The Luther Burbank Centennial

March 7, 1949, marked the 100th anniversary of Luther Burbank’s birth. 

For half a century or more, the public schools of the nation taught the children in the lower grades that Burbank was one of our national heroes, placing him on a pedestal almost alongside Washington and Lincoln. 

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Garden clubs, too, have been effective in perpetuating his memory. These two powerful agencies will doubtless do themselves proud this year in observing the Burbank centenary.

Lovable Luther Burbank

Luther Burbank was a lovable character with an indescribable personal magnetism- that bound people to him. 

It has been said that no one could know the man well and still write objectively about him. 

The plant explorer David Fairchild has told me that after spending an evening with Burbank, he went away in a daze and, for hours afterward, was completely under his influence.

Few men were publicized as widely as Burbank for some 30 years, from the early ’90s to his death in 1926. 

A Master Of Publicity

He was literally “made” by the popular press. Both Luther and his devoted sister, Emma, were masters of publicity. 

He began early to do unusual things and to dramatize them. I rather think that both sought fame for him rather than great wealth.

While still struggling along as a nurseryman, he attracted attention by executing a contract that amazed the public and left his competitors green with envy. 

It was when California dried fruits, chiefly prunes, were first beginning to be shipped to eastern markets. 

This profitable trade created an abnormal demand for young trees for planting. Horticulturists could not keep pace with their orders. 

June Bidding: Old Propagation Method

By standard propagation methods, it required two years, sometimes longer—to grow trees of planting size. 

An impatient customer offered Burbank a premium if he would produce 20,000 pruned trees for him within 12 months. 

The offer was accepted, and 19,500 trees were actually delivered on time. Burbank had simply used an old method of propagation known as June budding, which permitted all the different operations and techniques to be executed in one season. 

The Plant Wizard

The simple stunt greatly enhanced his reputation, and for the first time, he was referred to as a “plant wizard.” 

His first big push toward national fame occurred in 1899 when the city papers announced he had sold a new rose for the unheard-of price of $5,000.

Even after his fame, based on solid accomplishments, became great enough to justify frequent stories about his work, correspondents of magazines and the Sunday supplements continued to write about him in a sentimental vein. 

His love of children, which was genuine, was a never-ending theme that touched the public and inspired many a sermon in the churches. 

School’s Hero Material

As hero material for the schools, Burbank was a natural. He led a moral life and was free from petty vices like smoking and drinking. 

His aversion to tobacco and alcohol was so great that he would not employ a man or a woman addicted to either in any form. Henry Ford publicized these views in his Dearborn Independent.

With the attainment of fame as a breeder in the early ’90s, the sentimental stories began to take on a rags-to-riches flavor. 

The story introduced the romance to the effect that Luther had left his Massachusetts home and had come to California because an unappreciative lady had broken his heart.

New Creations Of Burbank

Perhaps the first significant occurrence in Burbank’s rise to fame was the publication of his catalog of 1893 entitled “New Creations.” 

From this time, the popular writers began in earnest to make him a man of mystery, gifted with extraordinary powers of manipulating nature’s laws to suit his purposes but always for the public good.

Unimpressed by his claims, federal and state institutional writers tried to ignore Burbank, criticized his plant breeding methods, and said they were haphazard and unscientific. 

His popular adherents, with no knowledge of scientific plant study, shouted down the academic objectors and worked harder to sound his praises.

The Lone Plant Man

From 1885 to 1915, the lone plant man with no organization or professional helpers turned out such a volume of new things that conservatives everywhere thought he must be hoaxing the public. 

Jealous competitors, who themselves had new things to sell, kept up continual sniping. Florists were especially vocal in this kind of warfare.

Dissatisfied customers, persons who had purchased Burbank’s wares, chiefly from dealers who held dissemination rights. 

There were other sources of criticism, but they rarely got very far unless they could enlist the services of a newspaper or magazine to plead their case. 

Wonderberry: Sensational Claims

Dealers were prone to make sensational claims for his new things, which sometimes drew words of protest even from Burbank, who had himself gone pretty far in his original announcement. An example was the so-called Wonderberry.

I had heard so much by way of praise and criticism of Burbank that I decided to try to unearth the facts of his career. 

This objective study began in 1932—six years after his death—and lasted for ten years. 

A complete list of the things I found he had introduced over 50 years was published as Bulletin 691, “Luther Burbank’s Plant Contributions,” by the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of California, Berkeley 4, California. 

Book Of Luther Burbank

A full account of the principal episodes of his life is narrated in my book entitled “Luther Burbank” whereas includes:

• An analysis of his character, his early struggles to become established in a new profession
• Ultimate attainment of success and what it did to him
• Glimpses of his love-life
• Finally, the shameful manner in which two promotional corporations exploited him

A Victim of Hero Worship,” published by the Chronica Botanica Company, Waltham, Massachusetts.

My studies revealed that Burbank introduced, or offered for sale, over 800 new varieties of fruits, flowers, ornamentals, vegetables, grains, grasses, and forage plants. 

Records Lost Forever

Some were importations, others collected from the wild, but mostly they were a product of the breeding process. 

There may have been additional hundreds sold over the counter without a formal announcement. 

How many of these made good is impossible to say. Unfortunately, Burbank kept few records on how he produced things and none at all on what became of them. 

What he did leave in the way of records was, for the most part, ruthlessly burned as junk shortly after his death. 

Thousands of letters and old accounts that might have told much about his business over the years were thus lost forever. 

Source of Information

Besides his catalogs and price lists, my best source of information was a huge scrapbook consisting of 17 fat volumes his sister Emma had kept for 50 years.

Florists and seedsmen have told me that if a plant variety, particularly an annual, remains in the trade for 10 years, it is highly successful. 

Measured by this standard, Burbank attained more successes than is now generally known.

Plant Breeder: A Disciple Of Darwin

As a plant breeder, Burbank considered himself a disciple of Darwin. His career was well launched before he even heard of Mendelism, and he never took much stock in the principles of Mendelian genetics. 

To the end of his life, he stoutly maintained that the secret of breeding for improved varieties was, first, to induce variation by cross-pollination and, second, to select from the resultant hybrids for what is wanted. 

The first cross, he maintained, rarely results in a good breaking up and rearrangement of unit characters of the two parents. 

First-Generation Seedlings

Hence, first-generation seedlings rarely show much change, good or bad. From here on, the program may become more and more complicated. 

Selections from the first-generation seedlings showing promise may be back-crossed with one or the other of the parents or with sister seedlings from the same brood.

In the second generation, especially from back-crosses, he looked for an extensive breakup and rearrangement of characters that might show spectacular results. 

If some particular character was desired—say pure whiteness in petals (as was the case in developing the Shasta daisy). 

Third-Parent Strain

A third-parent strain might be introduced by bringing in another species with the desired character, even though it might be inferior in every respect.

Once all the wished-for characters of his dream plant had shown up in the collections of seedlings, he believed that by continued crossing and selection, he could arrange them in any way he wanted.

Mass Breeding

Burbank was famous for his mass breeding. That’s why he astonished the world with the number of new things he turned out. 

And here is where men of science disapproved of his methods. He could not supply proof of parentage of his hybrids if their ancestry was at all complicated.

Methods Of Pollination

Burbank was wholly unorthodox in his methods of pollination. His usual procedure was to make his first crosses carefully by applying the pollen by hand. 

He even protected the flowers from outside contamination by enclosing flowers in paper or muslin bags. 

After that, he was apt to grow the seedling hybrids in beds or rows close together and let nature pollinate. 

He then relied on his skill as an observer to determine the parents of his successful hybrids.

There is a lack of agreement regarding the most important of Burbank’s contributions. I should say it was his fruit. 

Varieties Of Fruits

Of his over 200 varieties of fruits, it consists of the following:

• 10 varieties of apples 
• 16 blackberries
• 13 raspberries
• 10 strawberries
• 35 fruiting cacti
• 10 cherries 
• 2 figs
• 4 grapes
• 5 nectarines
• 8 peaches
• 4 pears
• 11 plum-cots
• 11 quinces
• 1 almond
• 6 chestnuts
• 3 walnuts
• 113 plums 

Lastly, prunes, particularly the Japanese varieties, are the most important. Twenty of his plums and prunes, 18% percent of the total introduced—are still widely planted throughout the United States and other countries. 

Ten of the number are standard shipping varieties wherever Oriental plums are grown for marketing, as in California, South Africa, Argentina, and Australia. There are over 2,000,000 trees in California alone.

Varieties Of Flowers

Of his flowers, the Shasta daisy is the most famous. Others that have survived are:

• Lilies 
• Cannas 
• Roses 
• Amaryllis
• Dahlias
• Daisies
• Gladioli
• Callas
• Hemerocallis
• Watsonias
• Poppies
• Tigridias
• Verbenas
• Zinnias

Burbank Potato And Winter Rhubarb

Of the vegetables, the Burbank potato and winter rhubarb are still going strong after several decades.

A complete roster of Burbank introductions that are still cultivated may surprise many readers. 

The following list includes only those varieties announced by Burbank during his lifetime and known to be still in cultivation. 

It does not include the numerous fruits, flowers, etc., that have reportedly been developed from his stocks and introduced since his death.

Fruits

• APPLES – Gold Ridge, Winterstein. No longer offered for sale but found in rainy private gardens.

• BLACKBERRY – Himalaya. Still offered for sale and widely planted in home gardens, particularly in California, Oregon, and Washington.

• BLACKBERRY RASPBERRY HYBRID – For sale and grown in many places.

• CACTUS – Fruiting varieties, with names lost, are still found in mild climates.

• CHERRIES – Abundance, Black Giant, Burbank. In nurseries and commercial orchards.

• NECTARINE – Gold

In nurseries and commercial orchards, the plums are: 

• Abundance
• Ace
• America
• Apple
• Bartlett
• Beach
• Beauty
• Burbank 
• Climax
• Combination
• Duarte
• Eldorado
• Formosa
• Gaviota
• Giant
• Golden
• Maynard 
• Miracle (gardens only)
• Morgan-hill
• October Purple (South Africa)
• Santa Rosa
• Satsuma
• Standard (prune)
• Sugar (prune or plum) 
• Wickson
• QUINCE – Burbank, Pineapple, Van Deman

• WONDERBERRY (Surgniattiv) – A novelty of little or no value still offered for sale.

Nuts, Vegetables, And Grains

• CHESTNUTS – Coe, Miracle

• WALNUTS – Paradox, Royal

• WHEAT – Quality

• PEAS – Burbank Admiral, Model

• POTATOES – Original Burbank. Idaho Baker, also Netted Gent and Multnomah strains.

Flowers And Ornamentals

• AMARANTHUS – Combustion, now known under different names.

• AMARYLLIS – Hybrids under various names.

• CANNA – The Burbank and hybrids tinder different names.

• CORN – Rainbow and improved strains. 

• DAHLIA – Lavender and Sebastopol, probably still grown.

• DAISY – Original Shasta and many improved strains.

• GLADIOLUS – Hybrids under different names.

44659 by  W. L. Howard