friends at Washington, D.
C., without hisknowledge, had made arrange-
ments by which a grant or subvention should be
 PERSONAL HISTORY 209

made by the Carnegie Institution at Washington

for the continuance of the work. The terms
involved in the first proposition did not meet
with his approval, as it would have seriously and
unnecessarily cramped the work. The next year
(1904) a new proposition was made by the
Carnegie Institution which gave him freedom,
except that semiannual statements be made
($10,000 annually as long as agreeable to both
parties) with serious misgivings he accepted
;

the trust, and for five years worked under this

arrangement. It being a difficult proposition to
properly graft a branch of the young Carnegie
Institution onto an established institution of
more than thirty years' existence the expenses
necessary to renew and extend the work and
make arrangements for the preservation of the
scientificdata were large. And from the first he
found necessary each year to use an average of
it

nine to twelve hundred dollars per annum more

than the amount set aside for this purpose, the
amount of labor and money expenditures re-

quired in producing these new creations being

something astounding to anyone when first

acquainted with the facts. The additional funds

for continuing these experiments were obtained
from the occasional sale of novelties, as before.
At the end of five years this arrangement could
210 LUTHER BURBANK
no longer be endured and was dissolved, greatly
to his satisfaction, leaving him again absolutely
free from the long, weary, daily stenographic
dictations which had been imposed during these
five years.

Visitors were welcomed until he found it im-

possible to carry on the work and meet personally
the rapidly increasing number, many of whom
had journeyed thousands of miles to confer with
him and to learn of his methods. Among these
were men and women prominent in literature,
art, education, science, finance, those connected
with the governments of most foreign lands, and
many whose names are familiar in song and
story. Much of his inspiration has come from
association with these choice spirits.

During the last ten years, however, he has been

able to see but few of those desiring an interview.
Words cannot express his sorrow that such
should be the case, but it has been found neces-
sary; otherwise the valuable work would lapse
into utter ruin. Invitations to write and to lec-
ture in this and other lands have necessarily been
declined by him.
The success which attended these investiga-
tions in plant life has, in my
brother's opinion,
resulted from a life resolve made when he was
eighteen years of age, that the search for truth
 PERSONAL HISTORY 211

was the one supreme ideal for man, regardless

of dictum or creed of any sort, and through life
he has found no reason to change the attitude
then taken.
He believes that one's own life is the only true
and that we should always remember
life to live ;

that our brothers and sisters who are traveling

the same road have the same rights and should
have allthe privileges we demand for ourselves;
and that these privileges should be extended to
our traveling companions in scales, furs, and
feathers.

Although the name of Luther Burbank is

familiar throughout the whole civilized world,

and even where civilization is but partial, yet
very few know how simple is his home life, or
how strenuous is his work.
The little vine-covered cottage in a corner of
the experiment grounds at Santa Rosa was his
home for many years. Years of thought, plan-

ning, working and waiting, with insufficient

laboratory and office room, with no trained
assistants, he was thus compelled personally
to keep his own accurate scientific records,
his only financial resource was the occa-
sional sale of novelties, the real cost of which
was little understood. He listened
quietly,
patiently, and reverently to nature's lessons, and
THE OLD HOMESTEAD AS IT
NOW APPEARS
The vines have almost taken pos-
session of the place.
 PERSONAL HISTORY 213

day by day his experiments were leading

onward toward new plant creations which
should beautify the earth and furnish food
for the rapidly increasing population of the
globe.
cottage is now utilized for office purposes,
The
for in the summer of 1906 the comfortable,

spacious home which he now occupies was built,

across the street and overlooking the home
experiment grounds. Here, although the spirit
ofwork pervades the atmosphere, the feeling of
good cheer, peace, and tranquillity that ever
accompanies the service that uplifts humanity,
isvery pronounced.
In person my brother is slight, almost frail,
yet possessed of remarkable vitality and power
of endurance. A face refined and spiritualized
by the fires of enthusiasm and of suffering; the

high, broad brow, and the soft brown hair now

silvered, are in perfect accord with intense blue
eyes that are keen to read to the very soul of
things, yet lighten at every token of friendship
and of honest appreciation of his work, or
twinkle with shy humor. With its old-time sim-
plicity his charm of manner lingers with one like
the fragrance of flowers. Tender in his nature
and overflowing with kindliness, he is strong in
his principles and convictions and frankly un-
214 LUTHER BURBANK
reserved, reveredby associates, respected by
employees, he is loved by those who know him
best. Possessed of a strong individuality and
intensity of feeling combined with extreme
sensitiveness, he compelled to carefully pro-
is

tect his vitality he may devote all his

that
strength to his chosen work.
A seeker after truth alone, he subscribes to no
creed, belongs to no cult or sect, and refuses to
wear badge or for only life sets the true seal
title,
to character. Unfettered by prejudice, always
guarding against self-deception, laying aside
theory, dogma, bias, he believes in himself and
the sacredness of his mission.
A stroll growing plants, a day on
among his
the seashore or by some trickling mountain
stream, are his chosen recreations, for his is a soul
that feels the joy of the meadow, the laughter
of the brook and sees unknown beauty in the
most familiar objects.
He intensely fond of music, but, as he is
is

compelled to conserve his strength, seldom

attends evening entertainments, and so insistent
are the demands of his work that his vacations
are few.
He a rare conversationalist, using language
is

clear and vivid, and ever since the time when his
teacher granted him the privilege of writing an
 PERSONAL HISTORY 215

essay instead of declaiming for the Friday after-

noon exercises at Lancaster Academy, writing
has been a pleasure to him.
His catalogues, entitled "New Creations in
Plant Life," which were published in 1893 and
in succeeding years, are used as textbooks by

many schools and colleges, and for reference by

horticultural societies and experiment stations
in this and other countries.
In 1907 the little book, "The Training of the
Human Plant," was published and has found a
very generous response from the public; it has
been translated into several languages, put in
form for the blind, and has become a textbook
for the education of the young in thousands of
schools and homes. His love for children makes
itespecially appropriate that his first printed
volume be dedicated to the millions of school
children under all skies, and that it be a plea for
their better development. Especially appropri-
ate, also, is themaking of his birthday, March
7th, a legal holiday by the State of California,
to be observed by the planting of trees and
flowers.
In his marvelous conquest of plant life there
has been no display and no magic, no elaborate
appliances for research; only intuition, industry,
skill, and patience; hands, eyes, and brain have
216 LUTHER BURBANK
been the instruments used in the interpretation
and guidance of the laws of nature. A brief

glance at what has been accomplished has been

given, but, with the knowledge and skill attained,
still greater work is now being done by him.

Unswerved from ideals by any hope of

his

pecuniary reward, can

it be truly said of Luther
Burbank: the man is greater than his work.
 THE STORY OF LUTHER
BURBANK
AUTOBIOGRAPHY

examining a new and unexplored country,

IN it is better to first take a broad, comprehen-

sive, general view of the landscape before

going into detail.Having secured our bearings

of the new territory, we are then equipped for a
more minute study of the nearer landscape.
We are now discovering how mobile all life,

both static and dynamic, is under the deft might

of mind. Each atom lives; there is no gulf
between the quick and the dead and the elements
of the human brain are found alike in the pebbles
under foot and the blazing suns of space. All
are alike subject to the universal attractions and
repulsions of nature. True science and pure
religion are branches from the same root; both
are conscious and unconscious efforts of the
human ego to adapt itself to the conditions of
life. The foliage may well represent our daily
life. The flowers of idealism lend a halo of
217
218 LUTHER BURBANK
beauty, fragrance, joy, love, and hope to life.
The fruits formed through the more deliberate
steps of science are also fundamental. The foli-
age is often injured by the mildew of insincerity
and the caterpillars of avarice. The flowers, also,
are all too often blasted and destroyed by the
same means* and the fruit by worms at the core,
which some of the useful but unwelcome facts of
science bring to light.
The mind of man has sounded no limits to
time or space. We
are learning that all the
varied forms and conditions which we know are
intimately connected and interdependent upon
the past conditions which have shaped their
course and structure. The varying influences
which have surrounded plants, animals, worlds
or atoms have molded their varied characters and
tendencies into their present make-up. This we
may heredity or stored environment. The
call

more permanent aggregations with which we are

familiar, like rocks, metals, air, water, and hun-
dreds of others, seem generally very uniform
and fixed in character while, if these are assimi-
;

lated and chemically combined into the forms of

animals or trees, they are able to vary in aspect,
in habit and character in order to adapt them
selves to the varying conditions of life. If not
* Or the
fungus of pride at the surface.
 NEW ENGLAND 219

more pliable and alive than rocks and metals,

they could not exist. Even the appearance and
qualities of most chemical combinations which
seem arbitrarily and permanently fixed, when
combined and placed under certain new environ-
ments, may develop unsuspected characters and
tendencies. Everybody knows that the charac-
ters of iron are more fixed than those of plants
and animals. The characters and habits of iron,
lime, soda, and hundreds of other chemical sub-
stances and compounds can be fully depended
upon; they will act according to their inherent

qualities. But same chemical substances

these
from which animals and plants are formed are so
numerous and in such diverse combinations that
their behavior is vastly more complicated and
uncertain. The structures which we call plants
and animals make use of the chemical forces of
nearly every substance so far discovered in the
universe.
Nature goes on giving birth to new nations,
new peoples, which live their lives and disappear,
to be replaced by others and others which follow,
as far as we know, forever, or as long as this

planet retains the conditions necessary to human

and national life.
A good heredity from a clean upright ancestry
is more to be desired than all the titles, honors
220 LUTHER BURBANK
and wealth that earth can ever bestow. Cheer-
fulness, good health, thrift, and ability to concen-
trate and persist is a precious heritage. Millions
of "half men" are ushered into life, who are in
themselves wholly incapable of self-respect, self-
control, and self-determination,
and only by some
unusual drug or other stimulant can they be
brought up to "concert pitch," so to speak, for
a brief space; in other words, up to the normal
average condition of ability to become self-sup-
porting through life without infringing on the
normal rights of others, or to enjoy the ordinary
pursuits of life with relish and appreciation. The
man or woman who is endowed with a normal
nervous system rarely craves these various stimu-
lants, or, if so, is able to restrain the craving.
All this unusualstimulation, while giving a
present uplift, has the never-failing tendency
to pull downward toward the ever-increasing
desire for more and more. Will there ever be
any help for this? Only one; not through laws
based on punishment; not through religious
teaching; not through our ordinary educational
methods. It must and will come only through
methods similar to those that have produced and
are producing our best grains, fruits, and flowers.
Our present partial state of civilization has
been acquired by conscious and half-conscious
 NEW ENGLAND 221'

selection of the best and rejection of some of

those unfit for breeding purposes. If we must
have the stupendous pride and effrontery of
placing ourselves above the ordinary everyday
laws of the universe, we bring destruction upon
ourselves, like the fool who builds his tinsel house
upon the shifting sands. Education, training,
and preventive measures are obviously essential
makeshifts, but no amount of kind treatment or
education can ever obliterate heredity defects
from the race. Incompetents and criminals are
born with these defects. Why not accept this
fact squarely? The world will be a slaughter
house an insane asylum, and imbeciles and
incompetents will walk the earth until the truth
shall at last percolate into the minds of all that
the unavoidable and unchangeable laws of nature
which apply to the improvement of domestic
animals and plants also apply especially to
ourselves as well.
In the matter of my own
heredity: though
apparently childhood and youth, I was
frail in
in many respects fortunate in having the will
and ability to work hard with head, hands, and
feet, averaging more than ten hours for each
calendar day for the past sixty years, and having
lately sought for the causes of this state of affairs,
find that all my ancestors and all my relatives on
222 LUTHER BURBANK
both sides as far as known, without exception
have been, and are, industrious, happy, prosper-
ous, respected, self-supporting citizens in their
several communities. Not one of them, either on
the Burbank or Ross side, have been deaf, blind,
imbecile, insane, incompetent, intemperate, or
addicted to the use of drugs or liquor; not one
of them has ever been in any way a public charge
or the inmate of any asylum; not one of them
has ever been in jail, but that some of them might
have been worthy of that position, I am not so
certain.

Although my faithful father, good mother,

and talented sister, Emma Louisa, had always
been life's best inspiration, yet I had never
known the companionship, joy, peace, and happi-
ness of domestic life until I was sixty-seven
years of age, when Miss Elizabeth Waters
placed her heart and hand in my care for life.
Since we have walked together, life has found
a new meaning, and as friendly pals we romp,
play, and labor in perfect accord. What an
inspiration, help, and encouragement a good
woman may be has been exemplified in the
lives of millions of others, as well as my own.
Much of my best work has been accomplished
through her suggestion, counsel, advice, and
help. The world will reward my "Betty" with
 NEW ENGLAND 223

the appreciation and love which she so well

deserves.
A first cousin, Professor Levi Sumner Bur-
bank, was a man of strong scientific proclivities,
and was in part responsible for stimulating my
love of nature, inasmuch as he lived with us at
times, and I often rambled with him in the woods
and gained from him a knowledge of the names
of rocks and flowers and trees. Another first
cousin on my mother's side, Silas Emerson
Harthan, acknowledged to have invented, con-
is

structed, and operated the first electric railroad

ever seen on this earth. This was at Worcester,
Massachusetts, in 1865, and hundreds of people
who patronized this first of all electric roads are
now living. He also invented the heel-making
machines for boots and shoes, which did the work
of one hundred men. The royalties for this
invention were enormous. When he introduced
the electric lights in Worcester, many of the
inhabitants expected to see the city go up in
smoke and perhaps with some reason, as these
old-time electric lights used to flicker, sputter,
sizzle, and shoot blue sparks. The bankers and
business men gave it the ^melancholy hoot" and
declared it was the most dangerous thing ever
invented. It was 1883 before the streets were
again lighted with electricity.
 MRS. LUTHER BURBANK
or "Betty" as we call her, who has

helped greatly in the arrangement

and construction of these volumes, for

which she deserves your thanks.

 NEW ENGLAND 225

THE HEREDITARY BACKGROUND

I mention these scientific cousins as suggesting
that there were certain proclivities that might in
part account for the tendencies of a plant devel-
oper in the strains of my heredity. But, as what
has just been said will further suggest, these
were seemingly of a somewhat formal and techni-
cally scientific order, whereas the inspiration for
my work has been found rather in an ardent
love of nature. I desired to deal with the forces
of life and mold the plastic forms of living organ-
isms rather than to classify the fixed and immu-
table phenomena of dead ones, which would

appear to be the province of the geologist.

Doubtless, however, the strain of interest in
matters scientific thatwas evidenced in the geo-
logical proclivities of my Burbank cousin consti-
tuted an important hereditary element that,
mingled with the more poetical and sympathetic
elements of nature worship which were in the
hereditary strains of my mother's family,
rounded out the characteristics of an essentially
practical plant developer who loved his task for
the very doing of it, yet who never forgot that
practical ends must be achieved.
Mynature-loving mother, whose maiden name
was Olive Ross, traced her ancestry back to the
H Bur. Vol. 8
226 LUTHER BURBANK
latter part of the tenth century, when a large
tract of territory in Scotland, known as Ross-
shire, was awarded to them for bravery in those
ancient battles for supremacy.
I have always felt that my passionate love of
flowers, which is said to have been manifested in

infancy, was inherited from her.

Despite the poetical element in her tempera-

ment, my mother was eminently practical. Being
of mature years when she married, she bore only
five children, and outlived my father by many
years, nearly reaching the century mark. She
passed her declining days in myhome at Santa
Rosa, active to the very last and keenly alive to
all that was going on around her.

THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ENVIRONMENT

OF CHILDHOOD

My father's two-hundred-acre farm was

located about three miles north of the village
of Lancaster, Massachusetts.
There I was born at least so the great family
Bible and the family traditions assure me
March 7th of the year 1849. And there my
childhood and boyhood days were passed.
At that time the long-smoldering antislavery
fires were preparing to burst forth. And just
at the time when the great civic conflict was
 NEW ENGLAND 227

becoming more and more obviously inevitable,

an intellectual and religious turmoil of world-
wide scope was evoked by the pronouncements
of Darwin and Wallace, which seemed to shake
the fundamental notions as to man's creation,
his past history, and his destiny.
These disturbing questions of national policy
and intellectual and spiritual welfare were part
and parcel of our everyday life in Lancaster
during the years when I was passing from
boyhood into adolescence.
As
a child, I listened eagerly to the discus-
sions long before I could more than half under-
stand them, when on not rare occasions a visiting
minister or lecturer was entertained at my
father's table. the eager desire to hear
Only
these discussions overcame the awe of a strange
face that led me always to dread the coming of
a stranger even though I longed to hear his
message.
I well recall how even in somewhat later

years I cringed before the kindly scrutiny of our

visitors and was dumb before their questions,

though drinking in their words with eager inter-

est so long as they were not addressed to me
iii particular.
I shall always feel that I was sent to school
far earlier than was good for me. This, of
228 LUTHER BUKBANK
course, was no fault of my parents. They but
followed the traditions of the times.
That the rules of the three R's should be
ground into the brain of the child while it was
still at its most plastic stage, was accepted as

unchallengeable.
The belief that the schoolhouse on every hill-
top and the church in every valley constitute the
landmarks of civilization was an ingrained
fundamental of the New England tradition.
And so youngsters who should have been in
the fields gathering flowers and reveling in the
sunshine, drinking in the music of the birds and
gaining strength and health for the tasks of
mature life, were too often crowded into school-
rooms that in winter were overheated and ill-
ventilated, and forced to the unwelcome and
unnatural and harmful task of scanning pages
of dots and pothooks and cramming their unwill-
ing brains with formulas, to their permanent
detriment. Only on Saturday was there a
respite. Later I attended the Lancaster Acad-
emy for a few years. This was a very high-grade
preparatory institution.

Though not a university graduate, yet I had

most unusual educational advantages and at the
academy, after the first term, was always well
up on the "Rank List" of the ten best students.
 NEW ENGLAND 229

My years at the academy were very happy and

useful ones, which later were supplemented by
a series of drawing and painting lessons by Prof.
Geo. C. Gladwyn, so long connected with the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Wor-
cester. He is now a very old man and I was
lately pleased to receive a reminiscent letter from
him. These supplemental lessons were taken
just fifty- four years ago.
Two years of my nonacademic education were
employed at wood turning and pattern making
(from the age of sixteen to eighteen) at the
Ames Manufacturing Company, Worcester,
Massachusetts. The work was interesting and
profitable, yet I preferred an academic educa-
tion and the outdoor life which I had enjoyed
on my father's farm, but the two years of
intensely accurate measurements of forms, sizes,
and adaptability have proved very useful in my
later inventive work among plants. No doubt
the world was open to me in the mechanical field
as my two years so well proved; as during the
time spent with the Ames Company, I helped to
construct one of the first practical self-moving
tractors for farm and road use ever operated.
The tractor was propelled by steam and when
completed moved itself through the streets of
Worcester, Massachusetts, for exhibition and
230 LUTHER BURBANK
test, and attracted wide attention. It was

designed and constructed for use in California,

and I am told was still in use hauling produce
and freight in the Sacramento Valley many
years before the modern tractors made their
appearance. This tractor had no steering appa-
ratus of its own, but depended upon a span
of horses attached to a long tongue to guide
it, but the Worcester people were so delighted

with this novel locotractor that two men

offered towhich they did readily,
steer it,

though horses were usually employed in this

capacity.
The Lancaster Public Library at that time
was thelargest in all New
England, except the
Public Library in Boston, and one may rest
assured that it was well patronized.

THE RELIGIOUS ENVIRONMENT

It is a little difficult for the present generation
to gain a clear conception of the New England
Sabbath of the time of boyhood, my and it may
readily be inferred that the day thus given over
to dolorous tasks was not one to which the child
would look forward joyously.
Nor, for the most part, do those who were
children in that generation look back upon the
Sabbath day experiences with satisfaction.
 NEW ENGLAND 231

At least they served the purpose, however, of

supplying a church-going experience adequate
for a lifetime.
Little did the good people who so sedulously
led their flocks to church and subjected them to
the bombardment of repeated sermons, suspect
that they were cultivating an attitude of mind
that would insure that the churches of succeeding
decades should be nearly vacant. Indeed, they
would have been horrified had they been told
such a thing; yet I think we need not doubt that
on the whole such was the influence of their well-
meant efforts.
It adds to our understanding of the curiously
archaic relation of the church to the community,
even in that comparatively recent period, to
reflect that it was obligatory in Lancaster a
short time before for each family to contribute
to the support of the Unitarian Church.

My father was not a Unitarian by profession,

though his father was. However, father sup-
plied sundry loads of bricks without charge for
the building of a new Unitarian church, said to
be the last one built under the old regime.
In subsequent years the law that made the
Church practically a part of the civic organism
had been repealed, and thenceforward people
were allowed to follow their own inclinations in
232 LUTHER BURBANK
the matter of church contributions. But this
severance of church and state, so to speak, did
not so much represent a reaction against the doc-
trines of a particular church, as a general reaction

against the obligatory recognition of any church

whatever.
For there had come about in the course of one
or two decades a most iconoclastic change in the
attitude of mind of the leaders of thought
throughout Christendom toward the tenets that
had hitherto been thought essential to man's
spiritual welfare.
Following the publication of Darwin's "Origin
of Species" in 1859, the intellectual world was in
a ferment, and nowhere was the influence of the
new ideas more quickly felt or tumultuously
argued than in New England.
I was ten years old when Darwin's iconoclastic
document was promulgated, and hence I grew
into adolescence in the very period when it was
most ardently bruited. The idea that animals
and plants have not originated through special
creation but have evolved one form from another
throughout long ages; and the logical culmina-
tion of that idea in the inclusion of man himself in
the evolutionary chain these are commonplaces
to-day. They are familiar doctrines that might
find expression from every orthodox pulpit.
 NEW ENGLAND 233

But in those stormy days of the sixties, such

ideas were not merely heretical they seemed
absolutely revolutionary.
If this new view were accepted, in the minds
of a large proportion of those who expounded
the subject in the early days in New England
nothing good would remain.
Of course the history of the spread of this
new doctrine duplicated the history of every
other new idea. For the most part, people
of the elder generation could no more change
their old views and accept new ones than they
could make over their stature or the color of
their eyes.
But, on the other hand, we of the younger
generation were quick to see the logicality of the
new conception, and were not hampered in its
acceptance by any cherished beliefs of a contra-
dictory kind.
Not, indeed, that we children for the most
part concerned ourselves greatly about the mat-
ter. Wewent through our regular task of Bible
reading and churchgoing and learned our Sun-
day school lessons, just as we performed other,
tasks that we could not escape. But none the
less were there instilled into the very sub-
structure of our minds the essentials of the new
manner of thinking, the new attitude toward the
234 LUTHER BURBANK
world in which we live and all its organic
creatures.
And when in later years we went out into the
world and own paths and to
came to choose our
adopt mental and religious garbs of our own
choosing, the subconscious influence of the new
teaching everywhere made itself felt, determin-
ing a receptive attitude of mind that presaged
the new intellectual era.
If ever there was a time when it was true that
"the old order changeth" in the profoundest
application of the words to the most sacred
beliefs of men, that time was the closing epoch
of the nineteenth century.

PLAY AND WORK

It worth while to dw ell on these less tan-
is
r

gible aspects of the environment of boyhood,

because their influence was probably more impor-
tant than that of many events that have to do
with the regular routine of the workaday world
As to that routine not much need be said,
because there was little associated with it that
was individual or characteristic or that was
largely influential in determining the activities
of my later years.
The recreations of such scant leisure hours as
the New England child of this period could find
 NEW ENGLAND 235

were the usual recreations of childhood. I was

rather too frail of body to enter with full enthu-
siasm into the rougher sports. But in general
the sports and amusements of the New England
childwere of rather a subdued order, as be-
came the intellectual atmosphere in which
we lived.

Coasting and skating were among our most

boisterous pastimes, and the more usual recrea-
tions included such functions as spelling bees and

husking bees.
But the chief occupations of our leisure hours
were of a more prosaic character than sledding
or skating. My was an unusually pros-
father
perous farmer, but he was also a manufacturer.
With a large family, he found it necessary to
supplement the resources of field and orchard.
And of course we boys were pressed into the
service as soon as we were large enough to lend
a hand at various of the simpler phases of brick-

making. It is recalled by my brother that I did

not undertake the turning of brick, which is a
work that is rather hard on delicate hands, with
unusual enthusiasm. But, on the other hand,
my brother Alfred and myself when quite
young, perhaps only six or eight years of age,
used to drive the oxen with loads of brick to
Clinton, Lancaster Village, Harvard, and other
236 LUTHER BURBANK
near-by towns, and this part of the work I found
thoroughly enjoyable.
When the time came for me to take up a defi-
nite occupation, I not unnaturally turned to one
more willingly because of
of the factories, the
always having had the keenest interest in things
mechanical.
At the Lancaster Academy, which I attended
after gaining sufficient preliminary knowledge
in the district school, I was particularly inter-
ested in free-hand drawing, which was found
very easy, and had always an interest in design-
ing. So my father, observing these tendencies,
concluded that his son would be a mechanic.
I had not been long at work before the knack
at contriving things mechanical came to my aid.
The company were pleased with my work and
I might have remained indefinitely in their em-
ploy at a remunerative salary. But the clouds
of dust that came from the oak lumber began to
impair my health and it was thought best to
leave the shop for a while at least. So my ex-
perience as a manufacturer of wood products
ended.
CHOOSING A PROFESSION
I was always of body and of delicate
frail

physique, although wiry of build and not with-

out good powers of endurance. But shop life
 NEW ENGLAND 237

further weakened me, and this led me to think

of taking up medicine as a profession. On the
whole seemed to me that this would be most
it

congenial, and I studied for a year with the in-

tention of becoming a physician and have had
occasion constantly to realize in later life how
valuable this experience was. The knowledge of
physiology and practical hygiene thus gained
could times be applied to the direction and
many
interpretation of plant experiments.
It quite possible that I should have con-
is

tinued my studies and have graduated in medi-

cine had not the death of my father occurred at
this time. This changed all our plans.
From earliest childhood my chief delight had
been found in the study of nature and in par-
ticular in the companionship of flowers.

My earliest recollections center about the

pleasure experienced in wandering in the woods,
gathering wild flowers in summer, and in winter
making excursions among the walnuts, birches,
oaks, and pines that, viewed in perspective, seem
to have been almost of the proportions of Se-

quoias, but which visits of later years revealed

as trees of very ordinary proportions.
So it was perhaps inevitable that sooner or
later an occupation should be chosen that would
bring me hourly in contact with nature. But it
238 LUTHER BUKBANK
was not until my twenty-first year that I entered
specifically on the work, although of course I had
been trained in all the tasks of the farmer, gar-
dener, and fruit grower on my father's farm
from earliest childhood.
I had all along been serving an apprenticeship
that stood me in good stead now that the work
of market gardener and seed grower was taken
up as a business.
Yet it is not certain that I should have been
led to put this knowledge to practical use at this
time had it not been for the stimulation and
fresh enthusiasm thatcame from the reading of
an extraordinary book. This book was Dar-
win's "Animals and Plants under Domestica-
tion." The work was first published, it will be
recalled, in 1868. It probably fell into my
hands a year or so later. It came to me with
a message that was not merely stimulating but
compelling. It aroused my imagination, gave
me insight into the world of plant life, and devel-
oped within me an insistent desire to go into the
field and find the answer to the problems that the
book only suggested. In particular it showed
to me the plants of the field in a new light.
I had understood from Darwin's earlier work
that has evolved from lower forms; that,
all life

therefore, species are not fixed and immutable,

 NEW ENGLAND 239

but are plastic, and amenable to the influences

of their environments.
But I had not before understood to what an
extent species of every kind all about us vary,
and what possibilities of modification of exist-
ing forms are contingent on such variations.
From that hour plant life presented to me a sort
of challenge to test its capacities, to investigate
its traits, to invent new ideals of growth and to

endeavor to mold the plant in accordance with

these ideals.
Thus, thanks to the inspiration of Darwin's
work, my ideas were finally crystallized. The
philosophical bent inherited from my father and
the love of nature that I owed to my mother
were now to work in harmony.
Guided by the practical instincts that were
perhaps a joint heritage from both strains of
these ancestors, and the love of mechanics that
was only second to my love of nature, the inven-
tive tendencies thathad found earlier employ-
ment in the manufacture of steam engines and
new turning devices were to be applied to the
plastic material of the living plant.
Just where it all might lead no one could say.
The field I was entering had been but little

developed, but to my aroused imagination it

seemed a field of picturesque possibilities.

240 LUTHER BURBANK
Meantime, of course, it was necessary that I
should gauge my enthusiasms in accordance
with the practicalities. I must make a living, so
purchased a seventeen-acre tract of land in the
village of Lunenburg and began to raise gar-
den vegetables and seeds for the market.
Something of the practical success achieved
has been suggested here and there in connection
with accounts of later plant experiments. In
particular it may be recalled that I found ways
of improving and cultivating sweet corn to meet
the demands of an early market; and it may be
said that in general my garden products were of
exceptional quality.
Something has been said also as to the hybrid-
izing experiments that were performed from the
outset,including in particular the work with
corn and with various races of beans. The ex-
periments were by no means confined to these
plants, however. I was like an explorer in a
new and strange land full of inviting pathways
and alluring vistas, and undertook to experi-
ment in this direction and in that, giving every
moment of spare time to the work of investigat-
ing the mysteries of plant life.
Every plant in the garden and every shrub
and tree and herb in field or woods was examined
now with new interest, always with first thought
 NEW ENGLAND 241

as to its tendency to variation. Where I had

casually noticed before that individual flowers
of a species differed in details as to form or color
or productivity, accurate notes were now made
of such variations and the query was raised as to
whether they gave suggestion of the possibility
of developing new races under cultivation.
Some of the early experiments were full of
interest, and the knowledge gained through
making them laid the foundation for later suc-
cesses in plant development. But I had not
far before it seemed clear that such
proceeded
experiments as were contemplated could not be
carried out to best advantage in the climate of
New England. My
thoughts turned to Califor-
nia, where two of my half brothers had gone
many years before. What was reported of the
climate of the Pacific Coast region suggested
this as the location where such experiments as
were planned might best be carried out.
And when the first conspicuous success in the

development of a new race of plants had been

achieved, through the production of the Bur-
bank potato with the story of which the reader
is already familiar I determined at all hazards
to move to California. With the taking of the
practical steps that followed that determination,
in the year 1875, a new epoch of my
life began.
 MY EARLY YEARS IN
SANTA ROSA
THE PERIOD OF BITTER STRUGGLE

sixty days of the time when

WITHIN
was
the definite decision to go to California
reached, I had sold my per-
sonal property and closed out my business at
Lunenburg.
The business habits that my father had in-
culcated had been so systematically followed
that there was little difficulty in closing up
accounts.
But, although I had been fairly successful in
the gardening enterprise during the three years
that it had been under way, so much money had
been spent on improvements that there re-
mained but a small balance to my credit. At the
moment, nothing could be realized on the farm.
So in starting for California I was entering on a
new backed by very little capital.
field,
Meantime the well-known Ralston failure
occurred.
243
244 LUTHER BURBANK
Not
feeling able to pay for a sleeping berth,
which at that time was a rather unusual luxury,
I was obliged to make such shifts as I could to
gain snatches of sleep.
A
generous lunch basket had been provided,
and this served its purpose well, for the train
was sometimes delayed for an entire day far out
on the plains with no house in sight. Several
times I had the pleasure of sharing my lunch
with fellow passengers who would otherwise
have suffered hunger.
At that timewas a common experience
it

for axle boxes to become overheated by fric-

tion, and then it would be necessary to make

long stops until repairs could be made. This,

with numerous unclassified delays, made the
journey longer, but added zest to the journey.
At best, at that time it took nine days to cross
the continent, and the contrast between the
trains of that period and the luxurious expresses
of to-day is notable.

EARLY DAYS IN CALIFORNIA

I have said that two older brothers were living
in California. But I did not think Tomales,
where they lived, a suitable place for the work
in which I proposed to engage, because it ap-

peared that this region, being close to the ocean,

 SANTA ROSA 245

had a climate that was not well adapted to these

experiments. I had been advised of conditions
by letter, of course, from time to time, and had
also read such books and articles dealing with
California as could be found, so had rather clear
notions as to what to expect.
The spirit of dogged persistency and of obsti-
nate effort in the face of difficulties is a New
England heritage.
Whatever the son of Puritan ancestors may
lack, he is almost sure to have a full endowment
of the basal instincts of "sticking to it.'

THE LAND or PROMISE

I fully appreciated the natural advantages
and beauties of the country to which I had come.
Letters of the period, as preserved by my
mother and sister, are filled with enthusiasm
over the marvels of the new land. I may quote
one of these letters as showing the impression
that California made upon me, and the oppor-
tunities that it appeared to offer for carrying
out my treasured project, if ever means could
be found to make a beginning.
"Santa Rosa is situated," I wrote, "in a mar-
velously fertile valley containing one hundred
square miles. I firmly believe from what I
have seen that this is the chosen spot of all
LUTHER BURBANK AT THE
AGE OF TWENTY-FIVE
 SANTA ROSA 247

the earth as far as nature is concerned. The

climate is perfect, the air is so sweet that it

is a pleasure to drink it in; the sunshine is pure

and soft.
"The mountains which gird the valley are
lovely; then the valley is covered with majestic
oaks placed as no human hand could arrange
them for beauty. I cannot describe it. (I
almost cry for joy when I look upon the lovely
valley from the hillsides.)
"California's gardens are filled with semitropi-
cal plants, palms, figs, oranges, vines, etc. Great
rose trees, thirty feet in height, loaded with every
color of buds and blossoms, in clusters of twenty
to sixty, like a cluster of grapes (I would like to

pile a bushel of them in your apron) climb over

the houses. English ivy fills large trees, and
flowers are everywhere.
"Do you suppose I am
not pleased to see
fuchsias in the front yards, twelve feet high, and
loaded with various colors of blossoms? Veron-
ica trees, geranium trees; the birds singing and
everything like a beautiful spring day.
"The blue gum tree of Australia grows here
seventy-five feet high in five or six years.
Honeysuckles, snowberries, etc., grow wild on
the mountains. There are so many plants more
beautiful that they are neglected.
248 LUTHER BURBANK
"I improve all my time in walking in every
direction, but have seen no place which nature
has not made perfectly lovely.
"I took a long walk to-day and found enough
curious plants in a wild spot of about an acre to
set a botanist wild.
"I found the wild yam which I hunted for so
much in New England, also the yerba buena, a
vine which has a pleasant taste like peppermint.
(I send you a few leaves.) I also found a nut
that no one seems to have seen before (have
planted it), and several
(to me) curious plants.
I mean to get a piece of land (hire or buy) and
plant it, then I can do other work just the same."
The intention to hire or buy a
piece of land
was not realized for a long term of months after
it was thus confidently expressed. But the time
came, after weary waiting, when it was found
possible to hire a few acres. Then, although
working at carpentry during the day, I was able
to devote the long summer evenings to prepara-
tion for starting a small nursery.
I had come to California in October, 1875,
and it was not until the autumn
of the following

year that the start in the line of work that had

been planned was thus tentatively made. And
even then my time of trial was by no means
over. For, as has been said, no capital was
 SANTA ROSA 249

available with which to push my enterprise, and

was necessary
'

it to feel the
way, step by step.
To be sure I could have appealed to my
brothers, and they would very gladly have
helped me, but I was averse to doing this, both
from an inherent sensitiveness about money,
which is almost as universal a New England
heritage as the Puritan conscience itself, and
because I knew that my relatives, in common
with such other people as knew of my project,
were skeptical as to the practicability of such
experiments in plant development as were con-
templated.
Such skepticism was natural enough on the
part of practical men, for the things that I
hoped to do ran counter to all common experi-
ence. To think of changing the form and consti-
tution of living things in a few years seemed
grotesque even to many people who believed in
the general doctrine of evolution.
It was not generally admitted at that time
that the plants under cultivation had been con-
spicuously modified by the efforts of man.
And even those exceptional botanists who
believed that the cultivated plants owed their
present form to man's efforts were prone to em-
phasize the fact that the plants had been for
centuries under cultivation and to question
250 LUTHER BURBANK
whether the modifications that could be effected
in a single generation would have any practical

significance.
So seemed to most people who knew of my
it

enterprise that it was a half -mad project and

one that was foredoomed to failure.
Of course I had only enthusiasm, backed by
the tentative results of early experiments in
Massachusetts, to offer in response to such criti-

cisms. So it seemed best to trust to my own

resources, so far as possible, and prove my case
according to own method.
my
I would not be understood, however, as say-
ing that my brothers did not give me friendly
cooperation. On the contrary they were, as sug-
gested, ready to extend a helping hand, and
their aid was sought at the outset in the matter
of the propagation of the Burbank potato, the
ten tubers of which constituted, in my judgment,
my most important tangible asset.
The ten potatoes were planted on my
brother's place; and the entire product of the
first season was saved and planted, so that by

the end of the second season the stock of pota-

toes was large enough to offer for sale.
The sale of the Burbank potato helped out a
little, but did not at bring a large return.
first

Notwithstanding the very obvious merits of this

 SANTA ROSA 251

potato, time was required to educate people to

appreciate it. They were accustomed to a red
potato, and a white one, even though larger,
smoother, and more productive, and of better
quality, did not seem at first a tangible substitute.
But in the course of time the Burbank potato
made its way, as has elsewhere been related,
until became the leading potato of the Pacific
it

Coast. Long before this, however, I had ceased

to grow the potato. It was only during the
first few years, before its cultivation became

general, that I could profitably grow it for seed

purposes.
I began my nursery business at Santa Rosa
by raising such fruits and vegetables as gave
promise of being immediately acceptable to the
people of the vicinity. At that time the possibil-
ities of California as a fruit center were for the

most part vaguely realized, and it was first neces-

sary to educate the Californians themselves to a

recognition of the fact that in the soil and climate
of their State were the potentialities of greater
wealth than had ever been stored in the now
almost depleted gold mines.
Once that lesson had been learned, there
would be no great difficulty about disposing of
the fruit, for the railways either built or pro-
jected insured facilities for transportation.
MY FIRST ADVERTISEMENT
When I first came to California I
brought with me a few specimens of
the Burbank potato. These were mul-
tiplied for two or three seasons, and
then offered for sale "for trial on this
coast/' The success of the "trial" is

evident in the fact that whole regions

of California and Oregon are now

given over to the exclusive growing
of the Burbank potato, millions and
millions of bushels each season.
:
2
 SANTA ROSA 253

As to the latter point, however, the conditions

were very different from what they now are.
The refrigerator car had not come into use, and
the possibility of transporting fresh fruits across
the continent at a reasonable cost seemed remote.
So it was natural that such fruits as the prune
and the olive were the ones that chiefly attracted
attention. Their products could be transported
anywhere, and there was an established market
that was practically inexhaustible.
But, as already intimated, the region about
Santa Rosa at the time of my coming was pre-
eminently a wheat country, and the farmers in
general were far more interested in cereals than
in fruit of any kind. It was only after the wheat

crops began to fail, through exhaustion of the soil

for the special nutrients that this cereal demands,
that the thoughts of the farming population in
general could be directed toward fruit culture.
It is necessary to makeexplanation be-
this
cause nowadays everyone thinks of California as
preeminently a fruit country; and so it would
not be obvious, without this elucidation, why one
could not start in the nursery business at Santa
Rosa in the year 1876, and hope for immediate
patronage and a reasonable return for his labors.
But even if the market had been more certain,
it would doubtless have been difficult for me
254 LUTHER BURBANK
to get a start, because fruit trees cannot be
brought to a condition of bearing, or even to a
stage where cions for grafting are available, in
a short time. And I had neither capital nor
credit, being virtually a stranger in a strange
land.
So was necessary to continue to gain a live-
it

lihood by working at carpentry, in which voca-

tion I had now established a sufficient reputa-
tion me pretty steady work. But
to insure

every cent that I could earn, beyond the barest

cost of maintenance, was put into stock for my

prospective nursery; and, as has been said, the

evening hours after the day's work with the
plane, saw, and hammer was over, were devoted
to the culture of seedlings.
The tedious and almost disheartening char-
acter of the task of establishing myself as a
practical nurseryman at Santa Rosa may per-
haps be illustrated about as tangibly as other-
wise could be done by the citation of memoranda
from old account books, which show that the
nursery products in 1877, the first
total sales of

year that my nursery was supposed to be in

operation, amounted to just $15.20. The prod-
ucts that brought this munificent return are
listed as "Nursery stock and ornamental and
flowering plants."
 SANTA ROSA 255

The following year, 1878, the total return

from the nursery was $84.
sales
The third year the sales amounted to $353.28.
The fourth year they came to $702. And it
was not until 1881, when the nursery had been
for five years in operation, that the aggregate
returns from the sale of its products of all
descriptions passed the thousand dollar mark.
The specific figure, in 1881, was $1,112.69.
The figures thus baldly presented tell their
own story. They show that the nursery busi-
ness in California forty-five years ago was in
far different condition from what it is to-day.
Within ten years the quality of the trees and
the reliability of the stock in general of the Bur-
bank Nursery had become so widely known that
I was selling more than $16,000 worth of stock
per year. In the light of this ultimate prosper-
ity, the privations of the earlier years may very
well be minimized, even though they cannot quite
be forgotten.
There are many incidents of that early period
of probation, when struggling to establish myself
as a nurseryman, in order that ultimately I might
take up my plans for plant development on a
large scale, that would have a measure of interest
and would not be without importance in their
bearing on the later work but I must content my-
;
256 LUTHER BURBANK
selfwith the narration of a single incident, partly
because it has to do with an event that was at the

time of momentous importance to me, inasmuch

as it gave a much-needed monetary return, and
at the same time served to advertise the work;
and partly because it illustrates in detail the pos-

sibility of rapidly laying the foundations for an

orchard, and hence may be of value to some other
plant experimenters.

TWENTY THOUSAND PRUNE TREES

The
incident in question has to do with the
production of twenty thousand prune trees, well
rooted and ready to transplant for permanent
location in an orchard, in a single season.
It was in the fourth year of my attempt at the

development of a nursery business at Santa Rosa

that is to say, in the season of 1881 that I

produced the twenty thousand prune trees in

response to a "rush order," and in so doing forti-

fied a reputation for reliability and resource-
fulness that my earlier work had begun to
establish.
The order for twenty thousand prunes was
given by Mr. Warren Button, a wealthy mer-
chant and banker of Tomales, and later of San
Francisco, who had conceived a sudden interest
in prune growing and wished to undertake it on
 SANTA ROSA 257

a large scale with the least possible delay. Mr.

Button had seen something of my work, and he
came to me March, 1881, and asked if I could
in
furnish him twenty thousand prune trees ready
to set out the coming fall.
At first thought I was disposed to answer that
no one on earth could furnish twenty thousand
fruit trees on an order given in March for deliv-

ery in the fall of the same year. But, after think-

ing the matter over for a few minutes, I decided
that the project was not quite so hopeless as it
seemed.
If almond seedlings were used for stock, and
prune buds June-budded on these stocks, the
thing might be accomplished.
Mr. Button agreed to furnish what financial
aid was needed during the summer to pay for

help and to purchase the required number of

almonds for planting. So the bargain was
closed, and I entered on the task with enthusiasm.
What made the project seem feasible was the
knowledge of the fact that almonds, under proper
conditions, sprout almost at once like corn, un-
like nearly all other stone fruits. I estimated
that could the almonds be secured at once, and
bedded sand for sprouting, they would
in coarse
furnish seedlings that could be planted in nursery
rows in time for June budding.
I Bur. Vol. 8
VIEW IN THE SANTA ROSA
GARDENS
This picture gives a very good idea
of the way in which every inch of
ground is utilized in our gardens at
Santa Rosa. Note, however, that the
beds are sharply delimited by board
borders, and that there is evidence of

orderly arrangement profusion of

plants of many species, but quite
without confusion.
 SANTA ROSA 259

There was no difficulty about securing the

almonds for planting, so the enterprise was
almost instantly under way. In addition to the
two acres of land which were then available in my
nursery, I rented five additional acres; and a
large number of men were engaged to plant the
almonds in nursery rows as soon as they began
to sprout.
The almonds were spread on a well-drained
bed of creek sand and covered with coarse burlap
cloth, which in turn was covered with a layer of
sand about an inch in depth. In this way we
could examine the almonds without any trouble,
by lifting one end of the cloth.
The seeds commenced to sprout in less
than fourteen days. Those which sprouted
were carefully removed and planted in the
nursery rows; the others were covered again,
and each day more and more would be found
sprouting.
The almonds were planted about four inches
apart in the rows, the rows about four feet apart,
on a piece of land adjoining the creek a plot
now covered with fine residences, and known as
"Ludwig's Addition."
They began showing growth above ground
in a short time, and the ground was very care-

fully cultivated.
260 LUTHER BURBANK
By the time the buds in a neighbor's prune
orchard were ready for use, the young almond
treeswere also ready. Toward the last of June,
and in July and August, a large force of budders
were employed in placing the French prune buds
on the almond stalks.
After about ten days, when the buds had thor-
oughly united with the stalk, the tops of the
young trees were broken over about eight inches
from the ground; great care being exercised not
to break them entirely off, but only to break the

top down and still keep it alive.

If the top is broken or cut entirely off, the
young trees are about certain to die. This is a
mistake which many nurserymen make in trying
to grow June buds, but by bending the tops over
and leaving them on, none of the trees die, and
the buds start much better than by any other
plan.
Soon the young prune buds began to burst
forth. These were carefully tied up alongside
the stalk, and when they were a foot or more in
height the old almond top was wholly cut away.
By December first, about 19,500 of the trees
were ready for the planter; the others were fur-
nished the next season.
Mr. Dutton was greatly pleased, as he had
been told by all other nurserymen that it was
 SANTA ROSA 261

absolutely impossible to produce trees in eight

months, and he was very anxious to get a prune
orchard at once. By systematic and energetic
work we were able to meet his exceptional need,?.
Never before or since, I believe, was a 200-acre
orchard developed in a single season.

SUCCESS AT LAST
As the feat of producing the
suggested,
twenty thousand prunes served to advertise this
work locally. Meantime the reputation for

dependablenessof the Santa Rose nursery

products had been greatly extending, in a
very modest way to be sure, yet with cumu-
lative effect.
Also the general knowledge that prunes con-
stituted a profitable crop was spreading, an.
about this time the demand for prune trees be-
came very great. Naturally reputation as a
my
producer of prune stock was enhanced by the
demonstration given with the twenty thousand
young trees. Prunes that had been grown in
smaller lots gave equal satisfaction to purchasers
in various regions. Great pains had been taken
that no tree should leave the nursery that was not
exactly true to name, and in all respects precisely
as represented. And now I began to reap the
benefits.
262 LUTHER BURBANK
The quest of prune trees became such a hobby
that came to be the current jest when anyone
it

Was asked for to respond: "Well, if you do not

find him in town, you will probably find him at
Burbank's waiting for some trees."
In course of time more land was needed, the
four-acre place in the very heart of Santa Rosa
was purchased which was in future to be my home
and the seat of many of the most important
experiments.
This place was then a neglected, run-down
plot which had been on the market for many
years. The land was about as poor as could be
found anywhere. Many attempts had been made
to cultivate it, but a crop had not been grown
upon for a long time, if ever.
it

Such a plot of land did not seem to offer great

inducements for a nurseryman. But I had a
plan in mind that would transform it.

The first move was

to place tiles under the
whole tract at a depth of four feet, thus draining
the land which had at one time been the bottom
of a pond. At the same time the ground was
carefully graded. Then, as stable manure could
be had for the hauling 1,800 loads of it were
obtained, and delivered on the four acres. This
was spread so thickly that it was impossible to
plow it under without the aid of several men,
 SANTA ROSA 268

who followed the plow and pitched the fertilizer

into furrows as the plowing proceeded.
Further details as to the method of tillage and
the preparation of the soil have been given in an
earlier chapter and need not be repeated here.
But the subject is mentioned because I wish to
emphasize the possibility of transforming very
poor land into land of exceptional fertility.
To what extent intelligent manipulation of
land may be rewarded is illustrated in the imme-
diate sequel. For in the spring following the
season in which the new land was tiled and fer-
tilized, it was planted to fruit tree seedlings, and
the year following enough nursery stock was
sold from half the land to pay for the entire

place and all the improvements thathad been

made.
So I now had a four-acre plot of the finest land,
located near the business center of Santa Rosa,
that had been paid for with ingenuity and knowl-
edge without making any serious drain on the
purse.
This same plot of land, modified in places by
treating with sand to make it suitable for raising
bulbs, has perhaps grown a greater number of
varieties of plants from regions near and remote
than were ever elsewhere grown on any four
acres of the earth's surface.
264 LUTHER BURBANK
THE LONG-DEFERRED PROJECT
By about the year 1884 I was thoroughly
established with a nursery business that gave me
a sure income of ten thousand dollars or more per
year, and nothing more was required than to con-
tinue along the lines of this established work to
insure a life of relative ease and financial
prosperity.
But nothing was farther from my thoughts
than the permanent following of the routine busi-
ness of the nurseryman. At no stage of the work
in California had I given up the expectation of

devoting the best years of my life to plant experi-

mentation and the development of new races of
useful fruits and vegetables, and of beautiful
flowers. And now the time seemed to have
arrived whenthe long-deferred project could be
put into execution.
So from the very hour when the nursery busi-
ness had come to be fully established, plans were
made for giving it up.
The practical work in the nursery itself had,
of course, furnished a most valuable schooling.
I had learned the technique of growing seedlings,
and grafting, and the general routine of prac-
tical plant culture. And this obviously was
knowledge of a kind that would be of inestimable
 SANTA ROSA 265

importance when I came to deal with rare exotics

and with new forms of plant life. The practical
knowledge of how best to nurse a tender seedling
has had its full share in the furtherance of the
successes of later years.
Meantime a comprehensive knowledge of the
native plants of California had been gained
through having and bulbs for
collected their seeds
eastern and foreign seedsmen.
At about this time there was an interest in the
native plants of California, and many nursery-
men were anxious to give them a trial. During
those years when my own nursery business was
only formative by gathering seeds and bulbs on
orders from various eastern and foreign firms
my income was increased. In the course of this
work various trips were made to the surrounding
territory. On two occasions, in 1880 and in 1881,
I visited the region of the geysers, which was
found to be a productive locality for new mate-
rial. And everywhere careful study was made
of the vegetation, both with an eye to the
immediate collection of seeds and bulbs, and
for future reference in connection with the

projected work.
The knowledge thus gained served well in later
years in suggesting material for hybridizing

experiments.
 MIDSUMMER'S VIEW
This is a view across the center of the
main garden at Santa Rosa, with our
new home (which is really situated
across the street) at the left. The tree

with heavily massed foliage towering

above the building at the right is the
hybrid elm.
 SANTA ROSA 267

Moreover, the work of collecting, preserving,

and shipping seeds, plants, and bulbs taught
practical lessons that were of great importance
later in the instruction of my own collectors in

foreign lands, who gathered the materials that

have had so large a share in the production of
new plant forms that finally appeared in my ex-
periment gardens.
It would have pleased me greatly to extend the
botanizing explorations to still wider territories,
and after the nursery business had come to be
fully established, about the year 1884, it would
have been quite feasible to do so.
The work was so organized that it might read-

ily have been left to assistants for periods of a

year or more, during which I could have traveled

and observed the plant products that seemed to
invite importation.
But to have done this would have been to break
in on the plan of the projected life work that had

already been to some extent interrupted for

a period of about eight years, during which
I had found it impossible to carry out new ex-

periments, except on a limited scale. Longer

delay was not to be thought of, being eager to
take up the projected work, and it was not
deferred for a season longer than was absolutely
necessary.
268 LUTHER BURBANK
Even before I could see my way to the aban-
donment of the practical work of the nursery-
man, projects were in hand that were preparing
the way for the new activities. In particular, I
had sent to Japan to secure seeds and cuttings of
a great variety of fruits. It seemed certain that I
could better afford to hire collectors in foreign
lands to secure material than to go to foreign
lands in person in quest of it.
The first consignment of Japanese seeds and
seedlings arrived November 5, 1884. And when
the consignment was in hand, with the represent-
atives of exotic species of fruits, I felt that a
new era had begun for me, and that the long-
frustrated plans were about to find realization.
The following year, so well had the nursery
business prospered, I was able to purchase a farm
at Sebastopol, seven miles from Santa Rosa,
where the conditions were more favorable for the
growing of certain types of plants.
The second consignment from Japan, includ-

ing the plum, whose story has elsewhere been told

in detail, came December 20, 1885. The place at
Sebastopol where they were to be planted and
nurtured was purchased eight days later. And
with this purchase the project of devoting a life-

time to the work of plant experimentation was

fairly and finally inaugurated. For the Sebas-
 SANTA ROSA 269

topol place, with its eighteen acres, was not pur-

chased for use as a practical nursery, but solely as
an experiment garden.
With the development of the Sebastopol place,
a new phase of life work began.
Thenceforward my time was divided between
the experiment gardens at Santa Rosa and that
at Sebastopol, and upon one place or the other

nearly all my experiments in plant development

were to be performed.
An interest in the nursery business was re-
tained for two or three years more, to furnish
money to carry out the initial stages of the new

experiments; for of course it could not be ex-

pected that new varieties of fruits and flowers
would spring into existence in a single season.
Nor could immediate purchasers be found for
them if they had been thus magically produced.
But from the time when the place at Sebastopol
was purchased it was determined that my ener-
gies were to be wholly devoted to the work of
plant development the work that had been
projected, and at which a beginning had been
made in New England, and the hope of continu-

ing which had been the incentive to persistent

efforts during the intervening years.
PATIENCE AND ITS REWARD
THE PERIOD OF ACHIEVEMENT

purchase of the farm at Sebastopol

THE was made, as recorded in the preceding
chapter, on the 28th of December, 1885.
As this was to be the
important chief testing
ground for trees and flowers, it may perhaps be
of interest to describe somewhat in detail the
farm itself and its topographical surroundings.
In particular an idea should be given of the
indigenous flora of the region, because many of
the wild species were utilized in experiments of
great interest and sometimes of importance.
The picture thus presented of the environ-
ment of the work will serve, perhaps, to give a
clearer understanding of some of its details.
The plot of land at Sebastopol is known as
the Gold Ridge farm, although the place has
usually been referred to in the preceding pages
merely as the experiment farm at Sebastopol.
The farm has a gradual and gentle slope to-
ward the Santa Rosa valley. It is undulating
271
272 LUTHER BURBANK
in contour, and its chief slopes face the east.
The sandy, no doubt part of one of many
soil is

great sand dunes piled up by the waves of the

Pacific Ocean and the winds in past ages.
On this place there is a variety of soils and of
degrees of moisture. Some parts of the land are
so moist that the water seeps up to the surface

throughout the season, and the remainder is so

looseand friable that moisture may be found all
through the summer even six months after any
rain has fallen upon it.

NATIVE PLANTS
Atthe time the place was purchased about
two-thirds of it was covered with white and tan
oaks, the nativeDouglas spruce, manzanita, cas-
cara sagrada, hazel, and madrona, while beneath
the trees grew honeysuckles, brodiaeas, calochor-
tus,cynoglossum, wild peas, fritillarias, orchids,
sisyrinchiums yellow and blue and numerous
other wild plants and shrubs.
During the first few years following the clear-
ing away of this forest many species of clover
wholly new to me made their appearance,
twenty species or more. There was also an
abundance of alfilaria Erodium moschatum
a Chilean plant, belonging to the geranium
family. This and the clovers growing in the
 PATIENCE REWARDED 273

water made a splendid crop to turn under in the

spring, thus adding to the soil much nitrogen
among the most expensive of all fertilizing
materials.
Later, three acres were added on one side of
this place, and again three acres on another of

very similar soil making now sixteen acres

closely covered with numerous species of plants
and trees used in the various experiments.
This farm one of the most sightly places
is

in the vicinity.In the middle foreground lies

the broad Santa Rosa Valley with the city of
Santa Rosa in the distance; and almost under
one's feet is Sebastopol. Mount Saint Helena
looms up grandly in the east some thirty miles
away, more than four thousand feet in altitude.
Most of the hills and mountains of the region
are wooded with Douglas spruce, various oaks,
madronas, and manzanitas. Along the streams,
through the valley, grow Oregon maples, alders,
ash, willows, and hawthorns.
Looking over the valley of Santa Rosa one
sees one of the most prosperous communities

anywhere be found.
to In the early spring,
great apple and prune orchards lighten the val-
of
ley with a sheet of bloom; and, later, fields
hops here and there, with the vineyards along the
foothills, make a most enchanting view. The
A SIMPLE BUT IMPORTANT
EQUIPMENT
These simple garden tools are per-
haps more often used than any others.
The trowel is the universal transplant-

ing implement. The other tools are

soil looseners and weed exterminators.
A small garden plot could be kept in
order with these tools alone.
I
 PATIENCE REWARDED 275

floor of the valley like one great park dotted

is

here and there with giant oaks, each one of a dif-

ferent form; here, perhaps, a hundred in a clus-
ter, there a half dozen, artistically grouped as if
by a landscape gardener. These are mostly
western white oak (Quercus lobata] though in
some parts of the valley there are numerous
patches of the black oak (Q. calif ornica) and
along the streams the live oak (Q. Wislizenii).
In the distant hills north and east are a great
variety of evergreen and deciduous trees and
shrubs among the most common of which are the
following conifers: the digger pine, sugar pine,
the yellow pine, the knob-cone pine, coast red-
wood, incense cedar, MacNab cypress, Goven's
cypress, and nutmeg tree.
Some of the other evergreen and deciduous
trees growing in this immediate vicinity are:
Oregon maple, box elder, Oregon ash, Califor-
nia buckeye, white alder, red alder, tanbark oak,
white oak, Pacific post oak, black oak, blue
oak, maul oak, mountain live oak, tree elder,
bush elder, cottonwood, bayberry, madrona,
golden chestnut, coast manzanita, and common
manzanita.
There are ornamental shrubs in profusion;
among others, the rhododendron, azalea, June-
berry, Judas tree, hawthorns, western sweet-
276 LUTHER BURBANK
scented shrub, California lilac, coast lilac, ma-
hala mats (trailing or creeping lilac), buckthorn
cascara, floweringdogwood, common dogwood,
chokecherry, meadowsweet, wild apple, burning
bush, poison oak, hazel, black willow, creek wil-
low, velvet willow, snowberry, oso berry, chamis-
sal, and salal.

Of vines and bearers of small fruit or of hand-

some flowers there are the wild grape, Oregon
grape, mahonia, huckleberry, bilberry, low
gooseberry, straggly gooseberry, canon goose-
berry, flowering currant, compact flowering cur-
rant, tree poppy, modest shrub, Labrador tea,
redwood rose, California rose, Sonoma rose, silk-
tassel tree, bear brush, yerba santa, yerba buena,
perennial monkey Dutchman's
flower, mistletoe,
pipe, salmonberry, raspberry, thimbleberry, and
almost innumerable smaller plants.
These glimpses of the indigenous flora of the
immediate vicinity of the new experiment farm
will serve to give an idea of the abundance of

interesting native material, for the most part

hitherto quite untouched by the plant experi-
menter, that awaited investigation.

ANTICIPATIONS
Had I felt at liberty to follow my own in-

clinations, paying no heed to the question of

 PATIENCE REWARDED 277

practical monetary returns, I could have found

abundant material for the investigation of a life-
time without going outside the bounds of the
Gold Ridge farm itself.
My own tastes would have led me to devote
themajor part of the time to the investigation
of flowering plants and the development of
flowers having hitherto unrevealed potentialities
of form and color and odor. But it was obvious
that one could not hope to make a living in this

way. I knew that in order to have even a fair

prospect of securing a monetary return that
would enable me to keep up this work, once the
nursery was abandoned, it would be necessary
to produce marketable fruits.
In this field alone could one hope to find a
ready sale for new
plant developments, however
striking or interesting from a scientific stand-
point the results of experiments in other lines
might prove.
And of course the indigenous wildlings of the
immediate environment offered only scant mate-
rial forthe immediate production of new fruits of
practical value. As a matter of course one must
depend for material largely on the orchard
fruits already under cultivation. These had
been educated for countless generations. Most
horticulturists regarded them as perfected be-
278 LUTHER BURBANK
yond any hope of conspicuous further develop-
ment. But in my own view what had been done
with these fruits might better be regarded as a
proof of their capacity for still further educa-
tion and development.
In particular, I hoped, with the new material
then being gathered from foreign countries to be
able to undertake experiments in hybridizing and
selection that might reasonably be expected to
produce altogether novel results.
How fully this expectation has been justified,
the reader is already partly aware. But it should
be recalled that the things which now seem axi-
omatic because they have been accomplished had
quite a different aspect from the standpoint of
the year 1885. Hybridizations that have now
been shown to be ready of accomplishment were
then regarded as quite impossible by all horticul-
turists who gave the matter a thought.
As has been pointed out, the attitude among
botanists and horticulturists generally was one
of profound skepticism as to the possibility of
developing modified races by hybridizations, or,
indeed, by any means whatever within limited

periods of time.
My own faith in the possibility of developing
new races through crossing and selection had
never faltered, however, since the earlier studies
 PATIENCE REWARDED 279

had given a clear view of the range of variation

of plants both under natural conditions and
under cultivation. And it may be taken as ade-
quate proof of confidence that I purchased
experiment farms and sent far and wide for
hybridizing material at the very earliest moment
when my financial conditions made such action

possible.
Nor should be understood that I had by any
it

means entirely neglected experimental tests dur-

ing all the period of my nursery experience. On
the contrary, I had at all stages of this experi-
ence devoted as much time as could be spared to
tests in cross-fertilizing and in selection among
the various nursery products. These had served
to give an expert knowledge of the results that
might be expected from plant improvement.
Tentative results had been attained that gave
support to the most sanguine expectations.

ORCHARD AND GARDEN MATERIALS

Indeed, it was largely as the result of these

experiments in selection that my nursery or-

chards had come to be of such quality as to com-
mand the attention of an ever-widening circle of
fruit growers.
A very wide range of fruit-bearing, orna-
mental, and flowering plants were grown, and
SOIL-STIRRING IMPLEMENTS
Here are afew of the various types
of plows and harrows, some of them to
be drawn by horses, others pushed by
hand. They are indispensable adjuncts

of gardening on a comprehensive scale,

though the tractors have now taken the
place of horses.
 PATIENCE REWARDED 281

although no new plants had been produced that

could be compared with those of a later period,
the nursery had been stocked with the very best
existing varieties of different groups of fruits
and flowers, and all had been submitted to careful
comparative tests until those that remained were
of exceptional quality, and thousands of new

productions were under way that were un-

developed.
The nursery catalogue issued in 1887 the

year before the nursery was sold preparatory to

devoting my entire time to the experiment gar-
dens then in an advanced stage of preparation
comprises 24 pages, and preserves the list of the
exceptional varieties of horticultural plants that
had been selected and developed and supplied the
material for continuance and extension of the
experiments on a larger scale on the test ground
at Sebastopol.
Here were orchard fruits in great variety;
small fruits of the choicest types ; nuts of several
species, including chestnut, walnut, and pecan;
garden vegetables, including asparagus and
rhubarb; a long list of deciduous ornamental
trees and shrubs, and an even longer list of ever-
}

greens; vines and trailing shrubs in interesting

variety; and elaborate series of roses, hedge
plants, bulbous plants, and bedding plants in
282 LUTHER BURBANK
general. All these had been collected and se-
lected and prepared for this very purpose.
With such materials at hand, it was obviously
possible to continue the work of developing new
varieties on an expansive scale so soon as the

grounds were ready, and as we have already

seen, shipments of plants from Japan began to
be received even before the Sebastopol farm
was purchased.

MATERIALS FROM ABROAD

The year following the purchase of the farm,
grafts of twelve varieties of New Zealand apples
were imported. And from this time forward I
was constantly in receipt of shipments of seeds
or bulbs or cions of rare or interesting plants
from all regions of the world.
Association was established with foreign col-
lectors who made a business of securing plants.
And as the work became known in the course of

succeeding years, amateur collectors everywhere

were kind enough to send me materials, so that
the experiment gardens became a testing ground
for seeds of many thousands of species that had
never before been grown in America.
Much of this is already known to the reader of
the early chapters of this work, but the facts are
emphasized anew because an understanding of
 PATIENCE REWARDED 283

them is essential to the comprehension of the

work that was being carried forward.
The very essence of the new method was to
bring together, through hybridization, plant
strains that had been long separated, making
possible the recombination of hereditary factors
in such a way as to bring out, combine, and inten-

sify racial traits.

Obviously such an attempt requires the coop-
eration of collectors living in widely separated
regions. Explorers, missionaries, teachers,
travelers, botanists, sailors, and others by thou-
sands have placed at my disposal seeds, bulbs,
and plants from the whole world with never a
thought of personal reward. The native Indians
of many parts of North America, but more espe-
cially South America, have been pressed into this
service, as they of all others know where the best
wild plants and flowers are to be found and thus
have the opportunity to gather their seeds.

Through the teachings of explorers, missionaries,

and travelers, they have, in many cases, been
trained to become unusually good collectors.
I wish here to pay especial tribute to the faith-
ful service that has been rendered both
by pro-
and by amateurs who knew
fessional collectors
me by reputation only and who had no thought
of reward beyond the satisfaction of aiding
284 LUTHER BURBANK
in a work calculated to benefit humanity at
large.
Through these collectors I have frequently
obtained wild plants the economic value of which
had never been suspected, and which might
otherwise have remained unknown, which, when
combined with plants already in hand, proved of
inestimable value in the development of new
varieties of great scientific interest or of practical

importance.

METHODS AND OBJECTS SOUGHT

To
give details as to the methods by which I
sought to blend the qualities of the plants that
furnished materials for the new investigations
when experiment gardens were fairly in
the
operation, would be to repeat what has been told
in earlier volumes of this work.
The record of the results of these experiments
makes up the main bulk of all these volumes. So
it obviously is not desirable that I should attempt
to repeat here, even in epitome, what has else-
where been told in detail. Yet a few general
comments on methods and results may be of
interest.
Also it may not be amiss, by way of summary,
to outline very briefly the chronological sequence
of the chief lines of endeavor of the period, now
 PATIENCE REWARDED 285

approaching the termination of its half century,

during which the development of improved
races of plants has been comprehensively carried
forward.
In the successive chapters that have told of the
different lines of endeavor, plants were naturally

grouped according to their botanical relations

or their economic uses, with only incidental
reference to the date of the experiment
through which this or that particular variety
was developed.
Perhaps, then, it will serve to coordinate the
work as a whole if we review in partial outline
the story of the endeavors of successive periods;
bearing in mind, of course, that many hundreds
of experiments were always being carried for-
ward simultaneously, and
that many experiments
that achieved notable results at an early day, are
still being carried forward to obtain results even

more notable.

Taking the widest and most general view, it

may be said that the chief lines of investigation

at the outset of the period when my energies
were turned exclusively to experimental work,
instead of being hampered by ordinary nursery
duties, had to do with the improvement of
orchard fruits on one hand and with certain
flowering plants on the other. From the outset,
SEEDS IN THE GREENHOUSE
A corner of the greenhouse in seed

gathering time. Seeds of many vari-

eties are here collected for
drying, pre-
paratory to being stored for the winter
or immediately planted, as the case may
be. Note the sieves at hand, to be used

if necessary in screening out impuri-

ties, or separating seeds of different

sizes.
 PATIENCE REWARDED 287

however, small fruits were given almost equal

attention.
It had been made clear to me, through nursery
experience, that the varieties of fruits grown in
California at that time, being all of eastern and
European origin, were not ideally adapted to
the new climatic conditions of the Pacific
Coast. It seemed desirable that new varieties

adapted to the new conditionsbe should

produced.
So one prime object of the early work was to
develop orchard fruits, and notably prunes,
plums, peaches, apples, and pears, that would
be of value in the development of the fruit indus-
try in California, but I had in mind also the desir-
ability of producing fruits that would be adapted
to growth in other parts of the world. Most of
the fruits then existing were lacking in impor-
tant qualities that are equally essential wherever
the fruit is grown.
It was determined from the outset to give par-
ticular attention to these matters, endeavoring to

produce varieties of fruit trees that would be

hardy and resistant to unfavorable conditions
and that would be not only heavy but regular
bearers. The matter of resistance to insect pests
and to disease was also given very careful con-
sideration from the outset.
288 LUTHER BURBANK
Seedlings showed susceptibility were
that
ruthlessly weeded out, and the survivors became
the parents of races that are relatively immune
to disease.
Of course the combination of different species
to bring together long-diverged racial strains
was a fundamental part of the plan. Unnum-
bered thousands of hand-pollenizing experi-
ments were made each year, and the limits of
affinity between the different species were tested
by ceaseless and persistent efforts.
When species that were apparently somewhat
closely related proved infertile after cross-polli-

nation, was not taken for granted that there

it

was real antagonism between those species until

the experiment had been tried over and over in
successive seasons, perhaps hundreds of times in
the case of a single pair of species, often using
different individuals and varieties of species.
Instances in which a hybridizing experiment
at lastproved successful after many years of
failure as for example in the case of the sun-

berry will be recalled by the reader.

PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS

COMBINED
In general, practical results were sought
rather than the establishment of theories ; yet for
 PATIENCE REWARDED 289

the most part, in such a line of experiment

theory and practice necessarily go together.
The only sharp distinction between our method
and that of an experimenter who is looking only
to the investigation of the laws of heredity is that
we were obliged to select for preservation a few
only amonglarge companies of hybrid seedlings,
destroying the rest, and to that extent making
the record incomplete. It would be of great
scientific interest to trace the entire company of
a hybrid stock as to all its individual members
through successive generations.
But when the members of a fraternity number
ten or a hundred thousand or a million, as was
often the case in our experiments, the attempt
to preserve all and to investigate their progeny

through several generations would necessitate

the expansion of our experiment farm until it
comprised thousands of acres, and the employ-
ment of an army of helpers.
If this is true of the plants of a single series
of experiments, what shall we say of the aggre-
gate companies making up the ranks of plants
involved in two or three thousand experiments.
So soon as our work was well under way, and
throughout all the succeeding years, at least
three thousand different series of experiments
have been carried forward simultaneously.
J Bur. Vol. 8
290 LUTHER BURBANK
Very commonly a million seedlings are in-
volved in a single fraternity.
Under these conditions, it will be obvious that
there was no choice but to select the few indi-
viduals that came nearest to the ideals of a mental
forecast, ruthlessly destroying the rest to make
room for the favored ones.
And in so doing we were of course duplicating
the method of nature herself, although the quali-
ties that determined our choice in any given case

were not usually those that would have fitted the

chosen individuals for preservation in a natural
environment. Our selections were made, of
course, with the object of fitting the plant to meet
human needs and tastes. The selections of
nature are made with reference to the needs of
the plant itself.

But ifwe make allowance for this difference

in the point of view, we may say that the
principle of selection is exactly the same in
each case.
And we are justified, no doubt, in saying that
the experiments in artificial selection made on my
experiment farms during the period under re-
view, constitute the most elaborate series of ex-
perimental proofs of the truth of the Darwinian
theory of Natural Selection that have ever been
brought forward.
 PATIENCE REWARDED 291

Such experiments in hybridizing and selection

as were part of the everyday work at Santa Rosa
and Sebastopol, season after season, involving
thousands of species, had been performed else-
where only in isolated cases and by rare excep-
tion. Nowhere else had such a work been under-
taken on a comprehensive scale even with a few
species of plants.
The application of the method to thousands of
species, involving countless myriads of individ-
uals, was an absolute novelty.

SCIENTIFIC RESULTS
The work in their bearings on
results of the

theory may
scientific be briefly summarized.
These experiments demonstrated that the bar-
riers between natural species are much more
fragile than had been almost universally sup-
posed.
They showed that not only may we produce
fertile hybrids between a very large number of
related species of plants, but that equally fertile

hybrids may often be produced by the union of

species that are so widely separated as to be
classified in different genera.

They have proved that the first-generation

hybrids may resemble one parent or the other
pretty closely or may show a blending of quali-
 CLEANING SEEDS
That "trifles make perfection" is as

true of gardening as of any other art.

One of the trifles that is often neglected
by the amateur is the careful cleaning

of seeds, if necessary by washing, to

minimize danger of injury from fun-
gous growths or insects, and to guard
against the inclusion of foreign seeds
or impurities of any kind. An electric

power seed separator is used for larger

lots.
 PATIENCE REWARDED 293

ties ;
and that
in the second generation, with rare

exceptions, there is a segregation and recombina-

tion of the racial qualities of the original parent

species, in which the extreme forms may more

or less closely duplicate one parent or the other,
and the intermediate forms may show almost
every conceivable gradation between the two.
They have demonstrated, further, that it is

possible, by selecting among the second-genera-

tion hybrids the individuals that exhibit any de-
sired combination of qualities, to develop, in the
course of a few generations of inbreeding, races
in which this combination of qualities is so accen-
tuated and fixed as to constitute a distinguish-
ing characteristic of a new variety quite unlike
the original forms.
Moreover, that the later-generation hybrids
might reveal racial traits that were not observ-
able in either of the parent species.
The segregation and redistribution of char-
acters oftengave opportunity for the appearance
of qualities that have long been submerged,-
which by cumulative selection produced new
characters and qualities never before in existence.
As a tangible illustration, hybrids in the first

generation may show an enhanced capacity for

growth, and the later generation hybrids may be
graded from groups of dwarfs at one end of the
294 LUTHER BURBANK
scale to giants at the other. A corresponding
gradation may be shown in regard to other quali-
ties, such as color of flower, character of leaf,
flavor of fruit, productivity, resistance to disease
in a word as to all the varied properties that

go to make up the personality if the expression

be permitted of a plant.
Many of these things are so well recognized
to-day that they seem mere matters of fact, quite
beyond challenge. But they were matters of
very ardent challenge in the day when they were
first being demonstrated in the
experiment
gardens at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol.
When the first official announcements of this
work were sent forth, through publication of the
brochure called "New Creations in Fruits and
Flowers" in June, 1893, the measure of the
novelty of the announcements may be gauged
by the popular interest aroused on one hand and
by the outspoken incredulity of the botanical and
horticultural worlds in general, save only the in-
dividual experts who had previously visited my
grounds and seen for themselves the truth of the
matters that were now given publicity.
It will serve to give an outline of the prog-
ress of the work if we briefly summarize the con-
tents of the successive catalogues in which the
new developments were publicly reported.
 PATIENCE REWARDED 295

NEW DEVELOPMENTS ANNOUNCED IN 1893

The of these, as already noted, appeared
first

in June, 1893, under title of "New Creations in

Fruits and Flowers/' The subsequent ones
were regarded as supplements to the original
publication. By running over the contents of
these supplements of successive years, an im-
pression is gained of the sequence in which
the more important plant developments were
brought to a stage of improvement that justified
their introduction. But of course must not be
it

inferred that the different experiments had been

taken up in the precise sequence in which their
successful results were announced. Some lines
of investigation require far more time than
others; there are a great number of experiments
still awaiting announcement that were begun at
the very outset of my experimental work.
Nevertheless the successive announcements
may be taken as at least giving a general view
of the progress of the work; so we may briefly
summarize the contents of the original publica-
tion and of the earlier supplements to which
chief interest attaches because of the entire
novelty of the products they present.
In a later chapter we shall take up the theor
retical bearings of the new work. Here we are
296 LUTHER BURBANK
concerned for the most part with a bald recital
of the names of the more important new vari-
eties of plant life, presented somewhat in the
order of their introduction. Even as to these,

nothing like a complete list will be given, for the

minor improvements of plant life, large num-
bers of which have been referred to in the course
of this work, do not call for special refer-
ence here.
Even the recital of the names that cannot well
be overlooked may carry us to rather tiresome
lengths.
The new varieties of hybrid plants announced
in the publication of 1893 are listed in eighteen
successive groups, as follows:
(1) Hybrid Walnuts, including the forms
named the Paradox and the Royal. The pedi-
grees of the two hybrids are given, one
being a cross between the California and the
Persian walnut and the other between the
black walnut of the East and the California
black walnut; but the distinctive names were
given later.

(2) A new Japanese Mammoth Chestnut.

The origin of this chestnut is given, and it is
stated that the one offered is "the best one of
more than ten thousand seedlings, a tree which
every season bears all it can hold of fat, glossy
 PATIENCE REWARDED 297

nuts of the very largest size and as sweet as the

American chestnut."
(3)Two Quinces, named respectively the Van
Deman and Santa Rosa, the former named in
honor of the Chief of the Pomological Depart-
ment of the United States Department of
Agriculture, who had particularly admired it.
A new Japan quince named Alpha, and a new
flowering quince named Dazzle.
(4) Plums and Prunes. These comprised ten
new varieties or hybrids, for the most part bear-
ing numbers only, but including the Golden, the
Delaware, the Shipper, and the plums that
afterward were famous as the Wickson and
America; also the Giant and Splendor prunes.
(5) Hybrid and crossbred Berries. Here
there are nineteen new varieties, including the

Japanese Golden Mayberry, the Primus berry,

the berry named Humboldt, afterward changed
by the purchaser to Phenomenal, and the Para-
dox, Autumn Giant, and Eureka. The strange
raspberry-strawberry hybrids are also described
and pictured, although not offered for sale.
(6) Seedling Roses and rose hybrids. There
are five named or numbered varieties in this list,
including the Peachblow and the one afterward
known as Santa Rosa, and one named later Bur-
bank by the purchaser. A
number of Rugosa
A COLLECTION OF SIEVES
These sieves are, of course, merely
fine screens conveniently framed, so
that they can be used for various pur-

poses screening compost, cleaning

seeds, etc.
 PATIENCE REWARDED 299

hybrids are listed in addition, one of them being

mentioned as having received a medal from the
California State Floral Society.
(7) New Callas. These included the varie-

gated Little Gem, the Snow Flake, the Giant

Calla, and the Golden variegated Richardia alba
maculata, it
being recorded of the first named
that was selected from eighteen thousand
it

seedlings, and of the last named that it was the

single selection among hundreds of thousands of
bulbs of the spotted-leaved Calla that had been
raised for the trade from seed on my grounds.

(8) Hybrid Lilies. Only two specified va-

rieties are offered under individual numbers, one

being the large-flowering Lilium pardalinum,

afterward known as Fragrance, and the other a
dwarf form growing only ten inches high and
producing from twenty to forty blossoms on
each of the short stalks which afterward bore
the name of Glow. But the names of forty-two
species and were given as only a partial
varieties
list of the lilies that had been combined in the

hybrid seedlings which even at that time made

up an extraordinary colony in the experiment
garden.
It was stated that some of the older hybrids
and seedlings were represented by as many as
a thousand bulbs each that half a million kinds
;
300 LUTHER BURBANK
were yet to unfold their petals for the first time;
and that we were still planting from one to
three pounds of hybridized lily seed every season.
So the varieties actually announced were only
the forerunners of a vast company of which
more would be heard in later years.

(9) New varieties of Gladiolus. It was

stated that six of the best forms of this flower,
from among a million or more seedlings raised
during the ten years preceding, had been intro-
duced four years earlier, one of these being the
first double gladiolus and the first of a type in

which the flowers are closely arranged all

around the spike, like a In the
hyacinth.
catalogue ten interesting forms were listed and
succinctly described, among others a white
form with very large flowers, several dwarfs
with curious stripes and markings, and sundry
double forms.
(10) Hybrid Clematis. Six new forms were
named, including a double variety, with broad
snow-white petals, the flowers five to six inches
in diameter, that blooms almost constantly

throughout spring, summer, and fall. Another

variety was said to resemble a white water lily,
and it was group that "No hardy
said of the
flower except the rose and the lily is so mag-
nificently beautiful as the new hybrid Clematis;
 PATIENCE REWARDED 301

seedlings of which have been grown at the rate

of ten thousand a year for several years."
(11) A new Myrtle. This is described as a
new silver variegated Roman Myrtle or Brides'

Myrtle, originated as early as 1882. It had

been characterized by the California State
Gardener as the handsomest variegated shrub
he had ever seen.
(12) A new Poppy named Silver Lining.
Described as developed by six years' selection
from a sport of the Papaver umbrosum (But-
terfly Poppy), and
as being of a glistening
silver white on the inside of each petal instead
of crimson and black; the outside remaining of
the original brilliant crimson, thus producing a
strikingly beautiful effect.
(18) A new plant, the Nicotunia. This name
had been coined to describe a new race produced

by crossing a tobacco plant (Nicotiana) with a

Petunia. A suggestion of the difficulties in-

volved in making this cross was given in these

words :

"If anyone thinks he can take right hold and

produce Nicotunias as he would hybrid petunias
or crossbred primroses, let him try; there is no
patent on their manufacture; but if the five
hundredth crossing succeeds, or even the five
thousandth, under the best conditions obtain-
302 LUTHER BURBANK
able,he will surely be very successful; I do not
fear any immediate competition."
It was stated that the flowers of the new
hybrid are handsome, white, pink, carmine, or
striped, and are borne in bounteous profusion,
but that no seed is ever produced, although the
plants are very readily multiplied by cuttings.
(14) Hybrid Nicotianas. These are hybrids
produced by crossing six or more different

species of Nicotiana. "Many of the new hybrid

varieties are only obtained after several thou-
sand crossings, under all conditions which
seemed to promise success; but now I have
perennial varieties with glaucous green foliage,
edged and mottled with white, bearing pink
blossoms in cymes two or three feet across with
from five hundred to two thousand or more blos-
soms in each cyme. Most of these hybrids are
readily propagated from root cuttings or slips;
none of them ever bear any seed; all are un-
usually hardy."
(15) Begonia-Leafed Squash. "A mammoth
squash which produced abundant crops for stock
feeding and has bright golden variegated leaves.
The unusual leaf variegation appeared four
years ago (1889) on a single vine, and by selec-
tion has become so fixed that at least 95 per
cent are variegated. The form, size, and uni-
 PATIENCE REWARDED 303

form appearance of the squashes has also been

very greatly improved."
(16) New Potatoes. Two varieties are de-
scribed as being the best of several thousand
seedlings that have been tested for five years.
One a long, nearly cylindrical, smooth, white
is

seedling of the Burbank; the other is a short,

flattish, oval, light-colored potato with a russet
coat, from a cross of the old "Chile" or "Bodega
Red" and the Burbank. "Both are superior
keepers, and have never shown any tendency to
become diseased."
(17) Ornamental Crossbred Tomato. This
new fruiting plant is named Combination and is
described as a cross between the "Little Cur-
rant" and the "Dwarf Champion" tomatoes.
"The curious plaited, twisted, and blistered, but
handsome leaves, sturdily compact growth, and
clusters of fruit, will make it a favored orna-
mental plant which can be easily grown by
everybody."
(18) "Other New Plants." A
miscellaneous
listof hybrids, including some very extraordi-
nary combinations, particularly crosses between
the different orchard fruits, peaches, almonds,
plums, quinces, and apples in various combina-
tions. The photograph of a stem of apetalous
pistillate blossoms of a plum-apricot hybrid is
 MARKING ROWS FOR
PLANTING
Nothing should be planted "hit or
miss" in a garden. Anything that is

worth doing at all is worth doing

well, according to practical philosophy.
This picture gives a very useful hint
as to the manipulation of a line in

marking out rows of any length.

 PATIENCE REWARDED 305

given: a picture that has peculiar interest now

in view of the subsequent development of the
plumcot. Mention is also made of the crossbred

tigridias, new arums, amaryllis, bro-

cannas,
diseas, aquilegias, and asters, and a multitude of
other things not yet near enough to perfection
to merit a special description. These were to
appear in later catalogues.

A SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
The list of "New Creations" thus briefly sum-
marized occupies fifty pages.
There follows a concluding section under the
heading "Facts and Possibilities" that sum-
marizes the work and that may be worth quot-
ing here for The general
its historical interest.

attitude of the experimenter toward his work in

both its theoretical and its
practical bearings is
rather clearly outlined in the summary conclud-
ing a catalogue which so high an authority as
Professor Hugo de Vries has seen fit to describe
as of an epoch-making character:
"There is no possible room for doubt that
every form of plant life existing on the earth is
now being and has always been modified, more
or less, by its surroundings, and often rapidly
and permanently changed, never to return to the
same form.
306 LUTHER BURBANK
"When man takes advantage of these facts,
and changes all the conditions, giving abundance
of room for expansion and growth, extra culti-
vation and a superabundance of the various
chemical elements in the most assimilable form,
with abundance of light and heat, great changes
sooner or later occur according to the suscepti-
bility of the subject; and when, added to all these
combined governing forces, we employ the other
potent forces of combination and selection of the
best combinations, the power to improve our use-
ful and ornamental plants is limitless."

TEN YEARS OF PROGRESS

In describing this work, Professor de Vries
has said that my catalogue of 1893, the contents
of which have just been summarized, gained for
itsauthor "a world- wide reputation and brought
him into connection with almost all of the larger
on the earth."
horticultural firms
These catalogues were largely bought up by
the United States Experiment Stations and
various American and European universities to
be used as textbooks.
It would be superfluous to recapitulate in de-
tail the plant developments that have occupied
attention at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol in the
more recent years.
 PATIENCE REWARDED 307

In the course of the decade following the

announcements in the first edition of "New
Creations," the new experimental work was sub-
jected to scrutiny by large numbers of visitors,
including distinguished pomologists, horticultur-
ists, and botanists from all over the world. The
new fruits and flowers had been subjected to
tests sufficient to establish their merit. All skep-
ticism as to the validity of the announcements
that came officially from Santa Rosa had long
since vanished.
On the other hand, there were many discrimi-
nating and appreciative new work
notices of the

published in magazines and books.

If I were to summarize in a sentence or two
the main most recent
lines of progress of the

decade, would be
it necessary to give first place
to the development of the races of Spineless
Cactus, which reached a commercial stage in
1904. The work with Indian corn, including,
incidentally, the development of the Rain-
bow Corn; the development of the giant Am-
aryllis; the perfection of new races of Shasta
Daisies the development of new Roses, Gladioli,
;

and some scores of other flowers; varied work

with the Poppies the development of new races
;

of Giant Crimson winter rhubarb; the produc-

tion of the Sunberry; new Plums, Prunes,
308 LUTHER BURBANK
Cherries, Peaches, Apples, and Plumcots ; and an
elaborate series of experiments with Cereals and
Grasses these represent a few main lines of the
work that has occupied attention in recent years,
and will serve to suggest the further lines of
action that will claim attention in the years to
come.
Meantime the present publication, giving the
first complete and authoritative account of my
work that has ever been attempted, comes forty-
five years after the development of the Burbank

potato, which marked the beginning of my plant

development. Yet I have reason to hope that
there are years ahead that will prove even more
productive than any years of the past perhaps
in their ultimate importance more productive
than all the forty-five years of past effort, as
these experiments are necessarily cumulative.
 A SUMMARY OF THE WORK
WHAT IT MEANS TO SCIENCE AND
AGRICULTURE

seen that the first edition of

WHAVE New Creations in Fruits and Flowers"

was published in June, 1893. Perhaps
we can best give an idea of the impression created
by the work by quoting a few paragraphs from
the introduction to the supplementary brochure
that was published the following year. Although
this second work was issued independently, it
consisted in the main of a fuller account of
some of the plant developments referred to in
the first work, together with a large number
of photographic illustrations. The two bro-
chures, issued respectively in 1893 and 1894,
may be considered as constituting the first official

publication of the main outlines of the work

in plantdevelopment which had begun in Massa-
chusetts fully twenty years earlier, and which
had occupied our whole attention unreservedly
since 1885.
309
310 LUTHER BURBANK
The impression created by the first brochure is
referred to in the introduction to the supplemen-
tary one in the following words :

"Twelve months have passed since the first

number of the 'New Creations in Fruits and
Flowers' was sent out on its mission among
dealers in trees and plants, great care being
taken to confine it to the trade only ; but, before
the few hundred first published were all deliv-

ered, orderscame pouring in with each mail, like

the falling of autumn leaves, for more, more,
and again more had to be printed, and to this day
the requests for 'New Creations' are increasing
rapidly, instead of diminishing, as it had been
hoped they would.
"Probably no horticultural publication ever
created more profound surprise or received a
more hearty welcome. Almost every mail brings
requests for them from colleges, experiment sta-
tions, libraries, students, and scientific societies
in Europe and America, and it has been trans-
lated into other languages for foreign lands, even
where it would seem that scientific horticulture
was hardly recognized; some asking for one,
others for two or three, or a dozen or two, or
more. All these requests have been cheerfully
responded to, but from this time on we shall be
obliged to make a charge. We
cannot attend to
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 311

the ever-increasing avalanche of letters which

they occasion, a large portion of which are from
amateurs, with long listsof questions, which
would require years, perhaps a lifetime, to
answer.
"Five years ago we sold out a nursery business
which had been built up from nothing, and which
was paying us fully ten thousand dollars a year,
that we might give all our time and thought to
the work of producing new fruits and flowers.
"Do not think because they are raised in sunny
California that they are less likely to prove gen-
erally hardy. Are those already before the pub-
lic any hardy or any less valuable than most
less
of the Russian fruits which have been so exten-
sively advertised for years? Are not the various
plums, walnuts, chestnuts, etc., which have
been distributed from our establishment, proving
to be hardier than even most of the Russian
fruits, and more valuable in all other respects?
But the best ones are yet to come.
"About twelve years ago, when, having by
thorough test found them good, we first com-
menced to introduce these fruits and nuts, send-
ing circulars to most of the nurserymen in the
United States, it was like trying to swim up
stream in a rapidly flowing river, as very few had
faith enough in them to invest in a tree ; but those
 PERMANENT LABELS
These labels are important time-
savers. Each set of holes represents

a specific plant or a different type of

experiment, the key to the labels being

found in the record books. The lower
right hand label here shown might indi-

cate, for example, that the branch on

which it is tied bears blossoms of

the Sugar Prune (one hole at base of

label) , fertilized by pollen of the Con-

quest stoneless prune (two holes near
center of label) . Such labels as these

are loosely attached to the stem of the

plant that has been pollenized or

grafted. They are reasonably per-

manent, and minimize mistakes.
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 313

who were enterprising enough to do so, now find

themselves fully prepared to supply the great
and ever-increasing demand which has followed,
and are reaping rich rewards for the small invest-
ment of enterprise and coin which they then
made."
It will appear from this quotation that the
announcement of the new fruits and flowers
created an altogether exceptional interest, and
that this interest was not confined to any one class
of people. Although the announcement had been
made for the benefit of practical horticulturists
and nurserymen, it found its way into the hands

of the general public and of theoretical biologists

as well, and it would be hard to say which class
of people were most exercised over it.
If we briefly review the causes that underlay
this widespread interest, and, considering one
class of the public after another, attempt to ex-
plain just what its attitude was toward the new
work, we shall at the same time be able to present
an outline of the work itself and interpret it in
the light of the mental environment of the time
at which the work appeared with reference to the
broad problems of heredity.
Let us then attempt a brief analysis of the
attitude of (1) horticulturists in general, (2) the
public at large, (3) scientific biologists, and (4)
314 LUTHER BURBANK
theoretical working experimenters in heredity,
with reference to the revelations made in "New
Creations in Fruits and Flowers." In so doing
we shall gain an inkling of the bearing of the
work done at Santa Rosa on questions of
practical horticulture, of public opinion, and of
biological theory.
We have allbeen long acquainted with the
word "hereditary," used as an adjective, as ap-
plied to the inheritance of property or titles.
The word "heredity," however, used as a noun,
could not be found in any dictionary thirty years
ago, as it is now applied to the transmission of
characters and tendencies.

WHY THE ORCHARDISTS WERE INTERESTED

The supplementary announcement, issued in
1894, gave the names of several important firms
of dealers in horticultural supplies, who had pur-
chased the principal new varieties announced in
the brochure of the preceding year. The list
included the names of prominent nurserymen
from California to New
England.
The interest thus evidenced
by the practical
orchardists and nurserymen who measured the
value of the new products in terms of dollars
and cents may readily enough be accounted for.
Up-to-date dealers are always on the lookout
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 315

and the fruits and flowers pro-

for novelties;
duced at Santa Rosa were novelties in the
most comprehensive and exacting sense of
the word.
They were not merely new varieties that dif-
fered by a shade from old varieties. They were
new forms produced by the combination of dif-
ferent species, often of species brought together
from different hemispheres; and they were so
radically different from the forms previously in
existence that many of them would without hesi-
tation be pronounced new species by any com-
petent botanist were they discovered in the wild
state, or were their precise manner of origin
unknown.
But mere novelty by no means fully explained
the interest of the orchardist in the new products.
In addition to novelty the hybrid fruits and
flowers had qualities of excellence that gave them
instant appeal.
The resources of the now familiar method of
half-tone illustration, at that time quite new, had
been utilized to show the exact appearance of the
new fruits and flowers, and so faras possible the

reproductions were made of exact life size, in a

good many cases one or both of the parent forms

being reproduced beside their hybrid offspring,

to point the contrast.
316 LUTHER BURBANK
It required but a glance at the pictures of the
new hybrid prunes and plums, blackberries and
raspberries, roses and gladioli, nicotianas and to-
matoes, to convince the skeptical that these were
products calculated to appeal to the most prac-
tical growers.
The full force of this will be evident if we
recall that the first announcement pictured and
described such fruits as the hybrid prune that was
afterward named the Splendor the hybrid plum
;

named the Wickson; the dewberry-raspberry

hybrid known everywhere in later years as the
Primus ; the offspring of the dewberry and Cuth-
bert raspberry now known as the Phenomenal;
the raspberry hybrid called October Giant and
the blackberry hybrid known as Paradox a seed-
;

ling rose of exquisite quality; and the profuse

double-flowering gladiolus. Interest was fur-
ther enhanced by the picturing of the hybrid
walnuts, the outlines of mammoth new quinces,
curiously diversified stalks of hybrid raspberries
and blackberries, leaves and stems of the rasp-
berry-strawberry hybrid, and the curiously de-
formed products of the ingrafted potato and
tomato vines.
The supplementary brochure of 1894 added
striking photographic reproductions of the new
white blackberry named Iceberg, a number of
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 317

hybrid lilies, the new and beautiful clematis flow-

ers, the miniature calla Snowflake, branches of
the new hybrid Wax Myrtles, a score or so of
curiously varying fruits of the Japanese quince,
and the new rose Peachblow.
There were also pictures showing the curious
and spectacular diversity among leaves of the
hybrid blackberries that could not fail to excite

the attention of the least observant.

The contrast between the broad solid leaf of
one plant and the fimbriated fernlike foliage of
another; the observation that some leaves were
arranged in groups of three and others in groups
of five these were matters that caught the eye
even of the amateur, and, of course, excited the
interest of the professional student of plants.

Equally striking were the full-page reproduc-

tions of photographs showing various stems of
the hybrid raspberries and blackberries, some of
them slender and frail, others coarse and rugged ;
some almost thornless, and others bristling with
spicules or studded with threatening spikes. The
diversity of color among these stalks was clearly
suggested by the half tones, and the legend be-
neath one of them stated that "the colors vary
from snow-white, through lemon-yellow, orange,
scarlet, crimson, purple, light and dark blue and
brown to black."
AN EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENT
This is an exceedingly useful imple-
ment for leveling the soil preparatory
to planting seeds, and for packing the
soil about the roots of transplanted
seedlings and cuttings. It is a tool
that you can make with the aid of a
rake handle and a couple of boards,
and should be part of the equipment
it

of even the smallest garden.

Ml
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 319

That such and stem could

diversities of leaf
be brought about by hybridization was a fact
that could scarcely fail to command the attention
of the practical orchardist, and to raise questions
in his mind as to whether there were any limits
to the possibilities of the new method of plant

development.
At all events, it was obvious enough that, quite
aside from the interesting questions suggested by
the hybrid leaves and vines, here were numerous
new varieties of fruits and flowers more than
fifty of them specifically named or numbered
having qualities that patrons of the orchardist
and florist might be expected to appreciate
fruits and flowers calculated to enter into com-
petition on something more than equality with
those already on the market.
Hence, no second call was necessary to chal-
lenge the attention of the orchardist, and no
second announcement was required for a large
proportion of the newly developed hybrids.
In a word, the practical orchardists called for
the new hybrid fruits and flowers at once, and
paid the prices asked because of the obvious
practicality of the new products themselves.
Their confidence has been justified by the
sequel, for great communities have been built
up as in the case of Vacaville, California, one
320 LUTHER BURBANK
of the great shipping centers by these fruits,
and whole communities benefited, and the occu-
pations of the entire population changed.

THE PUBLIC INTEREST EXPLAINED

To understand why the general public became
somuch exercised over the announcement of the
new fruits and flowers, it is necessary to recall
that the broad general questions of evolution
were still exercising the public mind at the time
when "New Creations" appeared.
Darwin's epoch-making work had indeed
appeared more than thirty years before, and the
theory of evolution had taken place as an
its

accepted working hypothesis among men of

science, but so revolutionary a doctrine could
not be expected to make its way with the general
public in less than a generation.
At the earlier period, indeed, the man in the
street had known but little of the character and
implications of the doctrines involved. He per-
haps had heard that "Darwin thinks men
descended from monkeys," and with a few of
the conventional and obvious jokes associated
with that idea, the matter, so far as he was
concerned, for the most part ended.
But bythe closing decade of the nineteenth
century, after the bitter controversies of the men
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 321

of science and the theologist had been fought

out, a fuller recognition of the true implications
of the doctrine of evolution began to permeate
the lower strata of mental life of the generation,
and thoughtful minds everywhere were eagerly
questioning as to what might be the full truth
and the final status of the evolutionary theory.
Into this atmosphere of inquiry and doubt and
solicitude came the document from Santa Rosa,

conveying a message that made itself heard far

beyond the province of the nurseryman.
Here were presented brief descriptions and
photographic illustrations of a large number of
new forms of plant life. These new forms were
in so strikingly different from the old
many cases
ones that the least informed man could not fail
to note their diversity. Some of them obviously
differed as strikingly from their present forms,
to all casual inspection, as recognized species
from one another.
hitherto familiar differed
In a word, here were illustrations of what
appeared to be new species of plants, and these
apparently new species were of known origin.
They had been developed under the hand of the
experimenter through the hybridization of old
species, followed by scientific selection of a char-
acter having obvious affinity with the operation of
natural selection on plants in the state of nature.
K iiu,. Vol. 8
322 LUTHER BURBANK
Otherwise stated, the Santa Rosa catalogue
told of the creation of new valued species, by
scientific selection, in an experiment garden, in
a brief term of years.
All details aside, the photographic pictures
showed offspring that seemed to be conspicu-
ously unlike their parents not different enough,
to be sure, to belie utterly the familiar doctrine
that "like begets like," yet different enough to
new species may
demonstrate that arise.
However vaguely the laws or principles of
heredity involved might be understood however;

far from understanding the precise method of

production of the new forms the general public

might be, the tangible fact that widely divergent
forms of plant life might spring from the same
source witness, for example, the brier stems of
strikingly different forms of cluster of utterly
different leaves grown from the seed of one plant
was made clear
beyond misunderstanding.
And minds of many
this constituted, in the

laymen, a clearer and more cogent argument for

the truth of the doctrine of evolution than could
have been found in any amount of theorizing or
in the presentation of any number of illustra-
tions drawn from the records of fossil forms or
the theoretical reconstruction of the genealogies
of species of past eras.
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 323

The arguments of the paleontologist and the

embryologist even the arguments of the theoret-
;

ical botanist and biologist these lay mostly

beyond the ken of the man in the street. But

he could readily enough understand the concise
descriptions given in "New Creations." With
his owneyes he could see the striking and even
spectacular differences between the plants of the
same fraternity therein depicted. In effect, he
received an object lesson in plant variation and a
convincing argument for the truth the tangible,
demonstrable truth of the doctrine of evolution
which to him had hitherto seemed an academic
question, involving the living forms of the
remote geological eras rather than the forms of
plant and animal life that are all about us in the
world of to-day.
And this, it may be supposed, sufficiently
explains and interprets the interest in "New
Creations" that was manifested by that great
body of intelligent laymen personified under the
title of "the man in the street."

THE INTEREST OF THEORETICAL EVOLUTIONISTS

AND BOTANISTS
To understand the interest of a smaller but
highly important coterie of people who may be
broadly classified as students of evolution
 HYBRIDS AND PARENTS
At the left, a nut of the California
black walnut (Juglans calif ornica) ,

the staminate parent; in the center a

nut of the eastern black walnut (Ju-
glans nigra), the pistillate parent; at
the right the nut of the Royal hybrid,
all shown in natural size. It will be
seen that the hybrid nut is fairly inter-
mediate between the parent forms in
its general appearance, but that it

greatly surpasses either of them in size.

 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 325

including college professors on one hand and

a few practical breeders of plants and animals
on the other we must consider yet another
aspect of the intellectual atmosphere of the
closing decade of the nineteenth century.
We must understand that in this period,
whereas the general doctrine of evolution had
been accepted, there was wide diversity of
opinion as to many of its important details. It
could scarcely be said that there was any preva-
lent doctrine as to what forces in nature caused
the observed variation between wild forms of
plant and animal life upon which the operation
of natural selection is based.
The "survival of the fittest" was an accepted
doctrine, but the origin of the fittest was an
unsolved enigma.
A suggestion that new forms might arise by
combining existing species had occurred, doubt-
less, to many minds. But this idea was com-
bated or annulled by the prevalent notion that
the offspring of hybrid species are necessarily
infertile.
It is true that a few plant breeders, notably
Dean Herbert and Andrew Knight, had advo-
cated the idea that hybrids between true species
may be fertile, and had even seemed to demon-
strate the truth of this view some three genera-
326 LUTHER BURBANK
tions earlier. But the influence of the celebrated
experimenter, Carl Friedrich von Gaertner,
had served to give credence to the opposite
opinion.
Darwin had argued for the fertility of some
natural hybrids, but he had not been able to
make out a case that by any means carried con-
viction to the generality of biologists and bota-
nists; and the current opinion was that the com-

paratively few cases of the fertility of seeming

hybrids might best be explained either on the
supposition that the observed forms were not
really of the parentage ascribed to them; or else
that the parent forms, even though classified as
different, were not really entitled to rank as
independent species.
In a word, the doctrine of Kolreuter and his
followers, which would make the sterility of the
hybrid offspring a test of the specific diversity of
the parent forms, was perhaps the stock doctrine
of the biological world.
The implications of such an argument are
obvious. If we are to answer the question,
"What is the test as to whether two forms are
entitled to recognition as different species?" by

saying, "They are different if their hybrid off-

spring are sterile, and they are only varieties if
their offspring are fertile" we should obviously
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 327

supply a definition that takes the matter beyond

the range of argument.
And, inasmuch minds of the biologists
as the
were now adjusted to the new Darwinian idea
that there is a wide range of variation in natural
forms, and that natural species are after all only
have separated a little farther, the
varieties that
idea that the classifier might be mistaken in
ascribing specific difference to any pair of forms,
and that the physiological test of the production
of sterile hybrids might afford a final guide, was
not without its practical value, and made per-
haps not unnatural appeal to the more or less
befuddled classifiers themselves.
Andso long as cross-fertilization was effected

solely between forms of animal or p]ant life that

were found growing wild in the same region,
and were obviously not very distantly related,
it was hardly possible to present evidence of the
fertility of hybrids of true species that would
be convincing.
The more fully the biologist grasped the phil-
osophical idea that the word "species" is after
all only a convenient formula to apply to a given

form rather for convenience of nomenclature

than as representing true and permanent dis-
tinctions, the more logically might he grasp the
dictum that any two forms that can interbreed
328 LUTHER BURBANK
and produce fertile offspring are not entitled to
rank as species, even in the modified view of the
meaning of the word species that the evolution-
ary doctrine has introduced.
Yet after all there is a certain tangibility
about the idea connoted by the word species that
the practical classifier cannot ignore. The black-
berry and the raspberry, for example, are so
obviously different in many really essential parts
of their structure that to deny them specific indi-

vidualitywould be to introduce an element of

iconoclasm that would shake the entire structure
of systematic botany.
So when evidence is presented that a black-
berry and a raspberry have been combined, and
that the offspring is a plant quite as fertile as
either of its parents, though markedly different
from both, the case seems to give evidence that
the offspring of true species are not necessarily
sterile.

And the fact that the new hybrid differs so

widely from either parent that it would be

named by the classifier as constituting a new
species according to ordinary standards, and that
it breeds true to its new form, seems to furnish
further evidence that new species of
plant life
may conceivably arise by the hybridization of old
species.
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 329

In a word, a single case like that of the hybrid

blackberry-raspberry, described and depicted in
"New Creations" under the name of the Primus
berry, would seem by itself fairly to establish the
doctrine that new species of plants may arise by
the combination of old species.
Stated otherwise, the case of the Primus berry
would seem to furnish unequivocal evidence as
to at least one way in which the problem of the
origin of new species might be answered. The
survival of the fittest had been explained as an
essential part of the Darwinian doctrine. The
origin of the fittest (or at least one possible
origin) appeared to be explained by the exist-
ence of such a hybrid as the Primus berry.
The parents of the Primus berry, it will be
recalled, were the California dewberry (Rubus
ur sinus] and the Siberian raspberry (Rubus
cratcegifolius] Not only are these forms so
.

different in appearance that no botanist would

ever think of denying that they belong to totally
different species, but the fact that one of them is

indigenous to California and the other to Siberia

gives what might be called geographical support
to the opinions of the classifiers. Few
indeed are
the forms of animal or plant life inhabiting the
Eastern and the Western Hemispheres that are
recognized as specifically identical.
 UNNAMED BEAUTIES
Here are roses in profusion, of many
varieties, all new, and as yet nameless.
It would be futile to estimate how many
new varieties of roses there may be, all

told, at SebastopoL Any number of

these new have exceptional
varieties

beauty, but only here and there one

will be preserved for further experi-

ments, and rarer still are the ones that

will have the honor of introduction.
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 331

The same genera are represented on both con-

tinents, because the remote progenitors of all
races of animals and plants of the Northern

Hemisphere were once inhabitants of a common

territory in the region of the North Pole. But
there has been no opportunity for the mingling
of Asiatic and American forms of plant life
since the separation of the continents, until
civilized man
in very recent time began to

transport forms of animal and plant life across

the oceans.
There had been no communication since a
remote geological era probably not since the
last ice age; so on mere geographical grounds
the specific difference between the Siberian rasp-
berry and the California dewberry might be
accepted without further argument. But, quite
aside from this, differences between the two
forms are sufficient to give them independent
specific rank in the mind of any botanist.
The fact that one is classified as a blackberry
and the other as a raspberry will sufficiently
establish their diversity in the mind of the

layman.
Yet the report from Santa Rosa told of the
combination of these diverse forms, and of the
production of a new fruit differing very mark-
edly from either parent, although retaining some
332 LUTHER BURBANK
of the characteristics of each; and told further
that thisnew hybrid, far from being sterile, has
such fertility that it ripens its main crop of
berries long before most kinds of raspberries and
blackberries commence to bloom, and continues
to bear more or less berries all summer.
So the evidence that hybrid offspring of two
species may be fertile and may thus offer
material for the action of natural selection in
the creation of new species appeared doubly
demonstrable.
It is probable, then, that the announcement of
the development of the Primus berry would have
aroused no small measure of interest among
practical plant breeders and theoretical stu-
dents of evolution, even had it been made by
itself as a single and isolated experiment in
hybridization.
But the record of thePrimus berry was accom-
panied by similar records of an entire company
of new hybrid blackberries and raspberries. In
the same section of "New Creations" that told
of the Primus berry, there was the record of an
equally remarkable blackberry-raspberry hybrid
of an entirely different character, the parents
this time being the California dewberry and the
well-known Cuthbert raspberry, the latter a
native of England.
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 333

Three hybrids of this cross were offered for

introduction, one of them being the extraor-

dinary berry that was afterward named the
Humboldt, and by its purchaser renamed the
Phenomenal.
There were two other hybrid dewberries of
only lesser interest. There was also the hybrid
between the Crystal White Blackberry and
Shaffer's Colossal Raspberry, which produced
the berry famous afterward as the Paradox, and
from which new races of raspberries and black-
berries of almost every conceivable combination
can be produced, as the photograph showing
varied leaves, to which reference has already
been made, amply demonstrated.
Then, too, therewas the hybrid between the
Japanese Golden Mayberry and the Cuthbert
Raspberry; and there were no fewer than ten
other raspberry hybrids that were listed specifi-
cally each under a definite name or number, and
offered for sale as new varieties.

Moreover, a list was given of no fewer than

thirty-seven named species of Rubus (the gen-
eric name of the tribe of raspberries and black-

berries) that had been utilized in the hybridizing

experiments through which the new varieties

have been produced; and the statement was
made with reference to the list that "the combi-
334 LUTHER BURBANK
nations are endless; the results are startling and
as surprising to myself as they will be to others
when known."
An idea of the work involved in the production
of these unique results is given in an explanatory
paragraph :

"Everybody appreciates delicious berries, but

probably not one person in each million has the

faintest idea of the labor and expense of crossing ?

raising, selecting, and testing a million new kinds

of berries as the writer has done, and select-
ing with untiring diligence those which are to
become standards of excellence as the years
roll by."
The reader of earlier chapters of this work
will fully comprehend the sense in which the
phrase "a million new kinds of berries" is used.
We have learned that each variant type of culti-
vated fruit is regarded by the orchardist as an
independent variety, owing to the fact that it
may be propagated indefinitely by division or by
grafting.
"A million new kinds" refers to the endless

diversity of individual forms among hybrid

blackberries and raspberries, from among which
a score or so had been selected as worthy of
introduction. It should be added, however, that
certain of these, including the Primus berry and
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 335

the Phenomenal, were fixed new species which

breed true from the seed.
In another clause reference is made to "four-
teen years" of experiment, revealing the fact that
the blackberries and raspberries were among the
plants that we had found time
to experiment
with extensively during the ten-year period of
the nursery experience that preceded the estab-
lishment of my experiment gardens.
It was partly because these fruits had been
experimented with for this long period that so
large a section of my "New Creations" was
devoted to new races of hybrid berries.
It should not be understood, however, that the
work with the blackberries and raspberries stood
all by presenting evidence of the fertility
itself in
of hybrids, and in thus throwing new light on
the problems of evolution.
On the contrary, evidence of precisely the
same character was presented by one after
made up the
another of the different records that
total ofmore than fifty new hybrid varieties of
nuts and orchard fruits and flowers offered for
introduction in the pages of "New Creations."
The hybrid Walnut, known as the Royal, one
parent of which was the black walnut of the east
and the other the black walnut of California, was
represented by its gigantic nut, depicted on the
 TIGRIDIA SEEDS AT
WHOLESALE
This sail cloth full of tigridia seeds
gives a striking illustration of quantity
production in our experiments. Some-
times, as we have seen, only a very few
flowers are selected among thousands
to continue an experiment. But here
the experiment with the tigridias is at a

different stage, and large numbers of

seeds are selected, to give opportunity

for immense fields of variants the com-

ing seasons, among which selection will

be carried out more rigidly.

 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 337

same page with the smaller nuts of the ancestral

forms. And it was particularly noted that the
new hybrid had borne nuts in abundance,
although the other hybrid walnut, due to the
union of the California and Persian walnut, had
not then borne fruit.
It may be added that the relative infertility of
hybrids between forms distantly related is recog-
'

nized in the course of the description of this

second hybrid walnut, in the statement that in
itsfailure to bear fruit it is like many true

hybrids; the writer having doubtless in mind

such examples as those furnished by the new
plant called the Nicotunia, a combination of the
tobacco and the petunia, which is described on
another page of "New
Creations"; and the
equally interesting hybrid between the raspberry
and the strawberry, also described and depicted.
These sterile hybrids, with which the reader
of the presentwork is already familiar, illustrate
another aspect of heredity no less interesting;
but at the moment we are concerned with the
fertile hybrids.
And may be added, include all the
these, it

fifty-odd plants described in the catalogue, with

the three exceptions just noted.
Without entering into specific details, we may
briefly note that the new hybrid plums here
338 LUTHER BURBANK
listed,and for the most part pictorially shown,
were ten in number, involving the racial strains
of species from Japan and China, from Europe,
and from various regions of America.
The hybrids among flowers were also given
full representation, ten pages of the catalogue
being devoted to them, and the new varieties
named and described including roses, callas,
lilies, gladioli, a number of forms of clematis,
and a new poppy. New types of hybrid seedling
potatoes were also listed, and a new form of
crossbred tomato, called the Combination.
The extraordinary Aerial potatoes grown on
potato vines grafted on the roots of the tomato;
and the no less extraordinary potatoes grown on
a stock having an ingrafted tomato top are also
shown, although merely as curiosities and not as
commercial products.
To complete the summary of the evidence that
was presented for the possibility of
producing
new through crossing old species, it
varieties
should be added that mention was made in a
separate section of numerous experiments with
seedlings of the ampelopsis, a new type of wax
myrtle, and "some charming, crossbred seedling
tigridias, new cannas, arums, amaryllis, brodi-
seas, aquilegias, asters, and a multitude of other
things not yet near enough to perfection to merit
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 339

special description; yet some other hybrids are

worthy of much study/' A
list of other species

that had been mutually hybridized begins with

the peach and almond, and names more than

twenty crosses between the various types of

orchard fruits apricot, plum, quince, and apple,
as well as peach in various combinations.
Without detailing further examples, it may
be said that this body of evidence was over-
whelming. It could be supplemented indefi-

nitely, of course, by examples from other plants

in my experiment gardens. But, without further
elaboration, the examples cited in these first two
catalogues sufficiently establish the fertility of
hybrids of many species of widely different
families.
Thenceforth there could never be any doubt
in the minds of practical plant developers that
true species, within certain limits of affinity, may
be interbred and produce fertile offspring.
On
the other hand, the examples of the straw-
berry-raspberry, and the petunia-tobacco might
be cited in proof that species too widely removed
from each other produce sterile hybrids.
Thus the experiments as a whole show on one
hand the method through which material is sup-
plied operation of natural selection;
for the
while, on the other hand, they show how barriers
340 LUTHER BURBANK
are ultimately acquired that prevent crossbreed-
ing from being carried to an extent that would
introduce a chaotic element in the scheme of
evolution.
The importance of such a demonstration as
this, made for the first time on a really com-
prehensive scale in the
experiment gardens at
Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, soon came to be
generally recognized.

THE NEW EXPERIMENTS AND MENDELISM

Perhaps it may be of interest, in extension of
the present theme, briefly to trace the relation
of the new experiments to the particular aspect
of the theory of heredity that has most actively
claimed the attention of the biological world in
very recent years.
We refer, of course, to the doctrine of Men-
delism, which was to take the biological world

by storm in the first decade of the twentieth

century.
Of course the results of the hybridizing
experiments performed my experimental
in

gardens and recorded in the catalogue of 1893

could not be at once interpreted in what are now
spoken of as Mendelian terms, because at that
time no one knew anything of Mendelism as
such. The experiments of Mendel had been
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 341

made just thirty years before, and Mendel him-

it chanced, had died in the very year
self, as

namely 1884 in which my first importation of

plants from the Orient, to furnish material for
experiments, was made. But, as the reader is
aware, the publication of Mendel was altogether
ignored, and nothing was heard of his experi-
ments until his paper was rediscovered by Pro-
fessor de Vries and by two others about the

year 1900.
But elsewhere pointed out that whereas
it is

the Mendelian formula was not then recognized,

yet the essentials of the aspect of heredity that
Mendel espoused were abundantly illustrated in
the hybridizing experiments, the results of which
were published in "New Creations" (1893) and
its successive supplements.
Itscarcely necessary to remind the Deader
is

that the essentials of the aspect of heredity in

question had to do, as stated by Mendel, not so
much with the great mass of heritable charac-
ters, as with some of the minor points of differ-
ence that mark varieties within a species. Men-
del himself did not hybridize different species,
or, if he did, the records of such hybridizing have
been lost. His essential experiments had to do
with garden peas and with the manner of trans-
mission of the minor difference between varieties
 MIDSUMMER AT SANTA
ROSA
Not fewer than a half hundred of
totally unrelated species of plants are

growing in the small plots of ground

covered by this photograph. The tall

plants near the center of the picture are

hybrid forms of teosinte, the ancestor
of the familiar corn plant.
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 343

of these peas tallness versus shortness of stem,

purpleness versus whiteness of flower, yellow-

ness versus greenness of pod, and so on.
But the peculiar manner in which these
antagonistic pairs of qualities are given repre-
sentation in the offspring of parents having
the opposite traits is precisely duplicated when
the cross-fertilization is similarly effected be-
tween allied species that show corresponding
diversities.
In each case the essential fact is that certain
minor characters or groups of characters tend
to assume prepotency or dominance in hybrids
of the first generation; and that both the domi-
nant and the submerged (or recessive) charac-
ters appear in the hybrids of the second genera-
tion segregated and variously recombined, so
that where several pairs of qualities are under
consideration the offspring of the second gen-
eration constitute a most heterogeneous lot, in
which the diversified traits of their grandparents
are mixed and blended and mosaicked together
in every conceivable combination.
Not only were these essential facts clearly
revealed by my early hybridizing experiments,
but they were succinctly expressed in the text
of "New Creations," and the diversities of forms
among second generation hybrids were illus*
344 LUTHER BURBANK
tratedby photographs showing many types of
hybrid blackberry and raspberry canes and
leaves.
The diversity of second-generation hybrids
was illustrated by such other examples as the
Phenomenal berry and two other hybrids listed
in the catalogue under separate numbers and
announced as of the same origin.
But, for that matter, the segregation and
recombination of characters in the second gen-
eration, leading to endless diversity of variation,
was illustrated in the case of every new variety
named in the entire catalogue, with the exception
of the Paradox and Royal walnuts and the
Primus berry, these alone being first-generation
hybrids.
Quotation has already been made as to the
"million kinds" of blackberry hybrids of the
second generation. It may be added that in the
supplement of 1894 a photograph was repro-
duced that showed a "sample pile of brush twelve
feet wide, fourteen feet in height, and twenty-
two feet long, containing sixty-five thousand
two and three-year-old hybrid seedling berry
bushes (forty thousand blackberry-raspberry
hybrids and twenty-five thousand Shaffer- Gregg
hybrids) all dug with their crop of ripening
berries."
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 345

It was stated in connection with this picture

that of the "forty thousand blackberry-raspberry

hybrids of this kind, Paradox is the only one now

in existence. From the other twenty-five thou-
sand hybrids about two dozen bushes are left for
further trial, but from these selected ones, won-
derful newberries are appearing whose forces
are so fixed in the right direction that they gener-
ally produce good and productive seedlings."
It be of interest, as giving farther insight
may
into the work, to quote the concluding sentence
which states that "This pile of brush cost some-
:

thing like $700, and is one of fourteen similar

piles which were cremated on one of my places

last summer."
Of similar import is the account given of the
hybrid lilies, which were declared to be so varied
in character, thanks to the hybridizing of many

species, that "all the earth is not adorned with so

many new ones as are growing at my establish-
ment." A description of the varied character-
istics of some of these lilies, and two pages of
illustrations showing fifteen diversified forms,
are introduced by way of substantiation.
To the reader of to-day it may seem a work
of supererogation to dwell thus on the fact that

experiments, the results of which were published

in 1893-1894, 1898-1899, demonstrated so obvi-
346 LUTHER BURBANK
ous a proposition as that hybrids are relatively
uniform in the generation, and highly diver-
first

sified in the second and a few succeeding genera-

tions. But it must be understood that this was
the essential discovery that made possible a large
part of my successes in producing new varieties
by hybridization. And it must further be
recalled that the facts in question were ardently
contested by large numbers of the leading
botanists and the most authoritative students of
hereditary theory.
It was the demonstration made a thousand
times over at the experiment gardens at Santa
Rosa and Sebastopol that first demonstrated in
a comprehensive and convincing way that such
is the operation of the principles of heredity
in determining the characteristics of hybrid
generations.
And, as has elsewhere been suggested, there
is no doubt that it was these demonstrations that

prepared some of my most eminent critics,

including Professor de Vries, to accept the Men-

delian statement of this proposition when it
came finally to their attention.
It may be added that the subsequent history
of such aspects of the problem as came to be
associated with the name of Mendel has shown
curious analogy with the history of the Weiss-
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK 347

mannian doctrines to which reference has been

made in another connection.
Just as followers of Weissmann were obliged
to shift their ground to meet the evidence
brought by new experiments, until finally all
that remained of their doctrine had been sub-
stantially harmonized with and blended into the
broader and earlier theories of Darwinian hered-
ity,only the doctrine of continuity of the germ
plasm remaining as a permanent acquisition; so
the attempt to make "Mendelism" comprehend
the entire subject of heredity, has necessitated a
perpetual modification of the point of view, and
an amplification of the terminology to meet the
facts ofmore comprehensive experiments, until
Mendelism has come to be harmonized with and
blended in the more comprehensive knowledge
of heredity, leaving only the formula? associated
with dominance and recessiveness to mark the
individual contribution of Mendel to the all-

comprehending subject of heredity.

THE BEARING OF THIS WORK
ON HUMAN LIFE
ON IMPROVING THE HUMAN PLANT

of heredity are becoming more

STUDENTS
and more agreed that the same laws and
principles apply to the organisms of the
vegetable and animal worlds. This is quite what
might be expected, considering the fundamental
identity of protoplasm, which is the physical
basis of all life. But quite aside from any
theoretical deductions in the matter, a wide

range of experiments with many types of ani-

mals has brought conclusive evidence that strik-
ing analogies are everywhere to be found
between the manner of transmission of traits
and characteristics in plants and animals.
Moreover observations of human genealogy
have shown that man himself is subject to pre-
cisely the same laws of heredity that apply to
the lowliest vegetable or animal organisms. We
must of course make allowance for differences
incident to the elaborate organism of man, and
349
350 LUTHER BURBANK
we must not forget thatman differs from the
ether organisms in that he can take conscious
note of the conditions of his heritage and of his
environment and can be guided in a measure by
what he thus learns.
This fundamental factgives man a place
apart in the entire scheme of evolution. But it
does not remove mankind from the limitations
imposed by the laws of hereditary transmission.
He can consciously modify his environment and
he can be guided in his selections by his knowl-
edge of heredity; but he cannot free himself
from the thralldom of environmental influences
or from the inexorable limitations of his ancestral

heritage.
In some respects, indeed, man is far more
hampered when he attempts to apply the laws
of heredity to his own race than he is in making
application of the same laws to the basis of tran-
sient animals under domestication. The necessi-
ties of the social organism that he has built up
place limitations on his freedom of selection in
the mating of individuals and even sharper
restrictions on his selections among the progeny
for the parents of future generations.
Indeed, until very recently it has not been
thought fitting that man should give any con-
sideration whatever to the scientific breeding of
 THE HUMAN PLANT 351

his own race, notwithstanding the obvious advan-

tages that have resulted from the scientific breed-
ing of races of plants and animals.
Of late, however, it has gradually dawned on
the intelligent people of the world that the laws
of heredity which confessedly apply to man
might rationally be given consideration in the
breeding of races of men. The new science of
eugenics, named and in large part originated by
the late Sir Francis Galton, has received an
amount of attention in very recent years that it
could not possibly have hoped to receive had it
been brought to the attention of the public even
twenty years ago. And it cannot well be doubted
that the demonstrations as to the possibility of

improving the races of valued plants by selective

breeding made at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol
have had their share in calling public attention to
the possible benefits that may accrue from the
systematic and intelligent application of the
principles of heredity.
A general appreciation of the unity of life

forces as well as of life substances, due primarily

to the spread of the Darwinian doctrine, has pre-

pared the public to look with unbiased eyes for

the first time on the human race itself as an
evolution product that owes its preeminence to
the conscious utilization of natural forces and
352 LUTHER BURBANK
that may obtain still greater heights by the still

more intelligent utilization of these forces. So

it will be accepted as a mere matter of course

that weshould attempt, in completing the review

of this work with the development of new forms
of plant life, make
application of the practical
to

knowledge gained in the experiment garden to

what might, without violence to words, be
described as the breeding of the human plant.
Such an application we shallnow attempt,
concisely, yet with as much explicitness as is

warranted.

THE GREAT PRINCIPLE OF SELECTION

Even the most casual reader of this work
will be aware that the great fundamental prin-
ciple that guides us in all stages of our experi-
ments in plant development is the principle of
selection.
We select first the kind of plant that is to be
utilized in a given series of experiments. We
select the best individual or individuals to be
found among the entire company of these plants
at our disposal. We
select other individuals of
the same or of different species as mates before
crossing, in successive generations we repeat
and
these processes of selection and reselection over
and over.
 THE HUMAN PLANT 358

Now human family precisely analogous

in the

processes of selection are being employed, con-

sciously or unconsciously, in every community.

Of course the selections are not usually made
with the definite and avowed object of producing
progeny of an improved type; but the inherent
affinitiesthat lead to the selection of marriage
partners are themselves determined by prin-
ciples that might properly be said to be eugenic
providing artificial do not too
restrictions

greatly interfere with the freedom of choice.

Generally speaking, men and women would
choose marriage partners having vigor and
health and beauty to the exclusion of those hav-
ing the opposite traits, were free choice given
them.
But, of course, under actual social conditions,
entirefreedom of choice is impossible, and no
fact is more distressingly patent than the fact
that large numbers of persons who are obviously
unfit to assume the duties of parenthood bring
forth abundant progeny.
Indeed, under existing conditions, it is the all
too general observation that the notoriously unfit
members of the community are the ones that
produce the largest families.
Now it requires no very profound knowledge
of the laws of heredity to understand that such
L Bur. Vol. 8
BACK VIEW OF MY HOME
SHOWING VINES
This new house was built only a few
years ago, but one side of it is already
covered with a beautiful mass of vines,
as this picture shows. This is only a

four years' growth.

 THE HUMAN PLANT 355

a condition of things is not conducive to the

betterment of the race and cannot possibly con-
tinue long without great deterioration of the
race. No one could hope to produce an improved

variety of plant of any kind if he had not free-

dom of choice in determining that the more
desirable individuals should be mated and their

progeny preserved to the exclusion of the

progeny of the less desirable.

The entire foundation of plant improvement

depends wholly, as we have all along seen, on

such freedom of choice. And in proportion as
the plant developer selects wisely, chooses the
individual plants that have the best hereditary
tendencies, mates the right individuals, and
rigidly selects the best only among their progeny,
can he ever hope to progress in the direction of
improvement.
It would appear, then, that unless human
society can devise a means whereby a preponder-
ant number of the offspring of each successive
generation are the progeny of those members of
the community who are superior in body and
mind and morals, we cannot expect that the
human race will improve generation after
generation.
Any colony of plants left to breed indiscrim-
inately, good or bad, will inevitably degenerate
356 [LUTHER BURBANK
from the stage of culture to which selection has

brought it. The reason is that the con-

for this
ditions imposed by cultivation are different from
the conditions of nature and the special develop-
ment of the plant has taken place along the lines
of man's tastes and needs without special regard
to the needs of the plant itself.
But if you remove the artificial conditions, so
that the wild conditions of nature again prevail,
then selection will take place in accordance with
the needs of the plant itself, and this will imply a

partial reversion, in the course of a few genera-

tions, to something like the original wild state
of the plant.

UNNATURAL STANDARDS OF CIVILIZATION

Now the conditions of human civilization are
no less artificial.
Standards of excellence among civilized men
are quite different from the standards of excel-
lence among barbaric races. We
do not count a
man as the foremost individual in his community
because he has the physical ability to wield a
heavier club than his neighbor, nor because of the
ruthless freedom with which he exercises his

superior strength.
Among savage tribes mere physical strength,
coupled with brute cunning and ferocity, may
 THE HUMAN PLANT 357

determine leadership. Such are the natural and

necessary standards so long as man is at war
with wild beasts and with other savage men that
know no law except that of physical supremacy.
But under conditions of civilization all that
has been changed. The standards of excellence
that determine the position of men and women in

any given community are mental and moral

rather than merely physical.
They are in the broad sense of the word
unnatural standards, but they are the only stand-
ards compatible with the persistence of the
unnatural state of society that we term civilized.
So it has come about that the condition of men
in civilized society is closely comparable to the
condition of plants on a farm or in a carefully
cultivated garden. The very conditions of civili-
zation make it as essential that the human weed
should be removed and the unfit members of the
community prevented from propagating their
kind as that similar principles should apply in
the hothouse, the flower garden, or the farm.
Under the conditions of barbaric life, and even
under those of the high civilization of classical

antiquity, the principles of eugenic selection thus

implied were carried out with a good deal of
rigor. Even if the weaklings were not con-
sciously removed and this was sometimes done
358 LUTHER BURBANK
the stress of living was such that the abnormal
or weakly infants were claimed by disease, and
the adults who lacked strength and intelligence
were likely to succumb to the attacks of wild
beasts, to starvation, or to the onslaught of
human enemies.
So the principle of selective or eugenic breed-
ing was all along applied, even when no one com-
prehended its meaning or gave it a name and the
;

results are seen in the progress of humanity to its

present state.
In very recent years, however, there has been
great progress in the way of ameliorating the
environment, in particular the environment of
childhood, through improvement in the under*
standing of hygiene and the prevention of dis-
ease, so that there is no longer the weeding out
of the unfit in infancy that occurred even a single
generation ago; so the generations of to-morrow
are confronted with problems of selection for the
improvement of the human race more urgent
than ever before.
As to the precise methods through which con-
ditions more in accordance with the improve-
ments of the future generations of our race are
to be applied, we shall attempt no details of sug-

gestion. It suffices to point out the principle

and to suggest that there cannot well be two
 THE HUMAN PLANT 859

opinions as to the desirability of restricting the

fecundity of the unfit, however wide the diversity
of opinion as to the way in which this may be
practically accomplished.

THE ARISTOCRATIC AMERICAN RACE

Lest we seem to take a pessimistic view of thQ
situation, however, let me hasten to point out that
the average human plant in most communities of
America to-day is somewhat comparable to the
average plants in the most highly developed col-
onies of our experiment farms.
The reader will recall the somewhat detailed
accounts that have been given of the cherry colo-
nies comprising 400 aristocratic families, and of
the various colonies of plums and quinces and
chestnuts and lilies and gladioli and watsonias
and countless others that are similarly made up
of individuals exclusively of good breeding and'
of desirable qualities.
Now, whoever will properly gauge the condi-
tion of the human garden of to-day, here in
America, must realize that in general the races of
human beings that make up the population are
of correspondingly aristocratic lineage.
Here, of course, we do not use the word "aris-
tocratic" in the conventional sense. We are re-
ferring to the qualities that make a good and
360 LUTHER BURBANK
desirable citizen; and mean to imply that the
process of crossing and selection has been carried
out so well for the past ten generations or so in
America that a race has been developed having
a very high average of those traits that determine
"fitness" for existence in a civilized community.
It is true that there are certain strains of
abnormality of physical degeneracy, mental
obliquity, moral perversion that have made
their way, generation after generation, like weeds
in the garden,and that must constantly be reck-
oned with just as the gardener reckons with his
weeds. But the main body of citizens that make
up the population are at least moderately fit to
live in harmony with the normal environment of

civilization, and by the same token to reproduce

their kind.

Unfortunately, however, there has been a very

pronounced tendency within recent decades for
the individuals who were reared under the health-
ful conditions of the farm and village to make
their way to the cities and to take up the rela-

tively abnormal life that is forced upon a

majority of the city population under existing
conditions.
The offspring of these city dwellers are reared
in an environment radically different from the
healthful one in which their parents were reared.
 THE HUMAN PLANT 861

They are often crowded into dark, ill-venti-

lated tenements, amidst surroundings that not

only lack the light and air and joyousness of the

country, but are often positively vitiated as to
their mental and moral no less than as to their
physical atmosphere.
It is as if we were to take the plants that have
been bred in the rich, well-watered, carefully
weeded soil of a garden and transplant them into
an infertile, dry soil, choked with weeds and away
from sunlight.
By no chance could we expect the plants under
these conditions to attain full growth or to put
forth even a fair complement of flowers and
fruits.

The
giant amaryllis, which under proper con-
ditions will put forth splendid stalks bearing
flowers ten inches across, would be reduced,
under such altered conditions, to the production
of meager stalks and, at best, a restricted number
of dwarf flowers little calculated to add to the
reputation of the plant developer.

THE POWER OF ENVIRONMENT

This matter of environment, then, goes hand
in hand with heredity and is a final determining
factor in deciding the character of the individual

product.
 TROPICAL LUXURIANCE
Partly because of the richness of the
soil, and partly because of the climate,

but largely because of the choice

selected varieties of the plants them-
selves and the special attention that

they receive, the plants at Santa Rosa

grow in truly tropical luxuriance. Old
residents who remember the present
Burbank gardens when the spot they
now occupy was an arid, desertlike

area, must rub their eyes when they

view such a scene as that here depicted.
No one who witnessed this transforma-
tion is likely ever again to pronounce
any soil worthless. Regulate the con-
ditions of moisture and aeration prop-
erly, and almost any soil becomes
productive.
 THE HUMAN PLANT 363

It quite useless to have practiced the most

is

rigid selection among plants for any number of

generations, and thereby to have produced varie-
tiesof the most splendid possibilities unless the
plants of the newest generation are given proper
soil and nourishment and sunshine they will come
to nothing.
And so it is with the human plant. Despite
the good heredity of generations of ancestors
bred, let us say, from the old pioneer stock in
New England or Virginia or from the trans-
planted cions of that stock in the Middle or Far
West, the coming generations will be dwarfed
and perverted representatives of their race if
they are denied a normal environment, particu-
larly in childhood.
So one of the great problems that confronts
the humanitarian of to-day is the problem of
providing a proper environment for the human
plant.
In the decade covered by recent census returns
(1911-1920) the total population of the United
States increased by 14.9 per cent. But the rural
population increased by only 3.1 per cent and the
city population by 28.6 per cent. There are
entire States in which the rural population did
not increase at all, and these were precisely those
Middle Western farming districts that supply
364 LUTHER BURBANK
the healthiest of environments for the pro-
all

duction of improved examples of the human

plant.
It is not meant
imply that the environment
to
of the city necessarily unwholesome.
is But it
requires no argument to show that the average
city dweller favorably situated for the de-
is less

velopment of normal children than is the average

dweller on farm or in country village.
Children vitally need fresh air and sunlight
and the out-of-door life.
They need to be allowed to romp in the fields
and to come in contact with nature.
The city walls and pavements are a pitifully
inadequate substitute for the greensward and the
trees of the country. And a generation for which
this substitution has been made can hardly be ex-

pected to improve upon the traditions of its

parent generation.
So the student of the human plant will do well
to give full attention to the question of improv-

ing the environment of the human colonies with

which he is concerned.
The story has been told of the way in which the
soil my experimental garden
of Rosa at Santa
was prepared and modified and even metamor-
phosed until the conditions were attained that
were favorable for the growth of my plant
 THE HUMAN PLANT 365

charges. Without such attention to the physical

environment it would have been quite impossible
to produce the improved races that have been
developed at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol.
And unless a way can be found to make the
average environment of successive generations of
human beings better and better instead of al-
lowing it to we cannot
become worse and worse
hope that the generations of our grandchildren
and great-grandchildren will maintain the aver-
age standards of our own time, much less
improve upon them.

EDUCATING THE SEEDLING

A word must be said also as to the influence
of environment inits bearing on the mental and

moral development of the individual in deter-

mining the bringing out or the suppression of
hereditary potentialities.
The mental and moral attributes of man may
be likened to the flower or fruit of the cultivated
plant, in that they are the qualities most recently
developed or transformed through selective
breeding. In token of their newness, they are
the qualities most easily altered or modified by
environing influences or by new racial blendings.
There are, for example, the qualities that are
prone to "Mendelize" in hereditary transmission,
366 LUTHER BURBANK
as we shall see illustrated and interpreted in
another connection.
The environment on these
direct influence of

highly differentiated and hence unstable charac-

teristics of plant or of man is easily demonstrated
in any experiment garden or in any social
community. But even the most deep-seated and
fundamental qualities may be profoundly modi-
fied the environing influences are applied
if

during the childhood of the seedling plant or the

human subject.
"As the twig is bent the tree is inclined" is a
maxim the literal truth of which is apparent to
the least-skilled horticulturist. The application
of the maxim to the human
sapling is equally
familiar matter of fact to even the novice in
human pedagogy.
AShakespeare is not born with a fund of
knowledge and a profuse vocabulary stored in
his brain; but only with the receptive quality of
brain fiber that will enable him
granted proper
surroundings to acquire knowledge of things
and of words. Placed in childhood on a South
Sea Island, among savages, Shakespeare could
have passed without knowing a single
his life
word of the English tongue, and without having
even the vaguest conception of the existence of a
written language of any kind.
 THE HUMAN PLANT 367

This extreme example will serve to suggest the

extent to which the individual even of the very
best heredity is dependent upon environment for
the bringing out of his inherent potentialities.
Asanother extreme example might be cited
the case of the child who becomes blind and deaf
in infancy through some accident or disease.
Exceptional cases like those of Laura Bridg-
man and Miss Helen Keller, in which, through
infinite effort, the other senses are made in part
to compensate for the loss of sight and hearing,
building up the brain through vicarious channels,
serve to give further emphasis to the fact under
consideration the all-importance of the environ-

ing influences that we commonly speak of as

"educational" in completing the work which
heredity carries only to the nascent state of
development.

THE COMBINATION OF RACES

Yet another respect in which the problems of
producing a better human race in our day run
parallel to the problems of the plant developer is
with reference to the foreign materials that make
up the stock for the propagation of future
generations.
It is easy to draw the inference from the r
casual glimpses into the past history of our race
368 LUTHER BURBANK
that the development of civilization has been
largely conditioned on the mingling of different
racial strains. It is scarcely too much to say that
each of the great civilizations of the past was
built by a mixed race. It was so in Egypt, in
Assyria, in Greece, and in Rome in the ancient
days. It is true of the important races of central
Europe and of Great Britain modern times.
in
And it is preeminently true of ,the American
race of our own day.
The point is too obvious for elaboration. No
one needs to be told that the colonial stock
that came to America in the early part of the
seventeenth century was itself made up of mixed
ancestral strains. And the most casual inspec-
tion of statistics shows to what extent the
increase population of the past hundred
of

years has been due to the coming of immi-

grants from all parts of Europe, including
the representatives of nearly every race of
civilized men.
That such combination of racial strains, within
certain limitations, likely to result in the devel-
is

opment of exceptional individuals will not be

doubted by any student of the subject, least of
allby the originator of new plants who has
produced striking results by a corresponding
mingling of divergent types.
 THE HUMAN PLANT 369

But, on the other hand, it cannot escape atten-

tion that there are limits of crossbreeding beyond
which the plant developer may not advanta-
geously go. If he attempts to combine species of
plants that are too widely divergent, he either
gets no or produces inferior progeny.
result
And if the races that are crossed lie just at the
limits of affinity, he produce a progeny,
may
that, particularly in the second and later genera-
tions,become so variable and diversified as to
run counter in the main to all of his plans and
expectations.
We have seen this illustrated in many cases
witness, for instance, the crossing of the tobacco
and the petunia, of the European and Chinese
quinces, of the oriental and opium poppies, and
of the various members of the genus Rubus.

THE NEED OF SELECTION

In some of these cases, to be sure, individual
forms were produced that had very exceptional
interest and that might even supply material

highly prized by the plant developer for the

production of new races.
But it must be recalled that the plant devel-

oper always has full privilege ofexcluding the

undesirables from the hybrid fraternity. He
can pick out one or two individual hybrids
A STRIKING CONTRAST IN
SEEDLINGS
Here are two seedling hybrid wal-
nuts of the same age, grown from nuts
of the same tree, and having had pre-
cisely the same care. They are second-

generation hybrids, hence the wide

variation in size and vigor of growth.
One of these plants will grow into a

gigantic tree; the other will remain

dwarfed always. Obviously there are
fine opportunities for selection among
the seedlings of the hybrid walnuts.
The larger tree grew to six feet above
the ground the smaller one only one

and one-fourth inch.

 THE HUMAN PLANT 371

showing desirable qualities, and can eliminate the

thousands that are unfit.
As a single illustration, let us recall the Phe-
nomenal berry, a hybrid of the California dew-
berry and the Cuthbert raspberry. It will be
recalled that this individual plant was the only
one worth preserving out of a hybrid colony of
many thousand individuals.
The one valuable plant was carefully pre-
served and nurtured. The thousands of unde-
sirableswere piled in a heap and burned. The
blending of different racial strains had produced
one highly prized new specific form. Granted
the privilege of destroying the undesirables, the
experiment was eminently worth making and the
resultswere altogether gratifying.
But what if it had been incumbent on the

plant developer to preserve the thousands of

undesirable hybrids?
Not all of them were altogether obnoxious,
to be sure. Yet a very large proportion of them
combined racial traits of remote ancestors in
such a way as to make them very unfit members
of a colony of cultivated plants.
Lacking the selecting hand of the plant experi-
menter, which could ruthlessly rout out these
undesirables, the net result of the hybridizing
experiment would have been to produce a vast
372 LUTHER BURBANK
colony of brambles far less desirable on the
average than their parent forms.

AMERICA, THE MELTING POT OF NATIONS

Makingthe application, it becdmes at least a
very serious question as to whether the recent
altogether unprecedented influx of immigrants
of widely divergent races are not supply-
many
ing material that, blended with the existing
American stock, may produce results as start-
ling and on the whole of as doubtful value as
those produced among plants when indiscrimi-
nately hybridized.
A certain admixture of new strains of these
varied races might not be without its advantages.
It has been urged that there are qualities of
temperament associated with a love of music
and the arts characterizing the Latin races, for
example, that might advantageously be mingled
with the somewhat cold and practical tem-
perament of the American race, to
give it
a new quality, just as new flavors are bred
into the racial strains of plums or pears or

peaches.
There is no gainsaying the possibility that
such blending may have its advantages. But
there seems danger at the moment that the
matter may be overdone.
 THE HUMAN PLANT 373

When we read of the coming of as many as

a million or more aliens in a single year; and
when we are told that of those that come from
southeasternEurope more than 35 per cent are
of undeveloped or atavistic type we cannot
escape a feeling of solicitude over the introduc-
tion of so high a percentage of blood of so doubt-
ful a character into the strains of our developed

colony of American races.

It must be recalled that when the plant devel-

oper brings from Japan or from Europe or from

Asia a new race of plants to combine with his
native stock, he selects always the most desirable
individuals that are to be found. Very com-
monly he breeds the newcomers for successive
generations and makes repeated selections before
he finds an individual suitable for his hybridizing
experiment.
Heknows very well that if he were to choose
inferior members of any stock for his experi-
ments he would be working in the wrong direc-
tion, and could not hope to produce improved
races.
But many of the immigrants that are flooding
in on
us, cannot even by the most liberal inter-
pretation be said to represent the best strains
of the varied racial stocks from which they have

sprung.
374 LUTHER BURBANK
They are in large proportion confessedly
inferior representatives of their races.
There is much evidence to show that they
even include large numbers of defectives, who,
owing to their alien tongues and habits, can with
great difficulty be properly adjudged by the
immigrant officials and denied admission in
accordance with the laws that are intended to
prevent the coming of the notoriously unfit.

THE GREATEST MIGRATION IN HISTORY

But even if it were supposed that a large

majority of newcomers are real representatives

of the best of their alien racial strains, their
coming in such numbers would still make them
objects of solicitude to the student of heredity.
The American race of to-day has been built
up along certain lines not only of physical, but
of mental and moral development that have
adapted it for a social and political environment
that is far different from that from which many
of these aliens come. Transplantation to the
new environment may have a certain effect on
the immigrants, just as transplantation to the
soil of California has had its effect on large

numbers of exotic plants.

But in one case, as in the other, such changes
are, after all, only matters of minor detail.
 THE HUMAN PLANT 375

The modifications wrought by the environ-

ment are matters of detail; the fundamentals
of heredity, built up by thousands of genera-
tions of past environments, are fixed beyond
immediate change.
Nor can we doubt that the same thing is true
of the fundamental physical, mental, and moral
traits of the alien races that make up the great
army of immigrants that come to our ports in
such numbers as to make their migration, in all

probability, by far the largest and most rapid

migration of human races that ever took place
in the history of the world.
The total number of immigrants that have
come to America since 1880 within the com-
pass, therefore, of a single generation is more

than twenty-three million.

This is a number in excess of the total

population of America at any census prior

to 1850.
Such an must of necessity change in
influx

very large measure the aggregate heredity of

the population of America. Whatever the
American race was in the middle of the nine-
teenth century, it is something far different
to-day. That at least
is axiomatic, regardless

of our estimate as to whether the change has

been an improvement or otherwise.
376 LUTHER BURBANK
The aggregate status of the population of the

plant colonies at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol

to-day has probably not more greatly changed
from the status of the colonies of 1886 than has
the average status of the American race changed
in the same period.
Doubtless it would be impossible for any-
one to gauge accurately the precise character
of the modifications in one case or the
other.
But in general terms safely be affirmed
it may
that the members of the plant colonies have vastly
improved in the sense that they have been modi-
fied as to leaf or flower or fruit in such ways as
to make them better adapted to meet the needs
and tastes and desires of men.
Whether the crossbred population of America
has been similarly improved in its
average
adjustment to the needs of a highly evolved
social environment is a question that we shall not

attempt to decide.
Here, as before, it point out the
suffices to

conditions and to suggest analogies with the

crossbred plant colonies; but here also we must
not overlook the fact that the plant developer's
privilege of weeding out the unfit members of
his hybrid colony may change the entire com-
plexion of the situation.
 THE HUMAN PLANT 377

In a word, then, we might advantageously

apply to the human plant the same general prin-
ciple which we saw to be the most fundamental
one guiding us in our plant experiments, saying
that here, no less than in the case of the actual
plant, selection is the first and last word.
What was said in concluding an earlier chap-
ter with reference to plant breeding, may now

advantageously be repeated with reference to

theimprovement of human beings: "The begin-
ning is selection, and the end is selection."
No one who has given the matter a serious
thought can but have observed that the cause for
the fall of all past nations has been through the
fact of the false idea that the human race is not

subject to the same laws of nature that govern

all other forms of life. Man is a part of nature
and can never improve except through some
form of intelligent selection. Every civilization
will certainly disintegrate and pass away in
destruction and wreckage if we depend on teach-
ing rather than on correct breeding. Every
species of plant, animal, or man descends to
destruction and annihilation if the weeds are
allowed to breed unchecked. The best must
sooner or later be overcome by the vastly greater
fecundity of the weeds. Do not deceive your-
self with platitudes as to moral training. It is
878 LUTHER BURBANK
useless unless moral breeding is an accompani-
ment. How foolish have been our teachings of
the past; fables in place of facts will lead to
gradual but certain destruction, as they always
have and always will.
It is not a simple task to put experience on

paper; to seek and find in a thousand experi-

ments, dismissed as failures, the three or the five
important truths they alone revealed; to glean
from the experiments which proved successful
the vital discoveries which they have yielded, and
to appraise them in order of their real impor-
tance; to arrange the facts in orderly sequence
and to distill from the mass of theory, which has
gone hand in hand with practice, those essentials
of probability necessary to cement together a
useful structure.
If we are to benefit by the experience of any
man, we must have before us not only the things
which he knows, but the things which he believes,
arrayed with an eye to relative importance, with
facts, figures, formulae, beliefs, theories, pur-
poses and hopes brought together into a state
of unified reconciliation.
 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ACACIA APPLE Continued
An Acacia Tree in Bloom, Nameless Beauties,III, 224
VIII, 144 Getting On in the World,
III, 228
ADVERTISEMENT Half-Sweet, Half-Sour Ap-
My First Advertisement, ple, III, 232
VIII, 252
ALLIUM APRICOT
A South American Allium, Apricot and Seed, III, 264
The Apricot,III, 270
V, 194
A New Allium, V, 202 ARTICHOKE
Artichokes, V, 220
ALMOND Half-Opened Artichoke Blos-
The Almond and Its Rela-
som, V, 224
tives, VII, 326 A Wild Artichoke, V, 228
Selected Almonds, VII, 330
Some Mammoth Specimens,
An Improved Artichoke, V,
234
VII, 334
Meats of Selected Almonds, BEAN
VII, 338 Showing Variation in Beans,
Almonds Grown in Peaches, V, 146
VII, 342 A Stripling from the Tropics,
V, 152
AMARYLLIS
The New Amaryllis and Its BEET
Parents, I, 214 The Familiar Beet, V, 118
Giant Amaryllis, VI, 252
A Double Amaryllis, VI, 264 BERRY
A Burbank Amaryllis, VI, Thornless Blackberry Blos-
268 soms, I, 44
Some H y ty r i d Blackberry
APPLE Canes, I, 238
An Apple Graft One Year The Crystal White, So Called,
Old, III, Frontispiece I, 330
A Beautiful Seedling Apple, Signs of Success Larger
III, 210 Yellow- White Berries, I,
The Crab Apple, III, 216 338
Three Seedling Apples, III, White Blackberries as They
220 Grow, I, 346
379
380 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BERRY Continued BLACKBERRY
Some Hybrid Blackberry Thornless Blackberry Blos-
Canes, I, 238 soms, I, 44
Some Stems of Blackberry- Some Hybrid Blackberry
Raspberry Hybrids, II, 218 Canes, I, 238
Raspberry Bush After Polli- The Crystal White, So Called,
nation, II, 264 I, 330
Thornless Blackberry and the Signs of Success, Larger
Recreant Seedling, IV, 212 Yellow-White Berries, I,
One of the New Thornless 338
Blackberry Clusters, IV, White Blackberries as They
220 Grow, I, 346
The Familiar Blackcap Rasp- Some Stems of Blackberry-
berry, IV, 236 Raspberry Hybrids, II, 2l8
The Primus Berry, IV, 242 Thornless Blackberry and the
The Phenomenal Berry, IV, 250 Recreant Seedling, IV, 212
An Interesting Hybrid, IV, One of the New Thornless
256 Blackberry Clusters, IV,
A Sample Seedling Straw- 220
berry, IV, 264 An Interesting Hybrid, IV,
An All-Summer Bearer, IV, 256
270 Leaf Variations in a Hybrid,
Everbearing Strawberries, IV, IV, 306
274 Color Variations in the Canes
Another Perpetual Variety, of the Hybrid Blackberries,
IV, 278 V, 56
Yet Another Hybrid Variety, The Stem Finally Selected,
IV, 282 V, 62
Sunberries, IV, 290
Leaf Variations in Hybrid
BONFIRE
Blackberries, IV, 306
A Burbank Bonfire, I, 180
Hawaiian Raspberries, IV,
316
BOTTLE-BRUSH
The Bottle-Brush Bush, VII,
The Buffalo Berry, IV, 322
298
Interesting Hybrid Berries,
IV, 330 BOX ELDER
A Near View of Two Boxes The Variegated N eg undo,
of Berry Seedlings, IV, 342
VII, 232
The Elaeagnus or Goumi The Variegated Box Elder,
Beriy, IV, 380 VIII, 138
A Burbank Strawberry, V,
Frontispiece BUFFALO BERRY
Fruit of a Chilean Myrtle, V, The Buffalo Berry, IV, 322
28
A Cluster of the New White BURBANK, LUTHER
Elderberries, V, 50 A Recent Portrait, I, Fron-
Color Variations in the Canes tispiece
of the Hybrid Blackberries, Luther Burbank's Birthplace,
V, 56 VIII, 202
 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS 381

BURBANK, LUTHER Con- CACTUS Continued

tinued A Fruit Colony, VI, 140
The Old Homestead as It Cactus Blossoms, VI, 148
Now Appears, VIII, 212 Cactus Candy, VI, 156
Luther Burbank, at the Age A Cactus-Slab Fan, VI, 164
of Twenty-Five, VIII, 246
My First Advertisement, CALIFORNIA POPPY
VIII, 252 California Poppy, I, 176
Back View of My Home The California Poppy Turned
Showing Vines, VIII, 354 Crimson, I, 184
The California Poppy Turn-
BURBANK, MRS. LUTHER ing White, I, 188
Mrs. Luther Burbank, VIII, White and Crimson Side by
224 294
Side, I,

BURBANK, OLIVE ROSS CALLA

Olive Ross Burbank, Luther
Burbank's
The Fragrant Calla, II, Fron-
Mother, VIII,
184 tispiece
The Spadix of One of the
CACTUS Calla Lilies, II, 12
Armored Against Its Ene- Hybrid Callas, II, 18
mies, I, 70 Giant and Dwarf Callas, VII,
Improved and Wild Cacti 48
Still Bear Leaves, I, 76 The Lemon Giant Calla, VII,
Contrasting Types of Cactus, 52
I, 80
I, 86
CAMASSIAS
Vestigial Leaves, A Bed of Selected Crossbred
A Beautiful Flowering Cac-
Camassias, V, 264
tus, I, 90
Cross Section of a Cactus
A Wide Range of Variation,
Blossom, II, 260
V, 270
Camassia Blossoms, V, 274
Reselecting Selected Cactus The Wild Camassia, V, 280
Seedlings, III, 42
A Cactus Fruit that Imitates CANNA '

the Pear, V, 10
Cactus Fruit on the Slab, V,
A Seedling Canna, VII, 36
Another Seedling Canna, VII,
14
42
A Good Specimen, V, 18
A Well-Proportioned Fruit, CARRION LILY
V, 20 Arum Dracunculus A Fly-
The Candle Cactus, VI, 98 Loving Flower, I, 130
The Gravity Cactus, VI, 104
The Prolific Cactus, VI, 110 CEREUS
Young Royal Cactus Plants, A Selected Night - Blooming
VI, 116 Cereus, VII, 312
The Hemet Cactus, VI, 122
The Melrose Cactus, VI, 128 CHERRY
Spineless Cactus, Showing Six A Large, Late-Bearing Seed-
Months' Growth, VI, 134 ling Cherry, I, 50
382 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CHERRY Continued CONIFERS Continued
More than Five Hundred The Largest Tree in the
Kinds on One Tree, I, 218 World, VIII, i58
Two Seedling Types of Cher- Yellow Pine, VIII, 162
ries, I, 222
Some of the 400 Come to CORN
Judgment, I, 226 Ordinary Field Corn and Its
The Giant Cherry, II, 116 Tiny Parent, I, 62
The Abundance Cherry, II, An Experiment in Corn, I, 66
128
Some Forms of Corn, I, 162
Variation in Corn Seed, 1, 166
Nameless Seedlings, III, 128
Some Curious Short-Stemmed Rainbow Corn, I, 170
Ten Corn Variations, II, 202
Hybrids, III, 138 Corn Teosinte Hybrids, Sev-
Improved Holly Cherry, III,
enteen Feet High, II, 206
144
The Holly Cherry, Corn Self - Pollinated and
III, 148
Crossed with Teosinte, II,
CHESTNUT 210
A Dwarf Chestnut Tree, A Freak Ear of Corn, V, 314
VIII, 10 Sections of Rainbow Corn
A Basket of Chestnuts, VIII, Leaves, V, 322
1G Three Fine Types of Corn,
Six-Months-Old Chestnut Tree V, 330
in Bearing, VIII, 54
COTTON
Yearling Chestnut Tree in Cotton Flower and Seed
Bearing, VIII, 58
A Six-Months-Old Chestnut Head, VI, 58
Tree, VIII, 62 COWPEA
Bur and Catkin, VIII, 66 Cowpeas Under Cultivation,
Well Protected, VIII, 70 V, 134
Chestnuts in the Bur, VIII,
74 CRINUM
Chinquapins and Chestnuts, One of the New Crinums, VI,
VIII, 92 272
Seed Pods of the Crinum, VI,
CHINQUAPIN 276
Chinquapins and Chestnuts, A Hybrid Crinum, VII, 196
VIII, 92
The California Chinquapin as DAHLIA
an Ornamental Tree, VIII, A Primitive Type of Dahlia,
130 VI, 340
A Common Type of the Mod-
COCONUT ern Dahlia, VI, 348
The Coconut's Three Eyes, I,
138 DAISY
The Shasta Daisy, I, 302
CONIFERS The Shasta Daisy and Two of
A Hybrid Evergreen, II, 346 Its Relatives, I, 308
A Young Sequoia Gigantea, Shasta Daisies Curious Tu-
VIII, 152 bular Ray Flowers, I, 314
 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS 383
DAISY Continued GERANIUM Continued
A Beautiful Laciniated Type, Variation in Color as Well as
I, 320 in Form, VI, 200
A Semidouble Daisy, VI, 810
Laciniated Petals, VI, 316 GLADIOLUS
A Bouquet of Shastas, VI, 322 Sample of an Improved Gladi-
olus, I, 200
DEVIL'S-CLAW A White Gladiolus, VI, 328
DeviPs-Claw I, I, 140 Large Size and Compact
DevilVClaw II, I, 142 Growth, VII, Frontispiece
Devil's-Claw III, I, 144 A New Giant Gladiolus, VII,
12
DIERAMA One of Ten Thousand Vari-
Dierama Pulcherrima, VI 1, 280 ations, VII, 18
ELDERBERRY An Unusual Color in the
A Cluster of the New White Gladiolus, VII, 24
A Sample Gandavensis Prim-
Elderberries, V, 50
ulinus Hybrid, VII, 30
ELM GOUMI BERRY
The Hybrid Elm, VIII, 170
The ElaBagnus or Goumi
FLAX Berry, IV, 380
The Flax Plant, VI, 50
GOURDS
fRITILLARIA Some Experimental Gourds,
A Fritillaria, VII 3 274 V, 108
Some Gourds from Australia,
GARDENING V, 114
Compost for Young Plant
Food, V, 102 GRAFTS
Artificial Rain in Mr. Bur- More than Five Hundred
bank's Garden, VI, Frontis- Kinds on One Tree, I, 218
piece
A Grafted Wr alnut Tree, II,
A Simple but Important 84
Equipment, VIII, 274 Complete Grafting Outfit, II,
Soil- Stirring Implements, 300
VIII, 280 Cutting Stock for Whip
Seeds in the Greenhouse, Graft, II, 310
VIII, 286 A Side Graft in Position, II,
314
Cleaning Seeds, VIII, 292
A Collection of Sieves, VIII, Crown or Bark Graft, II, 320
298 Cutting the Bark to Receive
Marking Rows for Planting, a Bud, II, 324
VIII, 304 The Bud Graft Completed, II,
An Effective Implement, 328
VIII, 318 An Apple Graft One Year
Old, III, Frontispiece
GERANIUM An Early Diagram of Tree
The Geranium Ready to Re- Grafts, III, 36
ceive Pollen, I, 120 Grafting Record, III, 46
884 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS
GRAPE LARKSPUR Continued
A Heavy-Bearing Seedling, I, Larkspurs with Wonder :u\
254 Coloring, VII, 286
A Pollen-Bearing Grapevine, A Beautiful Hybrid Lark-
II, 244 spur, VII, 292
Seedless Grapes, III, 12
Grapes of the Concord Type,
LEAVES
IV, 352 Vestigial Leaves, I, 8t
Variation in Hybrid Walnut
Seedling Syrians, IV, 356
A Mammoth Leaves, II, 76
Cluster, IV, 360
Leaf Variations in a Hybrid,
Unproductive but Meritori-
ous, IV, 364
IV, 306
Small Cluster of a Fine Seed- Illustrating Leaf Structure,
V, 88
ling, IV, 368

GRASS LEMON
A Cross of Orange and
Pampas Grass, VI, 180
Lemon, I, 40
GROWTH Sweet Lemons, III, 300
Where the Tree is Alive, V, LILY
94 Arum Dracunculns A Fly-
GUAVA Loving Flower, I, 130
Fruit of the Guava, III, 290 Seedlings of the Belladonna
Lily, VI, 260
H^EMANTHUS The Siberian Lily, VII, 58
Hasmanthus Blossoms, VI, 256
LOQUAT
HICKORY A Bunch of the Common
Loquats, III, 274
Hickory Nuts, VIII, 80
Improved Loquats, III, 278
HOPS Improved Loquats, III, 282
A Hop-Field Vista, VI, 84 MAPLE
IRIS The Variegated Negundo,
A VII, 232
Spectacular Iris, VII, 80
A Luxurious Type, VII, 90 The Variegated Box Elder,
Selected Chilean Iris, VII, 102 VIII, 138
A Japanese Iris, VII, 112 MARIGOLD
Seedling Japanese Iris, VII, Educating the Calendula,
124
VII, 222
JUDAS TREE A Calendula of Real Dis-
tinction, VII, 226
The Judas Tree or Red-Bud,
VIII, 166 MISTLETOE
A Beautiful Thief, V, 82
LARKSPUR
Improved Hybrid Larkspur, MOUNTAIN ASH
VII, 214 Fruit of One of My Greatly
More Hybrid Larkspurs, VII, Improved Varieties o f
218 Mountain Ash, V, 36
 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS 385
MOUNTAIN ASH Continued NUTS Continued
The Result of Education, V, Well Protected, VIII, 70
42 Chestnuts in the Bur, VIII,
74
MYRTLE Hickory Nuts, VIII, 80
Fruit of a Chilean Myrtle, V, A Pecan Tree, VIII, 84
28 A Variety of Tropical Nuts,
NECTARINE VIII, 88
The Nectarine, III, 184
Chinquapins and Chestnuts,
A New Nectarine,
VIII, 92
Seedling
III, 194
Hybrids and Parents, VIII,
324
NUTMEG OATS
The Wild Nutmeg, VIII, 104
A Sheaf of Oats, VI, 18
NUTS OLIVE
Variations in Walnuts, I, 248
Olive Trees, VIII, 116
The Coconut's Three Eyes, I,
138
A Sixteen- Year-Old
ORANGE
Royal A Cross of Orange and
Walnut, II, 62 40
Wood of the Royal Walnut, Lemon, I,

II, 66 PARSNIP
Paradox Walnut Wood Two Parsnips, V, 126
Inches in Diameter Each
Year, II, 70 PASSION FLOWER
Variation in Hybrid Walnut Flower and Fruit on the
Leaves, II, 76 Same Plant, V, 254
Hybrid Walnuts, II, 80
A Grafted Walnut Tree, II, PEA
84 Perennial Peas, VI, 210
Santa Rosa Nut Meats, VIII,
Frontispiece
PEACH
A Dwarf Chestnut Tree, A Patrician, III, 158
The Leader Peach, III, 188
VIII, 10
A Basket of Chestnuts, VIII, The Exquisite Peach, III, 200
16 PEAR
The Paper Shell on the Tree, One of the Oriental Pears,
VIII, 30 II, 194
Santa Rosa Walnuts, VIII, 36 American Pears with Blended
Parents and Offspring, VIII,
Heredities, II, 198
44
Getting Color into the Pear,
Six-Months-Old Chestnut TIT, 92
Tree in Bearing, VIII, 54 A Patrician, III, 158
Yearling; Chestnut Tree in Dissimilar Twins, III, 168
Bearing, VIII, 58 An Ideal Pear, III, 176
A Six-Months-Old Chestnut
Tree, VIII, 62 PECAN
Bur and Catkin, VIII, 66 A Pecan Tree, VIII, 84
M-Bur. Vol 8
386 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PEPPER PLUM Continued
A Basket of Burb'ank Pep- Prune D'Agen Fruit, IV, 28
pers, V, 210 Purple-Leafed Plum with
Burbank Peppers, V, 214 Fruit, IV, 118
Globe Plum Fruits, IV, 128
PINE Firm Sweet Plum Fruits, IV,
Yellow Pine, VIII, 162 134
The Apple Plum, IV, 140
PINK Another View of the Apple
A Bed of Chinese Pinks, I,
Plum, IV, 148
196
A Seedling Crimson-Leafed
PITCHER PLANT Plum, IV, 156
This Plant Eats and Digests An Example of Uniform
Insects, I, 104 Ripening, IV, 164
A Good Root System, IV,
PLUM 174
A New Plum and Its Wild
Ancestor, I, 108 PLUMCOT
The Plum's Perishable Bloom, One of the Plumcots, IV, 60
264
I,
A Superior Plumcot, IV, 68
A Typical Stoneless Plum, II, Plumlike Plumcot, IV, 104
38 The Odd Plumcot, IV, 182
Double Seeds Sometimes Cherry Plumcot, IV, 186
Take the Place of a Stone, Sweet Plumcot, IV, 190
II, 44 One of the New Plumcots,
The Original and the Fin- IV, 194
ished Product, II, 56 Cluster of Apex Plumcots,
A Basket of Plums, III, 24 IV, 198
The Wickson Plum, III, 78 Another Plumcot, IV, 202
Santa Rosa Plum, III, 84 The Burbank Plumcot, IV,
Shiro Plums, III, 116 206
A Curious Fruit, III, 120
The Climax Plum, III, 316 POLLINATION
Beauty Plum Fruits, III, An Experiment in Corn, I, 66
320 The Geranium Ready to Re-
The Blood Plum Satsuma, ceive Pollen, I, 120
III, 324 A Pollen-Laden Bee, I, 124
Type of Selected Blood Plum Arum Dracunculus A Fly-
Seedling, III, 328 Loving Flower, I, 130
A Kelsey-Satsuma Hybrid, The Snowball Cultivated and
III, 332 Wild, I, 152
Nine Varieties of Crossbred Complete Kit of Pollenizing
Plums, III, 336 Tools, II, 188
A Kelsey-Burbank Hybrid, Pollen-Bearing Pumpkin
III, 344 Blossom, II, 236
Jordan Plum, III, 348 Seed-Bearing Pumpkin Blos-
The Fruit of the Burbank som, II, 240
Plum, IV, Frontispiece A Pollen-Bearing Grapevine,
The Late Shipper, IV, 14 II, 244
 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS 887
POLLINATION--Continued PRUNE
Strawoerry Blossom, II, 350 The Sugar Prune and Its
The Stigmatic Surface of a Parents, II, 140
Poppy Much Enlarged, II, A Luscious Fruit, II, 150
254 Prune D'Agen Fruit, IV, 28
Cross Section of a Cactus The Sugar Prune, IV, 32
Blossom, II, 260 The Splendor Prune, Iv, 36
Raspberry Bush after Pol- Prune Drying in California,
lination, II, 264 IV, 40
The Standard Prune, IV, 44
POMEGRANATES The Conquest Prune, IV, 48
Seedling Pomegranate Fruits,
III, 308 PUMPKIN
POPPY Pollen-Bearing Pumpkin
Blossom, II, 286
A Shirley Poppy Showing Seed-Bearing Pumpkin Blos-
Reproductive Organs, II, som, II, 240
230
The Stigmatic Surface of a QUINCE
Poppy Much Enlarged, II, Van Deman Quince, III, 238
254 Pineapple Quince, III, 244
A New Shirley Poppy, VI, 282 The Medlar A Cousin of the
Another New Shirley Poppy, Quince, III, 252
VI, 288 RADISH
Another New Poppy, VI, 294
Another Old Friend, V, 122
A Hybrid Poppy, VI, 298
The Burbank Art Poppies, RASPBERRY
VI, 302 Leaves of Strawberry-Rasp-
A Hybrid Everblooming berry Hybrids, II, 174
Poppy, VII, 202 Some Stems of Blackberry-
Still Another Hybrid Poppy,
Raspberry Hybrids, II, 218
VII, 206 Raspberry Bush after Pol-
lination, II, 264
POTATO The Familiar Blackcap Rasp-
The Burbank Potato, I, 114
berry, IV, 236
Potato Seed Balls, II, 168 An Interesting Hybrid, IV,
Potatoes with a Strange His- 256
tory, V, 166 Hawaiian IV,
Wild High Andes Potatoes, Raspberries,
316
V, 288
Some Selected Seedlings, V, RECORDS
294 An Early Diagram of Tree
A Fine, New Early Potato, Grafts, III, 36
V, 300 Grafting Record, III, 46
My First Advertisement, Ripening Record, III, 50
VIII, 252 Permanent Labels, VIII, 312
PRIMROSE RED-BUD
A New Evening Primrose The Judas Tree or Red-Bud,
The America, VII, 134 VIII, 1QQ
388 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS
RHUBARB SEEDLINGS Continued
A Typical Plant, II, 92 A Cold Frame, II, 282
Ready for Shipment, II, Protecting Seedlings from the
106 Birds, II, 290
Young Plants Awaiting Selec-
ROOT tion, II, 294
A Good Root System, IV, Reselecting Selected Cactus
174 Seedlings, III, 42
ROSE
A Beautiful Seedling Apple,
III, 210
At the Door, I, 208
Three Seedling Apples, III,
Rose Cuttings Developed by 220
Selective Breeding, III, 64
Interesting Hybrid Berries,
The Burbank Rose, VI, 228
A New Yellow Rambler, VI, IV, 330
232
A Near View of Two Boxes
of Berry Seedlings, IV,
Roses at Sebastopol, VI, 342
236
Baby Plants, V, 74
Glimpse in the Proving
Compost for Young Plant
Ground, VI, 240 Food, V, 102
A Mammoth Bouquet, VI,
Transplanting Selected Seed-
244
lings, V, 172
The Corona Rose, VI, 248 A Striking Contrast in Seed-
Unnamed Beauties, VIII,
lings, VIII, 370
330
SEEDS
SANTA ROSA The Devil's-Claw I, I, 140
View Santa Rosa Gar-
in the The Devil's-Claw II, I, 142
dens, VIII, 258 The Devil' s-Claw III, I, 144
Midsummer at Santa Rosa, Variation in Corn Seed, I,
VIII, 342 166
Back of My Home
View Seeds in the Greenhouse,
Showing Vines, VIII, 354 VIII, 286
Tropical Luxuriance, VIII, Cleaning Seeds, VIII, 292
362
Tigridia Seeds at Wholesale,
SEBASTOPOL VIII, 336
Unnamed Beauties, VIII, 330 SEQUOIA
SEEDLINGS
A Young Sequoia Gigantea,
VIII, 152
A Large, Late-Bearing Red The Largest Tree in the
Seedling Cherry, I, 50 World, VIII, 158
Two Seedling Types of Cher-
ries, I, 222 SHIPMENT
A Heavy-Bearing Seedling, I, Ready for Shipment, II,
254 338
"Flat" with Layer of Gravel,
II, 270 SNOWBALL
"Flat" Partly Filled with The Snowball Cultivated and
Prepared Compost, II, 274 Wild, I, 152
 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS 389
SPANISH BROOM TECOMA
Spanish Broom, VII, 268 Flowers of the Tecoma, VII,
258
STAR
StarChilean Wild Flower, TEOSINTE
I, 192 Ordinary Field Corn and Its
Tiny Parent, I, 62
STAR FLOWER
Australian Star Flower, VII, TIGRIDIA
188 Hybrid Tigridias, VII, 144
A Plant of Australian Star Another Hybrid Tigridia,
Flower, VII, 192 VII, 148
Seedling Tigridias, VII, 152
STRAWBERRY A Blue Tigridia, VII, 158
Strawberries Showing Vari- Tigridia Seeds at Wholesale,
ation, II, 28 VIII, 336
Leaves of Strawberry-Rasp-
berry Hybrids, II, 174 TOMATO
Strawberry Blossom (En- Fruits of a Tomato Hybrid,
larged), II, 250 V, 160
A Sample Seedling Straw-
berry, IV, 264
TRITOMA
An All-Summer Bearer, IV,
A Yellow Tritoma or "Red-
270 Hot Poker," VI, 218
Everbearing Strawberries, IV,
274 VERBENA
Another Perpetual Variety, Burbank Verbenas, VII, 166
More Burbank Hybrid Ver-
IV, 278
Yet Another Hybrid Variety, benas, VII, 170
One of the Fragrant Ones,
IV, 282
A Burbank Strawberry, V, VII, 174
Frontispiece WALNUT
STRAWBERRY TREE Variations in Walnuts, I,
248
The Fruit of the Strawberry
Tree, V, 32
A Sixteen-Year-Old Royal
Walnut, II, 62
SUGAR Wood of the Royal Walnut,
II, 66
Sugar Cane Tassels, VI, 70
Varieties of Sorghum, VI, 78 Paradox Walnut Wood Two
Inches in Diameter Each
Sugar Beets at the Factory,
VI, 90 Year, II, 70
Cactus Candy, VI, 156 Variation in Hybrid Walnut
Leaves, II, 76
SUNBERRY Hybrid Walnuts, II, 80
Sunberries, IV, 290 A Grafted Walnut Tree, II,
84
SUNFLOWER Hybrid Walnuts, VII, 358
Sample Hybrid Sunflower, The Royal Walnut, VII,
VI, 22 372
390 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS
WALNUT Continued WATSONIAS
Santa Rosa Nut Meats, VIII, Some of My New Seedling
Frontispiece Watsonias, VII, 66
The Paper Shell on the Tree,
VIII, 30 WHEAT
Santa Rosa Walnuts, VIII, Wheat Germinating on Ice,
36 V, 344
Parents and Offspring, VIII, A Glimpse at My Wheat Ex-
44 periments, V, 348
Hybrids and Parents, VIII, Results of Wheat Experi-
324 ments, VI, 14
 INDEX
Abies, VIII, 140, 161, 164 Alfalfa, finds in man a friend, I,
Abundance plum, III, 117, 339; 151 ; characteristics, VI, 35-37
renamed, IV, 166 Algae family, shows great adapt-
Acacia, I, 100; VIII, 171 ability, I, 85
ACHIEVING THE IMPOSSIBLE Alkali bath, IV, 35, 38-39
THE PLUMCOT, IV, 181-207 Alkaloids, from trees, VIII,
Acorn squash, V, 113 142
Acquired traits, transmission Alliance, between insect and
of, VII, 364-368 flower, II, 237
Adaptation, of plants, I, 46; Allied species, protoplasm of,
struggle to secure, I, 136; II, 225
the forward march of, I, 117- Allium, varieties of, V, 195-197
173; of pears, I, 160; of arti- ALMOND AND ITS IMPROVEMENT,
chokes, I, 167; of celery, I, VII, 323-346
167; of lettuce, I, 167; of Almond, II, 45; III, 83, 205;
oranges, I, 167 IV, 67; VII, 823-316, 331-
Aerial potatoes, V, 180-182 341 VIII, 18-19, 257-259
;

Affinities, plant, II, 213-333; Almond-nectarine, VII, 333

founded on cousinship, II, Almond orchards, cross-fertili-
220-923 zation necessary, VII, 343
African daisy, orange, a sun- Almond-peach hybrids, VII,
loving flower, I, 182; history 335-341
of, I, 210; evolution of, inter- Almond-plum hybrid, VII, 323,
rupted, I, 211; characteristics 328-329
of, VI, 819; variation in color Aloes, I, 85
of, VI, 327-331 Aloyaia citriodora, VII, 172
Agrippina rose, VI, 238 A U trcetneria, experimenting
Aid from nature, IV, 82-85 with,V, 278, 279
Air, how plants use, V, 79-88; Amaranthus, as a weed, VII,
necessary to plant growth, 294
VII, 275; must circulate Amaryllis, I, 234; V, 278; VI,
among roots, VII, 33j in the 251-278; VII, 315; VIII, 307
soil, VII, 309 Amaryllis and Jacobean lily,
Air drainage, of trees, III, 121 hybrids from, VI, 273
Alaskan strawberries, IV, 279 Amber sugar canes, related to
Alder, VIII, 171 Orange sugar canes, VI, 81
Alexander apple, seedlings America, the melting pot of na-
from, III, 221 tions, VIII, 372-374
391
392 INDEX
Amoeba, indefinite in form and Apple seeds, method of plant-
structure, I, 54 ing, III, 222
Ampelops'is, hardy vine, VII, Apple trees, grafts cut, I, 149;
249 find in man a friend, I, 151;
Analysis of soils, often valu- pruning of, III, 80; all
able, VII, 313 closely related, III, 86; de-
Ancestral strains, diversity of, crease in production of, III,
III, 347; of immigrants, VIII, 101; low size, III, 113; adapt-
368 ability of, III, 154
Ancon ram, Darwin on, II, 22 APRICOT AND THE LOQUAT, III,
Anemophilous plants, II, 245 261-285
Angers quince, III, 236 Apricot, crossed with plum, I,
Animal cells, action of proto- 233; smooth, I, 262; Russian,
plasm of, V, 84 III, 277; and plum crossed,
Animal world, I, 235; evidence IV, 183; bearing nuts, VII,
from the, II, 227-231; de- 339
pendent on vegetables, V, 86 Apricot plum, Chinese, IV, 9
Animals, offspring of, II, 123 Aquilegia, honey of, I, 131; de-
Animate and inanimate forms scribed, VII, 125-130
of life, I, 54 Araucaria, adaptability to en-
Anthers, II, 349 vironment, I, 87
Antirrhinum, II, 349 Arctium, burdock, VII, 285
Antiseptic surgery in the Arderne, H. W., discovers white
orchard, III, 172-174 Watsonia, VII, 67, 107
Apex plumcot, final selection Aroma and taste, IV, 110
of, IV, 200-203 Artichoke, adaptability of, I,
Aphides, destroy stoneless 167; development of, V, 819-
seeds, II, 53 227
Aphis, woolly, orchard pest, ARTICHOKES AND OTHER GARDEN
III, 225; Northern Spy im- SPECIALTIES, V, 217-238
mune, III, 226 Artificial pollination, II, 117
APPLE, A FRUIT STILL CAPABLE Artificial selection, II, 21
OF FURTHER IMPROVEMENT, Arum, color and scent of, I,
III, 207-234 126; pollination by flies, I,
Apple, Baldwin, II, 58; hybrid- 127; variation of, I, 135-136
ized, II, 178-179; develop- Asclepia, rubber-producing
ing a new variety of, III, 15; plants, VIII, 135
color,how produced, III, 93; Ash, possibilities of, VIII, 171
migration of, III, 156; can Asiatic daisy, I, 305
be grafted on pear stock, III, Asiatic Elaeagnus, IV, 384
178; improvement of, III, Asiatic plum, IV, 120
207-234; result of hybridiz- Asparagus, selling qualities, I,
ing dewberry with, V, 64-66 265; valuable food, V, 248
Apple orchards, injured by Asters, possibilities of, VII, 140
woolly aphis, III, 225 Atmosphere, new, stimulative,
Apples, pears, and quinces, pos- II, 105
sibilities in crossing, III, 234 Atom, characteristics of, IV,
Apple plum, III, 94; III, 338; 150-160; Prof. Rutherford on,
IV, 139 IV, 154-155; Lord Kelvin on,
 INDEX 393

IV, 155; Sir J. J. Thomson Beach plum, description of, IV,

on, IV, 155; Becquerel on, 121; ennoblement of the,
IV, 157 123-130; size increased by
Australian star flower, VII, hybridization, VI, 257
186-190 Bean, III, 9; V, 95, 145-156
Australia, plants from, III, 227, Bear, history of a cub, I, 95;
289, 310; VII, 182, 186 189; hereditary instincts, I, 95-96
VIII, 96 BEARING OF THIS WORK ON
HUMAN LIFE, 349-378
Bacilli, insects spread, III, Beauty plum, III, 338; IV, 21
171-172 Becquerel, on atom, IV, 157;
Bacillus amy
lov o rus, pear finds radio activity, V, 159
blight due to, III, 170; re- Beech, hardiness of, VIII, 165
lated to bacilli that cause Beecher, Henry Ward, on cook-
human maladies, III, 170 ing the quince, III, 235
Bacterial diseases of plants, Bees, orchid pollenized by,
VII, 317 1, 128-129 ; pollenize milkweed,
Bailey, Prof. L. H., fails to I, 129 ;pollenize cherry
hybridize squashes, V, 112 blossoms, I, 145; pollenize
Baldwin, apple, all trees parts snowball, I, 151; pollenize
of original tree, III, 211 daisy, I, 186; help produce
Balloon-flower, VII, 95 - 103, new daisy, I, 190; cause vari-
108-116 ation, I, 105; do not mix
Balsam fir, VIII, 140 pollen, I, 205; attracted by
Baltimore Belle rose, VI, 238 flowers, I, 206; produce
Banana, development of, III, honey of different flavors, I,
97 206; taste like human
be-
Banana melon, a hybrid, V, ings, II, pollenize cher-
7;
103-104 ries, II, 112; importance
Banksia rose, VI, 238, 243 of, II, 111-115; have eye
Barberry, blossom of, I, 131; for color, II, 343; Dr. Turner
(Berberis vulgaris), II, 252; on, II, 347; aiding the, II,
acrid, ischanging, IV, 373- 348-352; fertilize columbines,
384 VII, 129
Bark grafting and inarching, Belladonna, IV, 293-295
II, 318-319 Berckman plum, III, 339
Barley, grown from seed, III, Bermuda onions, V, 193
9; fermentation of, V, 342 Berries, hybrid, II, 170-178; of
Barnyard manure, on
effect of, importance, IV, 209-348; im-
soil,VII, 319 proved varieties of, V, 26-
Barr, Peter, bulb expert, I, 43; announcement of new va-
165; on personality stamped rieties, VIII, 297
on flowers, VII, 229 Beurre Clairgeau pear, III, 93
Bartlett pear, luscious fruit of, Bidens, VII, 285
I, 157; adapted to Califor- Biffin, Prof., on wheat, II, 208-
nian soil and climate, III, 212, 277; experiments in rust
162; qualities of III, 166, 170, eradication, V, 350-352; ex-
231 periments, wheat, VI, 16-20
Bateson peas, II, 32-33 Bignonia, VII, 257
394 INDEX
Biology, modern, V, 57; effect Bloomwia aurea, grown exten-
of Darwinian theory, VIII, sively,V, 278
327 Bluebell, VII, 130-131
Birch, hardiness of, VIII, Blueberry, IV, 337-341
165 Bluebird, II, 99
Bird cherry, hardy, III, 145 Blue poppy, experiments in
Birds, orchid pollenized by production of, VI, 280-292;
small, I, 129; heredity of, II, principles of color transfor-
99-100; migratory, II, 100 mation of, VI, 299; domi-
Birkeland, converts atmospheric nant color factors in VI, 301-
nitrogen into nitric acid, 305
VI, 45 Bodinghaus, M., produces new
Bittersweet, poisonous, I, 247 hybrid gladiolus, VII, 11
Black bean, production of, V, Body plasm, segregation of
147; color of second gen- germ plasm and, V, 64; sep-
eration, V, 148; variations in arated from germ plasm,
offspring of, V, 148; vines of, VII, 155-160; everywhere as-
148; vines of second genera- sociated, VII, 366
tion of, V, 148-149 Bolivian peastone peach, valu-
Blackberry, needs no thorns, I, able for experiment, III, 204
149; new white, I, 325-352; Boll weevil, menaces cotton, VI,
first truly white, I, 331; 60-61; Guatemala ant resists,
Primus, II, 29; thornless, II, VI, 61; larva of, VI, 63
87; white, II, 122; hybrid, II, Bonfires, II, 278
205; Lawton, II, 207; normal, Bon Silene rose, used in pro-
crossed with white black- ducing Burbank rose, VI,
berries, III, 25; thornless, 230; used in producing new
IV, 209-232; evergreen, IV, roses, VI, 238
327-329; color factors for Bordeaux mixture, disinfecting
blackness in, V, 57; color fac- seeds, II, 54-55; used to
tors for whiteness in, V, 57; destroy insects, III, 109-110
experiments with hybrids of, Borneo, plants from, VII, 181
VIII, 344-346 Boston ivy, VII, 249
Blackcap berry, IV, 315-317 Boxes for seedlings, II, 283-286
Black color, predominant in Branches of trees, IV, 101-103
heredity, I, 347 Brazil, navel orange from, III,
Black dahlia, VI, 846; attempts 293-294; plants from, III,
to hybridize with dahlia, VI, 310; VII, 225
347-349 Breeding, for particular traits,
Black guinea pig, predominance II, 131-132, for varied quali-
of black color in, VI, 299 ties, V, 335-337
Black mustard, prized for culi- Brevoortia, V, 277
nary purposes, V, 207 Bridal rose, double - flowering
Black salsify, V, 127 plant, V, 31-33
Black walnut, produces cabinet Broccoli, consists of thickened
wood, II, 68; where grown, flower parts, V, 117
VIII, 25 Brodieea, V, 272-277
Blood plum Satsuma, III, 3S3- Brome grasses, VI, 179-184
340 Broom corn, VI, 79-81
 INDEX 395

Bronco (jumping bean), repro- Lancaster, Mass., VIII, 189;

duction by insect, I, 141 love of flowers, VIII, 190-191;
Brunsvigia, used in producing character in childhood, VIII,
new amaryllis, VI, 261 191-192; interest in chemistry
Brussels sprouts, thickened and mechanics, VIII, 191-192;
buds, V, 117-119 knowledge of plant and ani-
Bryant, Walter, sends seed of mal life, VIII, 192; early
ground cherry, V, 251 education of, VIII, 192-194;
Bud, mystery of the, IV, 142- at Lancaster Academy, VIII,
145 194-195; with Ames Manu-
Bud, of plum tree, IV, 154-158; facturing Company, VIII,
structure of, IV, 158-160 195; studies human nature,
Budding, multiplication by, II, VIII, 196; begins plant ex-
322-326; methods of, II, 323; periments, VIII, 197; begins
of orange, III, 294-295 study of medicine, VIII, 197;
Budding and grafting, applied moves to Santa Rosa, VIII,
to apples, III, 209-211 197; his father's death, VIII,
Buds, manner of growth, IV, 197; produces Burbank po-
154 tato, VIII, 197; brothers of,
Bud sport, on a peach tree, III, in California, VIII, 198; early
190 trials in California, VIII,
Buffalo berry, IV, 383-384 200-203; sells nursery, VIII,
Bulb, edible, VII, 57; propaga- 203; buys farm at Sevastopol,
tion by, VII, 150-154; de- VIII, 204; receives plants
stroyed by insects, VII, 316 from many lands, VIII, 205?
Bullace, French stoneless plums, experiments with native
II, 43-47; used to develop plants, VIII, 207; makes ar-
stoneless plum, III, 204; why rangement with Carnegie
developed, IV, 83, 85, 93 Institute, VIII, 209; ideals
Bunting, Isaac, ships Japanese of, VIII, 210-211; home life
plums, III, 319-321 of, VIII, 211; personality of,
Burbank, Emma Louisa, VIII, VIII, 213-214; autobiography,
222 VIII, 217-308; marries
Burbank, Levi Sumner, VIII, Elizabeth Waters, VIII, 222;
223 sister, VIII, 222; relatives
Burbank, Luther, birthplace of, of, VIII, 223; heredity, VIII,
VIII, 175; birth of, VIII, 225; inspiration in love of
178; early love of flowers, nature, VIII, 225; childhood
VIII, 178-179; childhood ex- environment, VIII, 226-227;
periments, VIII, 179; adven- life at Lancaster Academy,
ture with a crow, VIII, 181; VIII, 228; takes drawing les-
brickyard on his father's sons, VIII, 229; with Ames
farm, VIII, 182; industries Manufacturing Company,
at Lancaster home, VIII, 182; VIII, 229; helps construct
pottery manufactory at his tractor, VIII, 229; patronizes
childhood home, VIII, 182; public library, VIII, 230; on
father of, VIII, 183; mother New England Sabbath, VIII,
of, VIII, 183; ancestors of, 230-231 ; influenced by "Origin
VIII, 185-187; childhood at of Species," VIII, 232-233;
396 INDEX
father of, VIII, 235; on his 294; announces new develop-
father's farm, VIII, 235; ments, VIII, 295; ten years
health of, VIII, 236-237; be- of progress of, VIII, 306-
gins study of medicine, VIII, 308
237 ; plans changed by father's Burbank, Olive Ross, lover of
death, VIII, 237; influenced nature, VIII, 225-226
by "Animals and Plants under Burbank, Samuel Walton, VIII,
Domestication," VIII, 238; 183
might have been an inventor, Burbank canna, VII, 37-41
VIII, 239; hereditary gifts Burbank catalogues, used for
of, VIII, 239; early experi- textbooks, VIII, 306
ence at Lunenburg, Mass., BURBANK CHERRY, II, 111-132
VIII, 240; moves to Califor- Burbank cherry, II, 111-132;
nia, VIII, 241; trip to Cali- III, 117
fornia, VIII, 244; brothers in Burbank giant, winter rhubarb
California, VIII, 244-245; in- crossed with, V, 240
heritance from Puritan an- Burbank plum, first introduced,
cestors, VIII, 245; ten pota- III, 330; importance of, as
toes a valuable asset, VIII, California shipping plum, III,
250; at Santa Rosa, VIII, 331; trees resist cold, III, 333
251; difficulties in beginning BURBANK PLUMS AND How
in California, VIII, 253; works THEY WERE PRODUCED, III,
at carpentry, VIII, 254; re- 341-352
sult of first year in Cali- Burbank potato, history of, I,
fornia, VIII, 254-255; fills 113-116; V, 285-287, 295-304;
order for 20,000 prune trees, VIII, 197
VIII, 256; grafts 20,000 Burbank quince, seedling of
prunes on almond seedlings, pineapple quince, III, 247
VIII, 260-261 ; begins new life Burbank rose, VI, 225-234
work, VIII, 264-268; collects Bur clover, characteristics of,
new material, VIII, 265; pur- VI, 38-39
chases Sebastopol farm, VIII, Burdock, improved, V, 236-238
268-269 secures material from
; Burroughs, John, on straw-
Japan, VIII, 268; anticipa- berry, IV, 281
tions and results, VIII, 277- Bush bean, V, 154-155
279; materials for new work, Bush scallop squash, V, 109-110
VIII, 279-282; materials re- Butterfly, pollenizes cherry blos-
ceived from abroad, VIII, soms, I, 145; Prof. Loeb on,
282-284; receives aid from II, 344-347
many plant collectorSj VIII, Butternut, VIII, 25, 43-45, 52
283; methods and purposes
of, VIII, 284; develops or- Cabbage, V, 116-120
chard fruits, VIII, 287; seeks Cabinet wood, II, 68
hardiness, VIII, 288; per- Cactus, I, 69-92, 94, 147-148;
sistence of, VIII, 288; seeks 111,15; IV, 78; V, 7-21; VI,
practical results, VIII, 288- 95-170; VIII, 307
289; proves theory of natural CACTUS PEAR, A PROFITABLE
selection, VIII, 290: s^ipnti- FRUIT, V, 7-21
fic results obtained, VIII, 291- California black walnut, II, 61
 INDEX 397
California dewberry, II, 170; Catalina cherry, III, 146
VIII, 329 Catalpa tree, VIII, 168-169
California lily, V, 279 Cathay pear, III, 248
California poppy, I, 243, 291- Cattle, compared with seed-
293; III, 65-66; VI, 293-296 lings, III, 53-54
California walnut, II, 68, 78 Cauliflower, V, 117-120
California wild plum, IV, 121, Cecille Bruner rose, VI, 238
132-135 Celery, I, 167, 172
Calla, I, 172; II, 7-33; VII, Cell, development and sub-
41-51 stance of, I, 54-59; plant and
Calyx, shield about flower bud, animal, V, 83-85
II, 257 Cenchrus, sand bur, VII, 285
CAMASSIA, WILL IT SUPPLANT Chabot plum, III, 339
THE POTATO? V, 261-283 Chama?rops palm, VII, 244-
Camassia, wild hyacinth, V, 261- 246
283 Champion quince, III, 236
Cambium layer, II, 72, 309-311 Character, unit, II, 124-126;
Campanula family, VII, 115; selection for a single, III,
130-131 63-69; segregation of, V, 141-
Canada balsam, VIII, 140 142; dominant and recessive,
Canada squash, V, 110 VI, 9-16
Canadian leeks, V, 19(5 Cheat, a weed, VII, 289
Canary palm, VII, 244 Chemical constitution of spe-
Candleberry, VIII, 147-148 cies, II, 225-227
Canna, VII, 33-41 Chemical processes, generate
CANNA AND THE CALLA, VII, heat, II, 10
33-61 Chemistry, of the soil, VII,
Cantaloupe, V, 104-106 305-314
Cape raspberry, IV, 317-319 Chenango potato, V, 289
Capri fig, III, 307 Cherokee rose, VI, 238
Carbohydrates, V, 95; VI, 82-85 Cherry, I, 145-146, 177, 219-231;
Carboniferous era, II, 242 II, 111-132, 193-201; III, 15,
Cardoon artichoke, V, 222-223 81, 86-90, 123-151
Carnation, I, 117-125; VI, 209; CHESTNUT, BEARING NUTS AT
VII, 173-178 Six MONTHS, VIII, 51-76
Carnegie Institute, aids in Bur- Chestnut, IV, 67, 69-70; VIII,
bank work, VIII, 209 7-9, 13-15, 51-76, 296-297
Carrel, Dr., experiments of, II, Chestnut blight, VIII, 63-67
297-299; III, 326 Chestnut orchard, method of
Carrion beetle, II, 9 planting, VIII, 63-71
Carrion lily, I, 126 Chestnut seedlings, VIII, 60-69
Carrot, V, 95, 99, 124-125; V, Chickasaw plum, crossed with
219 peach, III, 204
Carum Qairdneri, V, 282-283 Chicle, gum from, VIII, 141
Carya, VIII, 81-82 Chicories, I, 139
Cassaba melon, V, 104-106 Childs, Mr. John Lewis, intro-
Castilleia, VII, 235 duces wineberry, V, 33
Castle, Prof. William E., I, 347; Chilean bellflower, VII, 260-
II, 50-51, 123; III, 28
 398 HSTDEX
Chilean clover, history of, I, Colby, Prof., compares prunes,
101; VI, 37-38 IV, 65
Chilean cress, V, 208 Cold frames, II, 281-2S3
Chilean leeks, V, 196 Colloids, I, 54
Chiloe squash, V, 115 Color, II, 59; III, 118; VI,
Chinese bellflower, VII, 115 197-224; VII, 25-33, 79-93,
Chinese mustard, V, 906 121-125, 133, 175-177, 216,
Chinese plums, IV, 9 296-300
Chinese rose, VI, 245 Color factors, rivalry in, VI,
Chinquapin, VIII, 55, 67 801
Chive, experimenting with, V, Colors, insects
make, I, 183
191-195 Columbine, VII, 125-130
Chloroform, effect of, on plants, Combination plum, II, 134; IV,
III, 323 117
Chlorophyll, V, 89-91; VII, 82 Combinations, importance of
Chromosomes, IV, 146-147, 152 care in selection, I, 46; by
Chrysanthemum, I, 301-305; II, bees, III, 8;
258 Composite flowers, VII, 217-
Cinchona trees, produce quinine, 228
VIII, 143 Conifers, VIII, 139, 141, 157-
Circulation, in tree, III, 174 167
Qtranges, orange hybrids, III, Conquest prune, II, 42; IV, 71-
291 73, 89-90
Citron, familiar citrus fruit, Continental daisy, I, 303
III, 288 Cook, researches of, VI, 23, 61
CITHUS AND OTHER FRUITS FROM Coquito rose, VI, 245
THE TROPICS, III, 987-311 Coreopsis, VII, 131-132
Clarkia, color variations of, CORN, THE KING or AMERICA'S
VI, 325 CRO?S, V, 311-339
Cleft graft, I, 223; II, 315 Corn, I, 183-135, 172; III, 67,
Clematis, VII, 251-256; VIII, 311-339; VIII, 307
300-301 Corn cockle, a weed, VII, 289
Climate, new, stimulative, II, Cornucopia, II, 10
105; fruits originally from Corolla, II, 257
warm countries, III, 810; for Corona plumcot, IV, 203-204'
plums, IV, 119-120; disease Correlation of parts, Cuvier
and human tastes, V, 45-48 studies, III, 59
Clingstone, IV, 66-71 Correns, makes known Mendel,
Cloth of Gold rose, VI, 238 V, 351
Cloudberry, IV, 325-337 Corrosive sublimate, for dis-
Clover, I, 100-101; III, 108; infecting tree wounds, III,
VI, 21-16 172
Cockleburs, VII, 285 Corsican pine, VIII, 139
Coconut, eyes of, I, 136-137; Cos lettuce, V, 227-229
food value of, VIII, 12-13 Cosmos, opportunity for ama-
Coconut geranium, VII, 182-183 teurs, VII, 921-22S
Coconut squash, V, 110 Cotton, VI, 48-66
Codling moth, III, 109-110 Cotton worm, VI, 60
Coffee, VII, 43 Coulter, Professor, I, 319
 INDEX 399

Crabapple, III, 91, 173 Dahlia, VI, 333-352; VII, 104

Crabapples, experiments with, DAISY WHICH RIVALS THE
III, 229 CHRYSANTHEMUM, VI, 307-
Cranberry, IV, 131, 337-341 331
Crawford peach, III, 193-195, Daisy, I, 182-195, 210-213, 299-
201 324; II, 131; III, 15-19; VI,
Cretaceous age, II, 82-83 307-331
Crimson Rambler, VI, 238, Damson plum, IV, 88
241 Dandelion, I, 139, 175; V, 230-
Crimson Winter rhubarb, I, 231; VII, 285
271; II, 89; V, 51 Darnel, a weed, VII, 289
Crinum, VI, 261, 273-275; VII, Darwin, Charles, theory of, I,
190-197 337; on evolution, II, 19; on
Crops, increased by rotation, Ancon ram, II, 22; on spon-
VII, 314-321; no short cuts taneous variation, III, 342;
to profit, VII, 315; failure effect of teaching, III, 345;
often due to physical condi- quotes Dr. Herbert, VII, 8;
tion of soil, VII, 318 importance of work of, VII,
Crookes, on nitrogen, VI, 4-5 357-359; publishes "Origin of
Crookneck squash, V, 109, 110 Species," VIII, 232; publishes
Cross breeding, II, 57; IV, 63, "Animals and Plants Under
195-196; VIII, 369 Domestication," VIII, 238;
Crosses, distinguished from hy- theory of evolution, VIII,
brids, I, 209 320; arguments of, VIII, 326;
Cross-fertilization, I, 206; II, doctrine of unity of life
9, 32-33, 221, 348-350; III, forces, VIII, 351-352
190; IV, 117; VI, 230-233; Darwin, Erasmus, teaches mu-
VIII, 327 tability of species, VII, 8;
Crossing, natural, I, 39; arti- records dahlia experiments,
ficial, I, 39 ; object of, I, 43 VII, 104-105
Crozy canna, a parent of Tar- Darwin potato, II, 167; V, 305-
rytown, VII, 34 308
Crozy, a hybrid, VII, 35 Darwinian heredity, VII, 354,
Crucifers, V, 116-119 359-360, 382
Crystal White blackberry, I, Darwinian theory of evolution,
325-326; IV, 258 11,25
Crystals, life exists in, 54-57 Darwinism on trial, VIII, 97,
Cucumber, V, 99-104 329
Cultivation, VII, 283, 309-310 Darwin's Hero morning glory,
Culture, II, 326-330 VII, 103
Curl leaf, VII, 320 Date palm, in California, VII,
Currant, IV, 329-333 238-239
Cutworm, danger to cotton Deciduous trees, VIII, 164-174
seedling from, VI, 60 Delaware plum, III, 388; IV, 18
Cuvier, studies correlation of Department of Agriculture, ex-
parts, III, 59 periments of, VI, 43-44
Cydonia, III, 248-255 DESIGNING A STRAWBERRY TO
Cynoglossifm, variation of color BEAR THE YEAR AROUND* IV,
of, VI, 326 261-286
400 INDEX
Devil's-claw, I, 141-145 'Emerson, Ralph Waldo, I, 52;
Devil's shoestring, VII, 289 III, 341; V, 53; VIII, 188
De Vries on work of Mendel, V, Empress of India rose, VI, 238
351 ;experiments with prim- Empson pea, ripens all at once,
rose, VII, 136-137; on Men- I, 272
del's work, VII, 351; accepts Engelmanni, VII, 249
Mendelian theory, VIII, 346 English Pond's seedling, II, 143
Dewberry, IV, 213; 231-232; Environment, external forces in
251-253 life, I, 38; variation caused
Dianthus, I, 123-125; 133-135; by, I, 39; adaptation of
VII, 173-177 plants to, 1,41; life challenge
Dictator raspberry, IV, 243 to, 1,53 ; improvement of race
Digitalis, II, 350 dependent on, I, 67; adapta-
Diseases of plants, VI, 234-238 ; bility of Araucarias to, I, 87;
VII, 317, 319-321 affects heredity in sweet pea,
Disinfectants, III, 172 first main influence, I,
Dixie lippia, VII, 267 105; combined with heredity,
Dodecatheon, VII, 132-133 I, 167; sweetness due to, I,
Dogwood tree, VIII, 171 177; overbalanced by heredi-
Dominance, VII, 370, 374-376 ty, I, 185; relation between
Dominant tendencies, VII, 26 heredity and, I, 199; serves
Doncaster, Dr. L., quoted, I, 60 to bring out heredity, I,
Doris hybrid plum, IV, 138 201; stored-up heredity com-
Douglas spruce, VIII, 163 bined with new, I, 231; hard-
DOZEN OTHER DELIGHTFUL BER- ened heredity against new, I,
RIES,IV, 313-348 252; active influence of, I,
Drainage, III, 118, 121; VII, 279; influence of, II, 96-97;
272-278 stored, II, 187; native plants
Drought, enemy of plants, I, adapted to, IV, 234; impor-
149; in New England, II, 20 tance of, VIII, 361-365; city,
Duarte plum, III, 338 VIII, 364; influence on moral
Dwarf Rocky Mountain cherry, and mental development,
III, 147-149 VIII, 365; modification by,
VIII, 375
East, Prof. E. M., on orange Environment and heredity, in-
hybrids, III, 291 teraction of, I, 42; must be
East plum, IV, 129 fittedto each other, I, 55
Easter Beurre pears, III, 163 Epau potato, V, 281-282
Eel grass, II, 340 Epoch plum, IV, 130
Egg plant, I, 247; V, 249 Eschscholtzia, I, 243; III, 65
Egyptian cotton, cultivation of, Essential oils, VII, 41-44
VI, 52-53 Ether, effect of, on plants, III,
Elaeagnus, improving the, IV, 323
381-384 Eugenic breeding, VIII, 357-
Elderberry, IV, 343-344 358
Elements of variation, II, 152- Euphorbia, I, 72
155 Eureka raspberry, IV, 240-243
Elimination of seeds, IV, 93-94 Evening primrose, II, 22-31;
Elm, VIII, 172-174 V, 145
 INDEX 401

Everbearing grapes, IV, 363 Flower and insect, alliance

Evergreen blackberry, IV, 327- between, II, 237-238
329 Flowering trees, VIII, 168-169
Evergreen corn, V, 336-338 Fly catchers, II, 99
Everlasting flowers, VII, 185- Foliage, I, 56; III, 62-63
190 FOOD FOR LIVE STOCK, VI, 27-46
EVERLASTING FLOWERS AND SOME Forest trees, VIII, 97-174
COMMON EXOTICS, VII, 185- Fortune's Yellow rose, VI, 238
910 FOUR BURBANK PRUNES AND
Evolution, I, 205-231; II, 17- THE WORK BEHIND THEM,
33; IV, 184; VIII, 320-322 IV, 53-74
EVOLUTION AND VARIATION WITH FOUR COMMON FLOWERS AND
THE FUNDAMENTAL SIGNIFI- THEIR IMPROVEMENT, VII,
CANCE OF SEX, I, 53-68 163-184
EXPERIMENTS WITH THE OLD Four Hundred, pedigreed cher-
RESPONSIVE DAHLIA, VI, 333- ries belonging to, III, 123
352 Four-o'clock, VII, 121-123
Foxglove, II, 350
Factors, pairing, V, 142-145 Fragrance, II, 7-9; VI, 211-
Fameuse apple, III, 219-221 212; VII, 43, 44
FAMILY OF GRASSES, V, 341- FRAGRANT CALLA, II, 7-33
352 Fragrant verbena, VII, 163-167
Feijoa, fig guava, III, 310 Franquette, VIII, 48-49
Fennel flower, I, 132; II, 252 Freestone vs. clingstone fruits,
Ferns, I, 63; II, 239 IV, 66-71, 112
Ferraria, VII, 141-142 Freezing, effect of, on animal
Fertilizers,III, 107-110; VII, tissues, III, 325-327
306, 313-314 French Globe artichoke, V,
FIELD AND FLOWER GARDEN, 219-221
VII, 305-322 Frost, I, 149; III, 113
Fig, III, 306-309; IV, 343-344 Fruiting and blossoms, IV, 103-
Filberts, VIII, 91-95 107
FINAL SELECTION, III, 53-74 FRUITS WITH UNIQUE QUALI-
Five-leafed clover, VI, 34 TIES, V, 23-38
Five-leaved ivy, VII, 249 Fruits, better qualities in, I,
Fixing a type, III, 27-32 259 improvements in, I, 268
; ;

FIXING GOOD TRAITS, III, 7-32 seedless, I, 268; determining

Flame Tokay, IV, 358-359 the ripening season of, 1, 271 ;
T
Flatfish, I, 24-25 good from bad ancestors, II,
Flavor, IV, M9 129-130 ; balanced qualities,
Flax, cultivation of, VI, 47-48 III, 22-23; development, III,
Flemish Beauty pear, III, 170 75-98; shipping quality of,
Floral envelope, an advertising III, 115; color, III, 118; de-
device, VII, 79 velopment of new form, III,
Floral firecracker, V, 277 130-142; having high sugar
Flower, I, 117-132, 151-155, 182- contents, IV, 31-33; quality
191, 205-207; II, 7-16, 257- and size, IV, 107-113; why
262, 348-352; VI, 197-224,279- profitable, IV, 175-178; in-
304 creased consumption of, V,
402 INDEX
40; transcontinental shipping Globe artichoke, V, 223
of, V, 44; subject to fungous Glumes, use of, in experiments $
diseases, V, 46; fellow-study VI, 11-13
of types, V, 53-53; advertised Godetia, V, 145-147
in 1894, VIII, 316 Goethe, teaches mutability of
Fruit trees, pruning of, III, 80; species, VII, 8
stamina of, III, 82-85; big Gold Ridge Farm, Sebastopol,
fruit and free bearing, III, 85 III, 321; VIII, 971
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF Golden chestnut, VIII, 72
PLANT BREEDING, I, 37-52 Golden Russet apple, III, 221
Fungous diseases, II, 53; V,46; Golden West dahlia, VI, 341
VII, 317 Golden-leafed parsley, V, 198
FUZZY PEACHES AND SMOOTH- Goldenrod, I, 84; VII, 139-140
SKINNED NECTARIES ES, III, Gomphrena, VII, 187
181-206 Gooseberry, IV, 333-337
Gophers, destroy gladiolus
Gager, Prof. C. S., V, 173 bulbs, VII, 20-21; destroyed
Galton, F., on eugenics, VIII, by gopher gun, VII, 22
351 Goumi berry, IV, 381-384
Gal ton's law, aid from, II, 199- Gourd family, V, 99
208 Grafted trees, II, 115, 297-330,
Garber pear, origin of, III, IV, 45, 46
162 GRAFTING AND BUDDING, II, 297-
Garden Royal apple, III, 219- 330
221 Grafting, rules for, I, 223-225;
Gardening, VII, 305-321 II, 298; to save space and
General Jacqueminot rose, VI, time, II, 307-309; general
238, 245 principles of, II, 309-312;
Genus, breaks up into species, apples, III, 209, 223; orange,
I, 239 III, 294; plumcots, IV, 189;
Geranium, II, 349; VI, 197- tomato and potato, V, 175-
203; VII, 180-184 177; prunes on almonds, VIII,
Germ cell, IV, 152-158 260-261
Germ plasm, II, 231-233; V, Grafting wax, II, 316, 319-322
64, 171-173; VII, 155-160, Grafts from seedlings, IV, 57
366, 377; VIII, 347 Grains, improvements in, V,
Germinating seeds, II, 10, 54, 341-343; crop to follow corn,
279 VII, 319
TT
Geyser pines, I, 91 Grape, I, 177, 2G9; :, 96; IV,
Giant Crimson Winter rhubarb, 349-371
II, 87; V, 242-243 Grapefruit, 111, 288
Giant Maritima, IV, 123 Grasses, V, 341; VI, 176-191
Giants, breeding, VI, 253-257 Gravenstein apple, III, 219
Gilia, VI, 325; VII, 231-233 Gray, Asa, on Dodecatheon,
Gladiolus, improvements in, VII, 133
VII, 7-32, 74-78, 316; VIII, GREAT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE
300 GRAPE, IV, 349-371
Gladwyn, Prof. George E., GREATEST PLUM OF ALL THE
VIII, 195, 229 PRUNE, IV, 25-52
 INDEX 403

Green Gage plum, IV, 49-51 HlCXORY NtTT AND OTHER

Gregg raspberry, IV, 243 NUTS, VIII, 77-96
Ground cherry, V, 250-251 Hickory-pecan, VIII, 85
GROWING TREES FOR LUMBER, Hickory wood, used for Indian
VIII, 97-123 bows, VIII, 100
Guatemala ant, resists boll Himalaya blackberry, a thorny
weevil, VI, 61-63 bush, IV, 221, 228-229
Guinea pigs, Castle on, II, 51 Hippeastrum, VI, 261-863
Gum, sources of, VIII, 141 Honey prune, IV, 50
Honeysuckle, nectar of, I, 131
Haas Queen apple, III, 221 Hop vine, VI, 88-89
Hailstorms, 149I, Horse-chestnut, VIII, 145
Hairy plum, V, 23-24 Horse-radish, V, 209-21S
Hale chestnut, VIII, 63 How FAR CAN PLANT IMPROVE-
Hale plum, IV, 18 MENT Go? I, 233-257
Hales, Stephen, demonstrates How PLANTS ADAPT THEM-
rise of sap, III, 296-299 SELVES TO CONDITIONS, I, 69-92
Hanson, N. E., cultivates sand How THE GARDEN MAY BE
cherry, III, 147; on hardy MADE Mows PRODUCTIVE, V,
plums, IV, 131; on solanums, 71-97
IV, 999 How THE PLUM FOLLOWED THE
Hardwood trees, II, 67 POTATO, III, 313-340
HASTENING METHODS or FRUIT How TO OBTAIN VARIATION
IMPROVEMENT, III, 75-98 AMONG FLOWERS, VII, 95-116
Hawthorn, II, 171; V, 37 Howard, L. O., on destructive-
Hazelnut, VIII, 52, 91-95 ness of insects, VI, 60
Heath family, V, 34 Hubbard squash, V, 110-111
Hedges, VII, 303 Hubbardstown apple, III, 231
Helianthus, V, 223-235 Huckleberry, IV, S39-S40
Hemp plant, VI, 48 Huckleberry plum, IV, 125
Herbert, Dr. William, VII, 7-8 Humboldt berry, renamed Phe-
Herbertia, VII, 143-145 nomenal, VIII, 333
Hereditary complex, VII, 153 Humming-birds, I, 206; VII, 31
Hereditary factors, IV, 152- Hungarian prune, II, 143
153; V, 58-64; VII, 156, 378 Husbands, Senor Jos6 D., plant
Heredities, 37-42, 93-116, 159,
I, collector, VIII, 206
167, 195-203, 209, 231,
175, HTBB.ID LARKSPUR AND OTHER
252-352; II, 77, 86, 99, 123; TRANSFORMATIONS, VII, 911-
III, 63, 346; IV, 31, 41, 8S, 236
187-189, 309; VII, 111, 126, Hybridization, I, 39; II, 63,
176-177; VIII, 321-232, 349- 114-115, 129, 171-178, 305;
350, 375 III, 73; 179, 201, 230, 301-
Hermosa rose, VI, 229 811, 341, 349-352; IV, 17-23,
Hermosillo plum, III, 338 45, 85-86, 230-232, 343-344;
Herriot rose, VI, 288 VI, 234; VIII, 283, 319, 341-
Hevea, rubber producing trees, 346
VIII, 135 Hybrids, distinguished from
Hickory, II, 71; VIII, 25, 53, crosses, I, 209; strange traits
77-96, 165 of, II, 75-77; display ances-
404 INDEX
tral traits, II, C7T; natural, Interbred species, III, 83
IV, 251; perfectly balanced, Inventions, V, 158-159
IV, 255-960; dominant char- Inventor, compared with plant
acters in, V, 141; second gen- breeder, V, 158-161
eration, V, 161-162; domi- Iowa, apple experiments in.
nance of minor characters in, Ill, 225
VIII, 343 Iris family, VII, 141
Hypericum, for lawns, VII, Iris, improvements in the, VII,
269 117-121
Irrigation, importance in
Iceberg blackberry, VIII, 316 orange industry, 295;
III,
Ice plant, I, 101 methods of, VII, 278-282;
Immigrants, VIII, 372-375 sprinklers, VII, 279; Skinner
Immunity to blight, III, 147 system, VII, 281; hose, VII,
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MUCH 282
IMPROVED IRIS, VII, 117-140 Isabella Regia grape, IV, 366-
IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEAT, OATS, 370
BARLEY, VI, 7-25 Italian onions, V, 193-194
IMPROVING THE AMARYLLIS, VI, Italian prunes, IV, 58
251-278 Ixia, a spectacular plant, VII,
Inarching and bark grafting, 197-199
II, 318-319
Inbreeding, III, 10 Jacobean lily, VI, 273
INCREASING THE PRODUCTIVENESS Japan, plants from III, 197,
OF THE CHERRY, III, 123-151 248, 249, 269, 281, 317
Indian corn, I, 163; V, 313, 341- Japanese burdock, V, 237
342 Japanese chestnut, VIII, 52-
Indian cotton, VI, 52-53 56, 65
Indian fig, V, 16 Japanese daisy, III, 17
Indian's paintbrush, VII, 235 Japanese golden mayberry, IV,
INEDIBLE FRUITS WHICH MAY 321-325
BE TRANSFORMED, IV, 373-384 Japanese iris, VII, 118-119
Infection, III, 172 Japanese ivy, VII, 249-250
Insect and flower, alliance Japanese mammoth chestnut,
between, II, 237, 331-333 VIII, 296
Insect pests, immunization Japanese mustard, V, 206
from, III, 225 Japanese plum, III, 204, 343;
Insects, aid pollination, I, 64, VIII, 268
183; II, 9, 11; III, 306; de- Japanese quince, VIII, 317
stroy stoneless seeds, II, 53; Japanese rose, VI, 245
intelligence of, II, 337 ; senses Jerusalem artichoke, V, 223
of, II, 342-348; mixtures for Jerusalem cherry, I, 247
destroying, III, 109; spray- Johannsen, on barley, II, 156;
ing to remove, III, 110; foes on kidney beans, II, 156
of cotton, VI, 60-66 destruc-
; Johnson, produces hybrid ama-
tion wrought by, VII, 314- ryllis, VI, 262
317 Johnson's amaryllis, VI, 262-
Instincts, restoring submerged, 263
II, 103-107 Juglans, VIII, 35-37; 45
 INDEX 405

Jumping bean, I,141 LET Us Now PRODUCE SOME

June buds, II, 325-326 NEW COLORS IN FLOWERS, I,
175-203
Kaffir corn, V, 318-319, 338 Lieb, Judge, VIII, 208
Kale, V, 99, 117 Life, I, 53-55; VIII, 217-221
Kapok, VII, 234 Ligusticwn, V, 198-199
Keen's seedling, IV, 273 Lilac, color, VI, 325
Kelsey plum, II, 305-307 Lilies, I, 149; V, 279; VII, 53-
Kelvin, Lord, on atom, IV, 61, 315, 316; VIII, 299-300
155 Lima bean, V, 150-153
Kentucky blue grass, VII, 270; Lime, familiar citrus fruit, III,
best for lawns, VII, 270-271 288
Kerosene, for disinfecting plant Lippia, VII, 172; for lawns,
wounds, III, 172 VII, 263-269
Kieffer, Mr. Peter, introduces Little Gem calla, II, 13
new pear, III, 161 Liverwort, I, 63
King corn, ancestor of, V, 312 Lock, R. H., on corn, V, 333
Kittatiny blackberry, IV, 224 Locust trees, VIII, 171
Klondike tree, III, 58 Loeb on insects, II, 344-348
Knight, Andrew, III, 160 Loganberry, discovered by Lo-
Kohl-rabi, V, 99, 117 gan, IV, 253-254
Kolreuter on pollination, 1,328 Longworth, on raspberry, IV,
235
Larkspur, VII, 211-236 Loquat, III, 281-284
Latex, VIII, 136-137 Lovett, T. J., introduces white
LAWNS AND THEIR BEAUTIFICA- blackberry, I, 325
TION, VII, 263-303 Lumber, VIII, 97-123
Lawns, lippia, VII, 269; Ken- Lye and sugar, IV, 38-39
tucky blue grass, VII, 270- Lyscom apple, seedlings from,
271; flowers for, VII, 296 III, 221
Lawton blackberry, I, 327-329;
II,207; IV, 224, 255, 257 Madia (madder), VIII, 134
Leader peach, III, 201 MacDougal, Dr. D. T., treats
Leaf system, IV, 103 plants with chemicals, V, 173
Leaves, V, 80, 95 McFarland chestnut, VIII, 63
Le Conte pear, III, 162, 166 Madagascar, plants from, VII,
Leguminous plants, VI, 40-42 64
Le Long, cm sugar prune, II, Madame Edouard rose, VI, 238
146 Madame Hulot, blue gladiolus,
Lemon, III, 288 VII, 29
Lemon cucumber, V, 103 Magnolia, VIII, 168-169
Lemon Giant calla, VII, 46 Mahaleb cherry, II, 327
Leopard lily, VII, 54 Maize, improved by Indians, I,
Leotsakos, on cactus fruit, V, 161-164
15 Mala Oydonia, Roman name for
LETTING THE BKFS Do THEIR quince, III, 237
WORK, II, 331-352 Malthus, views of, VII, 357
Lettuce, I, 151, 167, 172; V, Mango V, 71-72
tree,
227, 229, 230 Mao-li-dzi, V, 23
406 INDEX
Maple, hardiness of, VIII, 165 Mexico, plants from, III, 311;
Niel rose, VI, 238 V, 315-317; VII, 141; VIII,
Marshal
Marie Henriette rose, VI, 238 136
Marigold, VII, 217-220 Meyer, Frank F., VIII, 65
Market, III, 115-118 Michaelmas daisy, I, 303
Martin, II, 20, 101, 248 Microscope, aid from the, IV,
MARVELOUS POSSIBILITIES IN THE 145-149
IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS, I, Mildew, IV, 355; VI, 237
259-278 Milk thistle, V, 235
Mayberry, Japanese
* Golden, Milkweed, I, 129; II, 339; VII,
IV, 321-325 233-234
Mayflower verbena, VII, 163- Miller,buys prune, IV, 51-52
172 Mimulus, monkey flower, VII,
Maypop, V, 255, 258 259
Mazzard cherry, II, 327 Mints, and their allies, V, 199-
Meadow lark, II, 99 205
Medicinal tree products, VIII, Mirabilis, VII, 121
142-143 Miracle plum, IV, 88
Melon, III, 9; V, 101, 106, 107, Miss Sherwood poppy, VII,
109 200, 208
Mendel, experiments of, I, 337- Molecules, IV, 150-151
340; IV, 239; V, 138, 139, Montecito grape, Rutland on,
145; VIII, 340-341; made IV, 367
known by De Vries, Correns, Moors, as cultivators of the
and Tschermak, V, 351 ; Men- orange. III, 295
del, his theory, essential facts Morganhill prune, IV, 51-52
of, VI, 7; theories of, in prac- Morning-glory, VII, 224-225,
tice,VII, 347-384; principles 289, 293
discovered independently by Morrow, W. W., aids Burbank
Burbank, VII, 352 work, VIII, 208
Mendelian formulae, II, 126- Morton, an orange hybrid, III,
127; IV, 309-311 292
Mendelian heredity, how deter- Moss verbena, VII, 173
mined, VII, 88; dominant Mosses, II, 239
and recessive colors of flow- Moth, II, 332-333
ers, VII, 88-93; shown by Mountain ash, II, 171; V, 37
columbines, VII, 126; in pop- Muir peach, III, 191, 201
pies, VII, 210; in hybrids, Mulberry, crossed with fig, III,
VII, 349; significance of unit 306-309; possibilities of, IV,
characters, VII, 353; isolation 343
of groups of factors, VII, Muscat grapes, IV, 365
378-379 ; in walnuts, VII, 383- Muskmelon, V, 99, 103-106
384 Mustard, V, 117, 205-213
Mendelian interpretation, II, Mutability of species, VII, 7-32
122 Mutation, II, 14, 17, 21-33; V,
Mendelism, I, 341; VII, 352- 145
354, 368, 370; VIII, 340-344 MY EARLY YEARS AT SANTA
"Messenger," ancestor of Amer- ROSA, VIII, 243-269
ican trotting horses, III, 11 Myrica, VIII, 147
 INDEX 407

Myrobalan plum, II, 39 Nightshade family, IV, 293-295

Myrtle, V, 6-29; VI, 325; Nitrates, carried to plant cells,
VIII, 301 V, 93
Nitrogen, necessary for starch
Narcotics, plants produce, IV, and sugar, V, 93-93; impor-
293-395 tance in fertilizers, VII, 314
Nasturtium, I, 131; V, 208; Nitrogenous matter, called pro-
VII, 227-228 tein, V, 95
National peach, III, 192, 201 Nobel, discovers nitroglycerine,
Native raw materials, IV, 120- V, 159
123 Nonpareil almond, VII, 343-344
Natural selection, II, IT, 105; Northern Spy, III, 221, 226-227
IV, 80; V, 43; VII, 355-368; Norway pine, source of resin,
VIII, 339 VIII, 139
Nature, ingenuity in, I, 209; No Two LIVING THINGS EXACT-
creates no duplicates, I, 293; LY ALIKE, I, 117-146
aid from IV, 82-85 Nut-bearing trees, VIII, 11
Navel orange, III, 96, 293-594; Nut crop, report for 1909,
IV, 92 VIII, 17-19
Nectarine, has common ances- Ntrrs AS A PROFITABLE CROP,
tor with peach, III, 189; VIII, 7-26
sometimes grown from peach Nuts, of economic importance,
seed, III, 190; white, crossed VIII, 9-97
with Muir peach, III, 191; Nuttall, Dr., II, 227-231, 298
crosses readily with almond
and peach, VII, 332 Oak, VIII, 165
NEED FOR IMPROVING SMALL Oats, III, 9; V, 342
FRITITS, V, 39-69 October Giant raspberry, VIII,
"New Creations," VIII, 305, 323 316
"New Creations in Fruits and Odor, in flowers, II, 7; VI, 343-
Flowers," VII, 347; VIII, 344
294-295, 309-314 CEnothera, VII, 136
"New Creations in Plant Life, '

Oils, VIII, 137-140

VIII, 215 Onion, V, 100
NEW PLUMS AND PRUNES IN THE Opium poppy, VII, 199-208
PROCESS OF MAKING, IV, 115- Opulent peach, III, 192-193
160 Opuntia. (See Cactus)
Ne Plus Ultra almond, depend- Orange, I, 167, 172; II, 43; III,
able, VII, 344 237, 288-296, 301, 303; IV, 31,
Nettle, I, 132 92
Newtown Pippin, seedlings Orange daisy, sun-loving flower,
from, III, 221 I, 182-185
New Zealand, plants from, II, Orange melons, V, 107
88; III, 227; VIII, 282 Orange quince, III, 236
New Zealand Sonchus, V, 236 Orange sugar canes, VI, 81
Nicotiana, announcement of Orange sweet corn, crossed
new varieties, VIII, 302 with late white, V, 335
Nicotunia, announcement of, Organisms, II, 19, 21; VII. 155,
VIII, 301-302, 337 369
408 INDEX
Orchard, ideal of, I, 267; III, Paradox walnut, II, 61, 64-71,
56-58; rejuvenating, III, 102- 77, 183; VII, 347-350; VIII,
111; location of, III, 113; im- 34, 103, 106, 296
portance of drainage of, III, Parsley family, V, 197-199
118; site of, III, 118; anti- Parsnip, V, 95, 124; VI, 212
septic surgery in, III, 172- Passion flower, V, 252-259
174 PATIENCE AND ITS REWARD,
Orchid, pollenized by bee and VIII, 271-308
humming-bird, I, 128-129 ; Pea, hybridized, II, 32-33; III,
variation of, I, 135 9; V, 95, 129-147; VII, 96
Orchid-flowered canna, VII, Peach, II, 46; III, 181-206;
35-37 VII, 332, 340
Orient, material from the, IV, Peach Blow rose, VI, 245;
7-23 VIII, 317
Oriental and opium poppies Pear, I, 156-160, 171, 230; II,
crossed, VII, 201-208 58, 171, 178-179; III, 81, 90-
Oriental pear, traits of, III, 94, 153-180, 234
164; immunity to pear blight, PEAS AND BEANS AS PROFITABLE
III, 169 CROPS, V, 129-156
Oriental plums, III, 339 Pecan, II, 71; VIII, 20-24,
Oriental poppy, VII, 199-204 82, 84-91
Oriental radish, V, 123 Pelargonium, II, 349; VII, 181
"Origin of Species," Darwin, Pellier, introduced prune, II,
VIII, 232 138
ORNAMENTAL PALMS AND CLIMB- Pepper, V, 213-216
ING VINES, VII, 237-262 Peppergrass, V, 208-209
Orthogenesis, II, 273 Pepper tree, VIII, 171
Osmosis, process by which sap Perpetual artichoke, V, 221
moves, III, 297-301; principle Persia, plants from, III, 199
Of, V, 79; VIII, 131 Persian melon, V, 107-109
Ostrich plume clematis, VII, Persian walnut, II, 61; VIII,
254 19, 34-49
OTHER USEFUL PLANTS WHICH Persimmon, III, 304-306
WILL REPAY EXPERIMENT, VI, PERSONAL AND HISTORICAL,
171-196 VIII, 175-216
Oxeye daisy, I, 301, 303 Peru, plants from, VII, 141
Oyster plant, V, 125-127 Peruvian ground cherry, V,
251
Paeonia poppy, VII, 200 Pests, III, 110-111; VII, 320
Painted cup, VII, 235-236 Petunia, I, 247; II, 159-165;
Palm, III, 7; VII, 237-262 VII, 178-180
Palmer apple, III, 221 Phenomenal berry, II, 29-30;
Pampas grass, VI, 189-191 IV, 251-255; V, 51; VI, 257;
Pansy, produced from violet, I, VIII, 316, 371
155, 171 PIECING THE FRAGMENTS OF A
PAPER SHELL AND OTHER WAL- MOTION-PICTURE FILM, 1,279-
NUTS, VIII, 27-49 298
Paradox berry, IV, 258-259; Pignuts, VIII, 52
VIII, 316, 333 Pine strawberry, IV, 272
 INDEX 409

Pineapple quince, III, 94, 235, 230, 241, 259; VII, 29-31, 37,
243-246; V, 49 51, 98-99, 120-121, 127, 131,
Pines, I, 64, 89; III, 7; VIII, 151-153, 181-182, 201, 233,
109-113 257, 323
Pink, I, 117, 125; VII, 173-178 Pomato, II, 169-170
Pink chive, V, 262 Pomegranates, V, 107
Pitcher plant, I, 102-103 Popping corn, V, 338-339
"Plan books," III, 35 Poppy, VI, 326; VII, 199-210;
PLANNING A NEW PLANT, II, VIII, 301
185-212 Population of United States,
PLANNING AN IDEAL PLUM OR VIII, 363-376
PRUNE, IV, 75-94 Portland cement, III, 105
PLANT AFFINITIES, II, 213-233 Portugal quince, III, 236
Plant antagonisms, II, 224-227 Potash, V, 92
Plant breeder, I, 37, 43-48, 341; Potato, I, 110-116, 247; II, 165-
III, 61-62, 71-74; V, 47 169; III, 97-98, 318; IV, 293-
Plant breeding, possibilities of, 295; V, 95, 100, 175-180, 181-
I, 37-52 182, 285-309; VIII, 197
Plant cells, V, 83-85 Potato family, IV, 287-295
Plant improvement, I, 259-278; POTATO ITSELF WHO WILL IM-
IV, 93, 171-175 PROVE IT FURTHER? V, 285-
Plant-insect alliance, II, 242 309
Plant intelligence, II, 337-341 Potato plants, II, 167
Plant life, I, 63-64; II, 191; Potato roots, V, 177-178
VIII, 117-123 Potato seed ball, I, 110-113; I,
Planting, II, 280-283 116
PLANTS WHICH YIELD USEFUL Potato tubers, modification of,
CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES, VI, V, 179-180
67-93 PRACTICAL POLLINATION, 11,235-
Plum, I, 262-263, 273, 280-282; 266
II, 35-59, 134, 144, 276-281, PREFATORY NOTE, I, 21-35
305-306; III, 62, 85, 313-352; Prickly pear, V, 16
IV, 7-179, 183-189; VII, 323- Pride of the Congo, VII, 45
327 Pride plum, IV, 129
Plum-almond hybrid, VII, 323- Primrose, II, 22; VII, 136-138
329 Primus berry, II, 29; IV, 244-
Plumcot, characteristics of, I, 255; V, 67, 151; VIII, 316,
261-265; III, 85, 273, 343; 329, 332
IV, 181-207 Prize plum, III, 338
PLUMS AND PRUNES WITHOUT PRODUCING AN ENTIRELY NEW
STONES AND SEEDS, IV, 75-94 COLOR, VI, 279-305
PLUMS FROM EASTERN AND Profusion amaryllis, a free
WESTERN SOURCES, IV, 7-23 bloomer, VI, 271
Pole bean, V, 147-153 Propagation, complementary
Pollination, I, 117-146, 148, 151, modes of, VII, 160-162
153, 186, 207, 327-328; II, 11, Protein, V, 95
33, 37, 63, 111-115, 117, Protoplasm, II, 225, 232;
124, 127, 232-233, 235-266; III, 327; IV, 152, 158; V, 92,
IV, 87, 146, 152-153, 187; VI, 93; 184-185; VIII, 349
410 INDEX
Prune, II, 58, 133-158; IV, 25- Rainbow corn, V, 320-326 5 VIII,
179 307
Prunes, the order for 20,000 Rainbow rose, VI, 238
trees,VIII, 256; grafted on Raisin, IV, 350
almonds, VIII, 260-261 Ram, Ancon, Darwin on, II, 22
Pruning, II, 330; III, 104-105 Rambo apple, III, 221
Pumpkin, V, 99, 109 Ranunculus, V, 281
Punnett hybridized peas, II, Raspberry, II, 172-173; IV,
32-33 233-260; V, 29, 153
PUREST WHITE or NATUHE, VII, RASPBERRY AND SOME ODD
63-93 CROSSES, IV, 233-260
Purple-leaved cabbage, V, 120 Reana luxurians (Teosinte),
Indian corn developed from,
Qualities for fruit, II, 120- V 313
122 Recessiveness, VII, 370-376
Quality asparagus, V, 248 RECLAIMING THE DESERTS wrrjEt
Quality, breeding for, III, 89 CACTUS, VI, 95-170
Quality peach, III, 192 RECORDING EXPERIMENTS, III,
Quality wheat, VI, 21 33-52
QUANTITY PRODUCTION, II, 267- Red cranberry bean, V, 147
296 Red-fleshed plums, III, 838
Quince, Beecher's formula for Redistribution of characters,
cooking, III, 235; orange and VII, 350
Portugal crossed, III, 237; Red potato, IV, 92
VanDeman, III, 240; pine- Redwoods, VIII, 151-154
apple, III, 243-246; Bur- Reine rose, VI, 238
bank, III, 247; Chinese, III, Relationship between plants,
248-256; crosses with oriental II, 220-222
stock, III, 249-253 Japanese,
; Resins, VIII, 137-140
III, 255; possibilities of, III, RESPONSIVENESS OF THE PEAR,
258 Van Deman, Santa Rosa,
; III, 153-180
Alpha, and Dazzle, VIII, 297 Rest stimulates growth, III,
322-325
Race, American, VIII, 359- Results, how obtained, VI, 266
361, 374 Rhodanthe, everlasting flower,
Races, dominant characteris- VII, 186-187
tics, III, SO; selecting and Rhode Island greening, seed-
fixing new III, 68;
traits, lings from, III, 221
combination of, VIII, 367-3(59 Rhubarb, winter, II, 87-110;
Racial strains, result of, VIII, edible portion, V, 247
368 Rice, important vegetable food,
Racial traits, revealed by hy- V, 342; varieties of, VI, 172-
brids, VIII, 293 173; characteristics of, VI,
Radioactivity, V, 159 175-176
Radish, V, 99, 116, 121, 123 RICH FIELD FOR WORK IN THE
Rae's Mammoth quince, III, TEXTILE PLANTS, VI, 47-66
236, 242 Richmond cherry, III, 149
Railroad, importance of near- RIVALRY OF PLANTS TO PLEASE
ness, III, 115 Us, I, 147-173
 INDEX 411

Rontgen, discovers X-ray, V, Sandbtir, VII, 285

159 Sand cherry, III, 147-161; IV,
Root system, III, 106; V, 80 130
Resales, members of, I, 237 San Jose scale, mixture for de-
Rose, developed for beauty, II, stroying, III, 109
258; Burbank and others, VI, Sans Noyau, II, 37-59
225-234; susceptibility to dis- Santa Rosa, VII, 143; VIII,
ease, VI, 235; robust ram- 33; in 1875, VIII, 199; Bur-
blers, VI, 238-247; possibili- bank's early years in, VIII,
ties for new fruits, VI, 249; 243-269 ; Burbank's descrip-
announcement of new vari- tion of, VIII, 245-248; drain-
eties, VIII, 297 age and fertilization at, VIII,
Rose geranium, crossed, VII, 262-263; fruit and flowers
183 produced at, VIII, 315
Rotation of crops, importance Santa Rosa catalogue, VIII,
of, VII, 314-321 322
Roxbury Russet apple, seed- Santa Rosa plum, III, 338; IV,
lings from, III, 221 21
Royal apricot, III, 280 Santa Rosa rose, VI, 233-234
ROYAL WALNUT, II, 61-86 Santa Rosa walnut, VIII, 29-
Royal walnut, II, 68-86, 180; 33
VII, 347-349; VIII, 38-42, Sap, rise of, III, 296-301
91, 103-106, 296, 335-337. Sap-hybridism, II, 305-307; V,
Rubber, production of, VIII, 182-186
132-137 Sassafras, VIII, 146-147
Rubio plum, III, 338 Satsuma, red-fleshed plum, III,
Husk, an orange hybrid, III, 319-340; IV, 196
291 Sawdust, II, 281
Russian cucumber, common Scab, fungus disease, III, 109
cucumber crossed with, V, Scientific plant development, I,
103 51
Rust, enemy of grains, V, 345- Scilla, V, 271
350 Scotch fir, VIII, 139
Rutherford on atom, IV, 154- Sea Island cotton, VI, 52
155 Sebastopol, VII, 16, 68, 143;
Rutland, John M., buys spine- VIII, 204, 271-276
less cactus, VI, 127-129 Seckel pear trees, III, 161, 178,
Rutland plumcot, IV, 196-197 211
Rye, grown from seed, III, 9; Second-generation hybrids, VII,
importance, V, 342 327, 349; VIII, 343-344
Seed, life history of plant
Sage, VII, 135 stored in, I, 109; may be
Sagebrush, I, 72 eliminated, II, 57; essential
Salinas Burbank potatoes, V. part of fruit, III, 95; im-
299
portance of the, IV, 261;
Salmonberry, IV, 319-321 growth of, V, 72
Salpiglossis, VII, 178 Seedgraft hybrid, V, 151
Salsify, V, 125-128 Seedless fruits, outlook for, IV,
Salvia, VII, 133-136 92-94
412 INDEX
Seedless plum, first grown in Segregation of characters, VII,
France, II, 37-39; proves 350
favorite, II, 57-58 Selection, of cherries, per-
Seedless grapes, IV, 92 sistent, the impor-
II, 119;
Seedling fruits, II, 329 tance of, 53-74;
III, for
Seedling kindergarten, II, 286- aroma and color, III, 63-65;
288 material for, III, 72-74; for
Seedlings and their care, size and sweetness of fruits,
II, 267-296, 326; color of III, 88; of quince, III, 245;
plum, II, 306 ; sidegraf ted, II, methods of, VII, 96-97; from
312; selecting, III, 53-74; second - generation hyb rids,
peach-nectarine, III, 192; VII, 324; materials for, VIII,
Japanese, IV, 7; of prunes, 102-105; need of, VIII, 369-
IV, 86; show variation, IV, 372, 377
117; beach plum, IV, 126; of Selection and Mendelism, VII,
a bud sport, IV, 365-367; of 376-384
cannas, VII, 38-39; Wat- Selective breeding, III, 139
sonia, VII, 74-78; variations Selective judgment, put to test,
in, VII, 103-104; of four- III, 57-59
o'clocks, VII, 122; of Canary Self-fertilization, II, 253, 255,
palm, VII, 245; of clematis, 339
VII, 255; of lippias, VII, 266; Self-preservation, I, 73, 91
plum-almond hybrids, VII, Senses, of insects, II, 342-348
323; of peach or almond, Sensitive plant, I, 100
VII, 332; of Royal and Sequoia, survivors of another
Paradox hybrids, VIII, 39- age, VIII, 120, 149-157
40; grafting of Japanese va- Seralian, Mr. M. K., secures
riety, VIII, 55-56; of Se- Syrian grapes, IV, 359
quoias, VIII, 151, 154, 156; Sex, purpose of, I, 60-61
of catalpas, VIII, 169; of Shaffer's colossal raspberry,
magnolias, VIII, 169; of IV, 240-241, 258
almonds, VIII, 259-261; ex- SHASTA DAISY, I, 299-324
periments, VIII, 338-339 Shasta daisy, larger than
Seeds, store up tendencies of parents, II, 131; plans for,
ancestors, I, 106; germinat- II, 193; on the witness stand,
ing, give heat, II, 10; growth III, 15-21; qualities, VI, 307-
from, II, 54; of Royal wal- 331
nut, II, 73; necessary to an- Sheep sorrel, VII, 295
nual, II, 249; keeping over Shellbark hickory, VIII, 77-81
winter, II, 279-280; testing, Shirley poppy, VI, 283-293
II, 286; protective coverings Shooting star, VII, 132-133
of, IV, 78-79; of prunes, IV, SHORT CUTS INTO THE CEN-
81-82; of grapes, IV, 365; TURIES TO COME, I, 205-231
vitality of, V, 170-175; of can- Shrubs, fruit-bearing, V, 34;
nas, VII, 38-39; may lie dor- for ornament, VII, 302-303
mant, VII, 290; inspection Siberia, plants from, VII, 269
for purity, VII, 290-291; Siberian raspberry, VIII, 329
sampled for weeds, VII, Silverberry, IV, 383-384
291 Silver-lining poppy, VI, 295-296
 INDEX 413

Simon, introduces plum, IV, Spineless Opuntia. (See Cac-

139-141 tus)
Single-husked corn, V, 317-320 Splendor plum, II, 144-145
Smith pear, origin of, III, 162 Splendor prune, IV, 54-56, 73;
Snake cucumber, V, 103-104 VIII, 316
Snapdragon, II, 349 Sports, I, 39; II, 14-17, 21, 25,
Snowball, I, 151 48; III, 293; VII, 109
Snowdrift clematis, VII, 254 Sprekelia, VI, 261
Snowflake calla, VIII, 317 Spruce gum, VIII, 141
Snyder blackberry, IV, 224 Squash, V, 109-116; VIII, 302-
Soil, of temperate zone, II, 82- 303
83, new, stimulative, II, Squills, hybridized with Camas-
105; suitable for
seedlings, sias, V, 271
II, 284-286; kinds of, III, Squirting cucumber, I, 139-141
107; water greatest factor to, Stamens, II, 11, 261-265
V, 75-76; improvement of, Standard blackberry, IV, 227
VII, 272-283; chemistry and Standard prune, IV, 57, 63-66
physics of, VII, 308-318; ef- Stanley, on raspberry, IV, 317
fect of legumes on, VII, 318; Starch, II, 151; V, 91-95; 331
infested with insects and dis- Sticktights, VII, 285
ease, VII, 320-321 Stock, II, 301-311
Solanum family, I, 246; II, 166- Stolons, II, 176
167 Stone, what it means to the
SOME COMMON GARDEN PLANTS fruit, IV, 76-82, 112, 189-191
AND THEIR IMPROVEMENT, V, Stone fruits, II, 45
99-128 Stoneless hybrids, IV, 90-91
SOME INTERESTING FAILURES, II, Stoneless peach, III, 202-206
159-184 STONELESS PLUM, II, 35-59
SOME PLANTS USED FOR FOOD Stoneless plum, I, 172; II, 35-
AND FLAVOR, V, 189-216 59, 193, 275; III, 71-72, 97,
SOME PRACTICAL ORCHARD 98; IV, 85, 112
PLANS AND METHODS, III, 99- Stoneless prune, IV, 71-94
122 STORY OF LUTHER BURBANK,
Sorghum, V, 338; VI, 77-83 VIII, 217-241
South Dakota, apple experi- Stowell s Evergreen corn, V, 338
ments in, III, 225 Strawberry, II, 173-175; IV,
Spanish bayonet, II, 331 261-286, 349; V, 41, 47
Spanish onion, V, 196-197 Strawberry tomato, V, 250
Spanish salsify, V, 127 Strawberry tree, V, 34-35
Species, undergo changes, I, Street, trees for, VII, 303
38-68, 233, 239; blooming Subtropical fruits, III, 304-
at different times, II, 224; 306
strange, work with, IV, 359- Suckering, V, 325
365; methods of elimination, Sugar beet, VI, 89-93
VII, 361; too divergent, Sugar cane, VI, 75-85
VIII, 369 Sugar maple, VIII, 125-131
Spencer, Herbert, on evolution, SUGAR PRUNE, II, 133-158
I, 319 Sugar prune, IV, 56-63
Spineless cactus. (See Cactus) Sultan plum, III, 338
414 INDEX
SUMMARY OF THE WORK, VIII, Tongue graft, II, 315, 317
309-347 Tragedy plum, IV, 176-177
SUNBERRY A PRODUCTION FROM Tragedy prune, IV, 63
THE WILD, IV, 287-311 Trailing myrtle, VII, 265
Sunberry, III, 94; IV, 287-293 TRANSFORMATION OF THE
Sunlight, effects of, VII, 83-85 QUINCE, III, 235-259
Superlative prune, II, 145-148 Transom Freres nurseries, II,
Swaar apple, III, 221 39
Sweet clover, VI, 29-32 Transplanting, I, 179-181; II,
Sweet corn, V, 326-331 288-291
Sweet pea, I, 141; VI, 209 Tree, responds to environment,
Sweetwater grape, IV, 359 I, 93; early fruiting, I, 274;
speeding growth of, II, 61-
Tarrytown canna, VII, 33-34 86; grafting, 11,115,309-330;
Tarweed, II, 214-215; VIII, 134 adapted to climate, II, 133-
TEACHING THE GLADIOLUS NEW 158; reproduction of, II, 243;
HABITS, VII, 7-82 permanence, III, 76; fruit,
Tecoma, VII, 257 III, 99-122; pruning essen-
Temperature, III, 113-114 tial, IV, 103; should resist
Teosinte, I, 163-164; V, 313-317 disease, IV, 112; V, 53; rise
Test pear, III, 167 of sap, V, 79; position of,
Texas Prolific almond, VII, 344 VII, 301-303; lumber, VIII,
THE SUNBERRY A
PRODUCTION 97-123; useful, VIII, 125-118;
FROM THE WILD, IV, 287-311 ornamental and shade, VIII,
Theophrastus, on pink, VII, 177 149-174
Thimbleberry, V, 30 Tree lupine, VI, 324
Thistle, V, 232-233; VII, 285 TREES AND SHRUBS FOR SHADE
Thompson's seedless grape, IV, AND ORNAMENT, VIII, 149-
359-361 174
Thomson on atom, IV, 155 TREES WHOSE PRODUCTS ARE
THORNLESS BLACKBERRY AND USEFUL SUBSTANCES, VIII,
OTHERS, IV, 209-232 125-148
Thornless blackberry, II, 87 Trillium, I, 88-89; VII, 60
Thyme, V, 204-205 Triumph plumcot, IV, 20S
Tiger flower, VII, 141-162 Tropical fruits, III, 309-311
TlGRIDIA AND SOME INTERESTING Tropics, vegetation in, VII,
HYBRIDS, VII, 141-162 161; valuable tree products
Tiles, for drainage,VII, 275 from, VIII, 142; need for
Time, limiting factor, II, 114- experiment in, VIII, 143
115; element in determining Tropseolum, VII, 227-228
fixity of plants, III, 8 Trotting horse, "Messenger,"
Timothy grass, popularity of, ancestor of, III, 11-18
VI, 27-28 Tschermak, on Mendel, V, 351;
Tobacco plant, I, 247; IV, 294 Tulip tree, survivor of another
Tokay grape, IV, 358 age, VIII, 120; value for
Tomato, I, 246, 250; V, 100, ornament, VIII, 167-168
157-187, VIII, 303 Tunicate corn, V, 318
TOMATO AND AN INTERESTING Turbine squash, V, 109
EXPERIMENT, V, 157-187 Turkestan alfalfa, VI, 36-37
 INDEX 415

Turner, Dr., on bees, II, 347 Vegetables, arranging ripening

Turnip, V, 99, 116, 119, 121 season of, I, 271
Turpentine, VIII, 139-140 Veitch, VII, 261
TWENTY-THREE POTATO SEEDS Verbena, VII, 163-173
AND WHAT THEY TAUGHT, I, Vinca major, VII, 265
93-116 Vines, for -ment, VII, 248-
256
Unexpected results, VII, 106- Violets, improvement and cul-
113 ture of, I, 153-^5, 167, 171;
Unicellular forms, I, 54, 56 II, 251-252
Unit characters, II, 124, 208- Virgil, quoted, I, 223
212; IV, 14T-149; VII, 376- Virginia creeper, VII, 249-250
384 Von Gaertner, on pollination,
Unit complexes, VII, 377 I, 828
United States Bureau of Indus- Vries, Hugo de, on Mendel, I,
try, VI, 55-57 339; on mutation, II, 21-32;
Upland rice, characteristics of, on stoneless plum, IV, 75-76;
VI, 174 on Burbank catalogue, VIII,
Uredospore, V, 349 305-306

Vacaville, IV, 59 Wachusett blackberry, IV, 211

Valencia, shipping port for Wagener apple, III, 221
oranges, III, 295 Wallace, Alfred Russell, dis-
Van Deraan quince, III, 238- coveries of, VII, 359
Walnut. *-
241; V, 49 .lopment of, II, 30,
Van Deman, H. E., Ill, 330, ei-'., 157, 180-181; IV, 67;
334 gigantic trees produced by
Van Mons, Jean Baptiste, de- hybridization, VI, 257; Para-
velops pear, III, 160 dox and Royal, VII, 347-349;
Vant Hoff, on rise of sap, III, importance, VIII, 19-20;
297-301 methods of ^ybridizing, VIII,
Variation, without crossing, I, 42-45; cu\ A vation, VIII, 43-
39; means of adjustment to 49; Per^an and California^
conditions, I, 42; infinite in- crossed, VIII, 102; Hoyal
genuity in, I, 117-146; man and Paradox trees, VIII, 103-
compared with flowers, I, 106, 296; hardiness of, VIII,
167 heredity disturbed to pro-
; 165
duce, I, 191; combinations in- WALNUTS AND OTHE. EXPERI-
sure, I, 209, 239; elements of, MENTS, VII, 347-384
II, 152-155; habit of, III, Wasp, fertilizes figs, III, 306
8, 63; reasons for, III, 345- Water, all-importance of, V,
319; rapid change, VI, 226; 75-85; oversupply of, VII,
materials for, VI, 230; stim- 275
ulated by hybridization, VI, Water cress, V, 117
257; time to look for, VII, Watermelon, V, 99
101; methods of stimulating, Water plants, II, 339-340
VII, 116, 161; in second gen- Waters, Elizabeth, marries
eration,VII, 324 Luther Burbank, VIII, 222
Vegetable kingdom, I, 235-236 Watsonia, VII, 63-93
416 INDEX
Waverley clematis, VII, 254. Wickson plum, IV, 18-19, 21,
Waxberry, VIII, 147-148 166-167; V, 49; VIII, 316
Wax grafting, II, 316, 319-322 Wild flowers, color variation
Wax myrtles, VIII, 317 in, VI, 323-324
Webber, H. H., experiments of, Wild-Goose plum, IV, 121
VI, 60 Wild lettuce, VII, 285
Weeds, menace of, VII, 282- Wild oats, IV, 77
296; annual and perennials, Wild plants, I, 199; III, 8
VII, annual, how pre-
28",- Wild plum, IV, 34
vented, VII, 284; perennial, Wild radish, VII, 295
how prevented, VII, 284-285; William's Favorite apple, III,
with feathery seeds, VII, 221
287; how protected, Vli, Willits, an orange hybrid, III,
288; introduced with seeds, 291-292
VII, 289; worst in California, Wilson Junior berry, IV, 226
VII, 291; how exterminated, Wind, carries seed and poiien,
VII, 294-296 I, 64, 134, 149
Weissmannian doctrine, VIII, Windbreaks, VII, 303
346-347 Wind-loving plants, II, 245
West's Mammoth quince, III, Wineberry, V, 33
236 WINTER RHUBARB, II, 87-110
WHAT THE B URBAN K PLUMS Winter rhubarb, II, 108-110;
AND PRUNES HAVE EARNED, V, 239-249
IV, 161-179 WINTER RHUBARB AND OTHER
WHAT TO WORK. "OR IN INTERESTING EXOTICS, V, 239-
FLOWERS, VI, 197-224 259
Wheat, reproduction of, I, 132; Wistaria, variety in types, VII,
Prof. on, II, 208-212;
Biffin, 259-260
pollination of, II, 253, 255; Wonderberry, IV, 289, 292
grown from seed, III, 9-10; Wonder ixia, VII, 198
chief vegetable food, V, 342; Woodward, Dr., theory of, I,
subject to rust, V, 347-349; 335
-^alysis by Professor Biff en, Woolly aphis, III, 225-226
VI, 8; with beardless ears, WORD TO THE READER, I, 17-20
VI, 10; segregation of unit WORKING WITH A UNIVERSAL
characters, VI, 13-14; hybri- FLOWER THE ROSE, VI, 225-
dizing wild with cultivated, 250
VI, ^,-25 Wormwood, I, 85
Whip graft, II, 315, 317
WHITE BLACKBERRY, I, 325-352 Xanthium, VII, 285
White blackberry, 325-352;
I,
II, 30, 36, 122, 131, 193, 205- Yellow Bellflower apple, III,
208; IV, 218 221
White daisy, ancestors pre- Yellow field corn, V, 329-331
ferred shade, I, 182-183 Yerba buena,, V, 201-203
White grape, IV, 355 Yucca, in the desert, I, 85; II,
White mustard, pest, V, 207 331-337
White strawberry, IV, 284
Wichuriana rose, VI, 238, 245 Zea, V, 317-339
 1 1 /?//,// 1

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