Luther Burbank

Luther Burbank (March 7, 1849–April 11, 1926) was an American botanist, horticulturist, and pioneer of agricultural science. He developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 55-year career. Burbank's varied creations included fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables. He developed a spineless cactus (useful for cattle-feed) and the plumcot.

Life and work

Born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, Burbank grew up on a farm and received only an elementary education. The thirteenth of 15 children, he enjoyed the plants in his mother's large garden. His father died when he was 21 years old, and Burbank used his small inheritance to buy a 17-acre (69,000 m²) plot of land near Lunenberg.

Related Topics:
Lancaster - Massachusetts - Lunenberg

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Burbank developed the blight-resistance Burbank potato in 1871, and it was exported to Ireland to help that island recover from the Irish potato famine of 1845 - 1849. Burbank sold the rights to the Burbank potato for $150 and used the money to travel to Santa Rosa, California, in 1875.

Related Topics:
Blight - 1871 - Ireland - Irish potato famine - Santa Rosa - California - 1875

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Santa Rosa, Burbank purchased a 4-acre plot of land, and established a greenhouse, nursery, and experimental fields that he used to conduct crossbreeding experiments on plants, inspired by Charles Darwin's The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. Later he purchased an 18-acre plot of land in the nearby town of Sebastopol for more experimental growing.

Related Topics:
Greenhouse - Nursery - Crossbreeding - Charles Darwin - Sebastopol

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Burbank's creations included:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fruits

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• 113 plums and prunes
• 35 fruiting cacti
• 16 blackberries
• 13 Raspberries
• 11 quinces
• 11 plumcots
• Ten cherries
• Ten strawberries
• Ten apples
• Eight peaches
• Six chestnuts
• Five nectarines
• Four grapes
• Four pears
• Three walnuts
• Two figs
• One almond

Grains, grasses, forage

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Nine types

Vegetables

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• 26 types

Ornamentals

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• 91 types

During his career, Burbank wrote several books on his methods and results, including his eight-volume How Plants Are Trained to Work for Man (1921), Harvest of the Years (with Wilbur Hall, 1927), Partner of Nature (1939), and the 12-volume Luther Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries and Their Practical Application. Burbank also published in 1893 a descriptive catalog of some of his best varieties, entitled called New Creations in Fruits and Flowers.

Related Topics:
1921 - Wilbur Hall - 1927 - 1939 - 1893

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Other works include:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• The Training of the Human Plant
• Some Interesting Failures: The Petunia with the Tobacco Habit, and Others
• The Almond and Its Improvement: Can It Be Grown Inside of the Peach?
• Four Burbank Plums, and How They were Made: Methods Which Brought Unprecedented Success
• Corn: The King of America's Crops: Not Only Better Corn, But a Better Stalk and Why
• Twenty-three Potato Seeds and What They Taught A Glimpse at the Influence of Heredity
• Other Useful Plants Which Will Repay Experiment: Transformations and Improvements Waiting to Be Made
• How Plants Adapt Themselves to Conditions: The Influence of Environment
• The Tomato and an Interesting Experiment: A Plant which Bore Potatoes Below and Tomatoes Above
• The Rivalry of Plants To Please Us: On the Forward March of Adaptation
• How the Cactus Got Its Spines and How It Lost Them: A Sidelight on the Importance of Environment
• Some Plants which are Begging for Immediate Improvement: Some Plants which are Begging for Immediate Improvement
• Manufacturing Food for the Live Stock: Some Suggestions on Clover, Timothy and Alfalfa
• Plants Which Yield Useful Chemical Substances: Observations on Sugar Cane, Hops and Sugar Beets
• Short-Cuts into the Centuries to Come: Better Plants Secured by Hurrying Evolution
• What to Work for in Flowers: And How to Proceed
• No Two Living Things Exactly Alike: Infinite Ingenuity the Price of Variation
• Fixing Good Traits: How to Hold a Result Once Achieved
• How Far Can Plant Improvement Go?: The Crossroads Where Fact and Theory Seem to Part
• The Burbank Cherry: The Explanation of a Double Improvement
• My Life and Work with Fruits and Flowers
• Garden Culture
• Burbank's new creations and special new selections in seeds
• Proof book number 1
• How nature makes plants to our order
• Luther Burbank, his methods and discoveries and their practical application: A synopsis
• Fundamental principles of plant breeding: Production of new trees, fruits and flowers : plants and children
• Another mode of species forming
• Advance offering of pedigreed Burbank novelties: Fruits and flowers direct from Burbank nurseries, season 1912-1913
• New plants to feed the world: And other articles by and about Luther Burbank from Orchard and Farm
• The new Shasta daisies: "Alaska", "California", "Westralia"
• The fundamental principles of plant breeding
• Plant breeding (How his first plants are trained to work for man)

He also wrote two books unrelated to botany: Piecing the Fragments of a Motion Picture Film : We Stop to Take a Backward Glance and My Beliefs.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Burbank also had interests in religion and in education reform, writing "Why I am an Infidel" in E. Haldeman-Julius' Little Blue Book #1020. He befriended Paramahansa Yogananda, and during the last several years of his life. Yogananda wrote about Burbank in chapter 38 of his autobiography, describing him as the ideal of an American saint.

Related Topics:
Religion - Education reform - Little Blue Book - Paramahansa Yogananda

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In mid-March 1926, Burbank became ill with gastrointestinal complications. He died on April 11, 1926.

Related Topics:
Gastrointestinal - April 11

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~