Luther Burbank
Luther Burbank 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 and the
plumcot.
Burbank's most successful strains and varieties include the
Shasta daisy, the Fire poppy, the July Elberta peach, the Santa Rosa plum, the Flaming Gold nectarine, the Burbank plum, the Freestone peach, and the
Russet Burbank potato.
Encyclopedia
Luther Burbank 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 and the
plumcot.
Burbank's most successful strains and varieties include the
Shasta daisy, the Fire poppy, the July Elberta peach, the Santa Rosa plum, the Flaming Gold nectarine, the Burbank plum, the Freestone peach, and the
Russet Burbank potato. Burbank also bred the white blackberry and the
nectarine. A natural sport of the Burbank potato with russet skin later became known as the Russet-Burbank potato: this large, brown-skinned, white-fleshed potato has become the world's predominant processing potato.
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 plot of land near
Lunenburg.
Burbank developed the Burbank potato, 1872 to 1874. Burbank sold the rights to the Burbank potato for $150 and used the money to travel to
Santa Rosa,
California, in 1875. Later, a natural sport of Burbank potato with russetted skin was selected and named
Russet Burbank potato. Today, the 'Russet Burbank' potato is the most widely cultivated potato in the
United States, prized for processing.
McDonald's french fries are made exclusively from this cultivar.
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.
Burbank's creations included:
Fruits ...
s and prunes
...
es
...
s
Grains, grasses, forageVegetablesOrnamentalsBurbank was criticized by scientists of his day because he did not keep the kind of careful records that are the norm in scientific research and because he was mainly interested in getting results rather than in basic research. Jules Janick, Ph.D., Professor of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture,
Purdue University, writing in the World Book Encyclopedia, 2004 edition, says: "Burbank cannot be considered a scientist in the academic sense."
During his career, Burbank wrote, or co-wrote, several books on his methods and results, including his eight-volume
How Plants Are Trained to Work for Man ,
Harvest of the Years ,
Partner of Nature , 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.
By all accounts, Burbank was a kindly man who wanted to help other people. He was very interested in education and gave quite a bit of money to the local schools. He married twice: To Helen Coleman in 1880, which ended in divorce in 1896, and to Elizabeth Waters in 1916. He had no children.
Burbank also had a mystical, spiritual side. His friend and admirer
Paramahansa Yogananda wrote in his
Autobiography of a Yogi:
- "His heart was fathomlessly deep, long acquainted with humility, patience, sacrifice. His little home amid the roses was austerely simple; he knew the worthlessness of luxury, the joy of few possessions. The modesty with which he wore his scientific fame repeatedly reminded me of the trees that bend low with the burden of ripening fruits; it is the barren tree that lifts its head high in an empty boast."
In a speech given to the First Congregational Church of San Francisco in 1926 Burbank said:
In mid-March 1926, Burbank suffered a heart attack and became ill with
gastrointestinal complications. He died on April 11, 1926, and is buried near the greenhouse at the
Luther Burbank Home and Gardens.
Legacy
Burbank's work spurred the passing of the 1930 Plant Patent Act four years after his death. The legislation made it possible to patent new varieties of plants . In supporting the legislation,
Thomas Edison testified before
Congress in support of the legislation and said that "This [bill] will, I feel sure, give us many Burbanks." The authorities issued Plant Patents #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #18, #41, #65, #66, #235, #266, #267, #269, #290, #291, and #1041 to Burbank posthumously.
In 1986, Burbank was inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame. The
Luther Burbank Home and Gardens, in downtown Santa Rosa, are now designated as a
National Historic Landmark.
The town of
Burbank, California, does not take its name from Burbank, but from the
Los Angeles dentist David Burbank; however, the horticulturist gave his name to Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank. The Luther Burbank School District in
San Jose and
Santa Rosa's Luther Burbank Rose Parade and Festival also honor Luther Burbank. Santa Rosa used to have a performing arts center named after Burbank, but Wells Fargo bought naming rights for $3.2 million in 2006 and renamed it. The Lancaster Middle School in
Lancaster, Massachusetts was renamed to Luther Burbank Middle School in 2003. A middle school in Los Angeles named Burbank Middle School was also named after Burbank.
The has digitized and published online the 12-volume monographic series , which documents Burbank's methods and discoveries and their practical application.
In 1931 the Boys Parental School located on
Mercer Island, Washington changed its name to Luther Burbank School. The school continued to function until 1966. The land on which the school was built was bought by
King County and converted into Luther Burbank Park.
The standard botanical author abbreviation for Burbank consists simply of "Burbank".
References
- Kraft, K. Luther Burbank, the Wizard and the Man. New York : Meredith Press, 1967 ASIN: B0006BQE6C
- Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles : Self-Realization Fellowship, 1946 ISBN 0-87612-083-4
External links
