Luther Burbank was an American
botanistBotany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
, horticulturist and a pioneer in
agricultural scienceAgricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. -Agriculture and agricultural science:The two terms are often confused...
.
He developed more than 800
strainsIn biology, a strain is a low-level taxonomic rank used in three related ways.-Microbiology and virology:A strain is a genetic variant or subtype of a micro-organism . For example, a "flu strain" is a certain biological form of the influenza or "flu" virus...
and
varietiesIn botanical nomenclature, variety is a taxonomic rank below that of species: as such, it gets a three-part infraspecific name....
of
plantPlants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s over his 54-year career. Burbank's varied creations included
fruitIn broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s,
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s,
grainGRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
s,
grassGrasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es, and
vegetableThe noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s. He developed a spineless
cactusA cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...
(useful for
cattleCattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
-feed) and the plumcot.
Burbank's most successful strains and varieties include the
Shasta daisyThe Shasta daisy is a commonly grown herbaceous perennial plant with the classic daisy appearance of white petals around a yellow disc, similar to the Oxeye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare Lam. but larger...
, the Fire poppy, the July Elberta
peachThe peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
, the Santa Rosa
plumA plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
, the Flaming Gold nectarine, the Wickson
plumA plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
, the Freestone peach, and the
white blackberryThe white blackberry is an unusual white variety of blackberry developed by plant breeder Luther Burbank, also known as the iceberg white blackberry or snowbank berry, probably originating as a pun on the name "Burbank"...
. A natural |genetic variant]] of the Burbank potato with
russetRusset is a dark brown color with a reddish-orange tinge.The first recorded use of russet as a color name in English was in 1562.The source of this color is the ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names --Color dictionary used by stamp collectors to identify the colors of stampsThe name of the color...
-colored skin later became known as the
Russet Burbank potatoThe Russet Burbank potato is a large brown-skinned, white-fleshed cultivar of potato. Luther Burbank developed the Burbank potato in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, U.S., in the early 1870s. In 1875, Burbank sold his farm and the rights to his potato, and moved to Santa Rosa, California...
. This large, brown-skinned, white-fleshed potato has become the world's predominant
potatoThe potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
in
food processingFood processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food or to transform food into other forms for consumption by humans or animals either in the home or by the food processing industry...
.
Life and work
Born in
Lancaster, MassachusettsLancaster is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the United States. Incorporated in 1653, Lancaster is the oldest town in Worcester County...
, Burbank grew up on a farm and received only an elementary school education. The thirteenth of fifteen children, he enjoyed the plants in his mother's large garden. His father died when he was 21 years old, and Burbank used his inheritance to buy a 17-acre (69,000 m²) plot of land near
LunenburgLunenburg is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,086 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Lunenburg, please see the article Lunenburg , Massachusetts....
center. There, he developed the Burbank potato. Burbank sold the rights to the Burbank potato for $150 and used the money to travel to
Santa Rosa, CaliforniaSanta Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
, in 1875. Later, a natural sport of Burbank potato with russetted skin was selected and named
Russet Burbank potatoThe Russet Burbank potato is a large brown-skinned, white-fleshed cultivar of potato. Luther Burbank developed the Burbank potato in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, U.S., in the early 1870s. In 1875, Burbank sold his farm and the rights to his potato, and moved to Santa Rosa, California...
. Today, the Russet Burbank potato is the most widely cultivated potato in the United States. A large percentage of
McDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
french friesFrench fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...
are made from this
cultivarA cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
.
In Santa Rosa, Burbank purchased a 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) plot of land, and established a
greenhouseA greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
,
nurseryA nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to usable size. They include retail nurseries which sell to the general public, wholesale nurseries which sell only to businesses such as other nurseries and to commercial gardeners, and private nurseries which supply the needs of...
, and experimental fields that he used to conduct crossbreeding experiments on plants, inspired by
Charles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's
The Variation of Animals and Plants under DomesticationThe Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication is a book written by Charles Darwin that was first published in January 1868.A large proportion of the book contains detailed information on the domestication of animals and plants but it also contains in Chapter XXVII a description of...
. (This site is now open to the public as a city park,
Luther Burbank Home and GardensLuther Burbank Home and Gardens is a city park containing the former home, greenhouse, gardens, and grave of noted American horticulturist Luther Burbank . It is located at the intersection of Santa Rosa Avenue and Sonoma Avenue in Santa Rosa, California, in the United States. The park is open...
.) Later he purchased an 18 acres (7.3 ha) plot of land in the nearby town of
SebastopolSebastopol is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, approximately north of San Francisco. The population was 7,379 at the 2010 census, but its businesses also serve surrounding rural portions of Sonoma County, totaling about 50,000 people...
called Gold Ridge Farm.
From 1904 through 1909 Burbank received several grants from the Carnegie Institution to support his ongoing research on hybridization. He was supported by the practical-minded Andrew Carnegie himself, over those of his advisers who objected that Burbank was not "scientific" in his methods.
Burbank became known through his plant catalogs, the most famous being 1893's "New Creations in Fruits and Flowers," and through the word of mouth of satisfied customers, as well as press reports that kept him in the news throughout the first decade of the century.
Burbank creations
Burbank created hundreds of new varieties of fruits (plum, pear, prune, peach, blackberry, raspberry); potato, tomato; ornamental flowers and other plants.
Fruits
- 113 plum
A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
s and prunes
- 35 fruiting cacti
A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...
- 16 blackberries
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by any of several species in the Rubus genus of the Rosaceae family. The fruit is not a true berry; botanically it is termed an aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets. The plants typically have biennial canes and perennial roots. Blackberries and...
- 13 raspberries
The raspberry or hindberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves...
- 11 quince
The quince , or Cydonia oblonga, is the sole member of the genus Cydonia and native to warm-temperate southwest Asia in the Caucasus region...
s
- 11 plumcots
- Ten cherries
The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....
- Ten strawberries
Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...
- Ten apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s
- Eight peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
es
- Six chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
s
- Five nectarines
- Four grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s
- Four pear
The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....
s
- Three walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
- Two fig
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
s
- One almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
Grains, grasses, forage
Vegetables
Ornamentals
Burbank 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 UniversityPurdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, writing in the
World Book EncyclopediaThe World Book Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia published in the United States. It is self-described as "the number-one selling print encyclopedia in the world." The encyclopedia is designed to cover major areas of knowledge uniformly, but it shows particular strength in scientific, technical, and...
, 2004 edition, says: "Burbank cannot be considered a scientist in the academic sense."
In 1893, Burbank published a descriptive catalog of some of his best varieties, entitled
New Creations in Fruits and Flowers.
In 1907, Burbank published an “essay on childrearing,” called
The Training of the Human Plant. In it, he advocated improved treatment of children and eugenic practices such as keeping the unfit and first cousins from marrying.
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 (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.
Methodology
Burbank experimented with a variety of techniques such as grafting, hybridization, and cross-breeding.
Intraspecific breeding
Intraspecific hybridization within a plant species was demonstrated by
Charles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and
Gregor MendelGregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance...
, and was further developed by
geneticistA geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...
s and plant breeders.
In 1908,
George Harrison ShullGeorge Harrison Shull was an eminent American plant geneticist. He was born in Clark Co., Ohio, graduated from Antioch College in 1901 and from the University of Chicago in 1904, served as botanical expert to the Bureau of Plant Industry in 1903-04, and thenceforth was a botanical investigator of...
described
heterosisHeterosis, or hybrid vigor, or outbreeding enhancement, is the improved or increased function of any biological quality in a hybrid offspring. The adjective derived from heterosis is heterotic....
, also known as hybrid vigor. Heterosis describes the tendency of the progeny of a specific cross to outperform both parents. The detection of the usefulness of heterosis for plant breeding has led to the development of inbred lines that reveal a heterotic yield advantage when they are crossed.
MaizeMaize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
was the first species where heterosis was widely used to produce hybrids.
By the 1920s,
statisticalStatistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
methods were developed to analyze gene action and distinguish heritable variation from variation caused by environment. In 1933, another important breeding technique,
cytoplasmic male sterilityCytoplasmic male sterility is total or partial male sterility associated with plant biology as the result of specific nuclear and mitochondrial interactions...
(CMS), developed in maize, was described by
Marcus Morton RhoadesMarcus Morton Rhoades was an American cytogeneticist. His research on maize led to important discoveries for basic genetics and the applied science of plant breeding.He was one of the first cytogenecists to document the pre-meiotic pairing of homologous chromosomes in maize, otherwise referred as...
. CMS is a maternally inherited trait that makes the plant produce sterile
pollenPollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
. This enables the production of hybrids without the need for labour intensive
detasselingDetasseling corn is removing the pollen-producing flowers, the tassel, from the tops of corn plants and placing them on the ground. It is a form of pollination control, employed to cross-breed, or hybridize, two varieties of corn....
.
These early breeding techniques resulted in large yield increase in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the early 20th century. Similar yield increases were not produced elsewhere until after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the
Green RevolutionGreen Revolution refers to a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives, occurring between the 1940s and the late 1970s, that increased agriculture production around the world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s....
increased crop production in the developing world in the 1960s.
Classical plant breeding
Classical plant breeding uses deliberate interbreeding (
crossing) of closely or distantly related individuals to produce new crop varieties or lines with desirable properties. Plants are crossbred to introduce traits/
geneA gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
s from one variety or line into a new genetic background. For example, a
mildewMildew refers to certain kinds of molds or fungi.In Old English, it meant honeydew , and later came to mean mildew in the modern sense of mold or fungus....
-resistant
peaA pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
may be crossed with a high-yielding but susceptible pea, the goal of the cross being to introduce mildew resistance without losing the high-yield characteristics. Progeny from the cross would then be crossed with the high-yielding parent to ensure that the progeny were most like the high-yielding parent, (
backcrossingBackcrossing is a crossing of a hybrid with one of its parents or an individual genetically similar to its parent, in order to achieve offspring with a genetic identity which is closer to that of the parent...
). The progeny from that cross would then be tested for yield and mildew resistance and high-yielding resistant plants would be further developed. Plants may also be crossed with themselves to produce
inbred varieties for breeding.
Classical breeding relies largely on
homologous recombinationGenetic recombination is a process by which a molecule of nucleic acid is broken and then joined to a different one. Recombination can occur between similar molecules of DNA, as in homologous recombination, or dissimilar molecules, as in non-homologous end joining. Recombination is a common method...
between chromosomes to generate
genetic diversityGenetic diversity, the level of biodiversity, refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It is distinguished from genetic variability, which describes the tendency of genetic characteristics to vary....
. The classical plant breeder may also makes use of a number of
in vitro techniques such as protoplast fusion, embryo rescue or mutagenesis (see below) to generate diversity and produce hybrid plants that would not exist in
natureNature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
.
Traits that breeders have tried to incorporate into crop plants in the last 100 years include:
- Increased quality and yield
In agriculture, crop yield is not only a measure of the yield of cereal per unit area of land under cultivation, yield is also the seed generation of the plant itself...
of the crop
- Increased tolerance
Physiological tolerance or drug tolerance is commonly encountered in pharmacology, when a subject's reaction to a drug is reduced at a later time even though the dose or concentration at the effect site is the same. This means that larger doses are required to achieve the same effect...
of environmental pressures (salinitySalinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...
, extreme temperatureTemperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
, droughtA drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
)
- Resistance to virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
es, fungiA fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...
and bacteria
- Increased tolerance to insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
pests
- Increased tolerance of herbicide
Herbicides, also commonly known as weedkillers, are pesticides used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant...
s
Mass selection
Burbank
cross-pollinatedPollination is the process by which pollen is transferred in plants, thereby enabling fertilisation and sexual reproduction. Pollen grains transport the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself...
the flowers of plants by hand and planted all the resulting seeds. He then selected the most promising plants to cross with other ones.
Personal life
By all accounts, Burbank was a kindly man who wanted to help other people. He was very interested in education and gave money to the local schools. He married twice: to Helen Coleman in 1890, which ended in divorce in 1896; and to Elizabeth Waters in 1916. He had no children.
His friend and admirer
Paramahansa YoganandaParamahansa Yogananda , born Mukunda Lal Ghosh , was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced many westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography of a...
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." (Yogananda, 1952, p. 416)
In a speech given to the First
Congregational ChurchCongregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
of San Francisco in 1926, Burbank said:
- "I love humanity, which has been a constant delight to me during all my seventy-seven years of life; and I love flowers, trees, animals, and all the works of Nature as they pass before us in time and space. What a joy life is when you have made a close working partnership with Nature, helping her to produce for the benefit of mankind new forms, colors, and perfumes in flowers which were never known before; fruits in form, size, and flavor never before seen on this globe; and grains of enormously increased productiveness, whose fat kernels are filled with more and better nourishment, a veritable storehouse of perfect food—new food for all the world's untold millions for all time to come."
Death
In mid-March 1926, Burbank suffered a heart attack and became ill with
gastrointestinalThe human gastrointestinal tract refers to the stomach and intestine, and sometimes to all the structures from the mouth to the anus. ....
complications. He died on April 11, 1926, aged 77, and is buried near the greenhouse at the
Luther Burbank Home and GardensLuther Burbank Home and Gardens is a city park containing the former home, greenhouse, gardens, and grave of noted American horticulturist Luther Burbank . It is located at the intersection of Santa Rosa Avenue and Sonoma Avenue in Santa Rosa, California, in the United States. The park is open...
.
His last words were: "I don't feel good."
Legacy
Burbank's work spurred the passing of the 1930
Plant Patent ActThe Plant Patent Act of 1930 is a United States federal law spurred by the work of Luther Burbank....
four years after his death. The legislation made it possible to patent new varieties of plants (excluding
tuberTubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction...
-propagated plants). In supporting the legislation,
Thomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
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 FameThe National Inventors Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recognizing, honoring and encouraging invention and creativity through the administration of its programs. The Hall of Fame honors the men and women responsible for the great technological advances that make human,...
. The
Luther Burbank Home and GardensLuther Burbank Home and Gardens is a city park containing the former home, greenhouse, gardens, and grave of noted American horticulturist Luther Burbank . It is located at the intersection of Santa Rosa Avenue and Sonoma Avenue in Santa Rosa, California, in the United States. The park is open...
, in downtown Santa Rosa, are now designated as a
National Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
.
Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment FarmLuther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment Farm is the official name of the that remain of the farm originally purchased in 1885 by famed plant breeder, Luther Burbank , in an area of Sebastopol, California, formerly known as the "Gold Ridge District". To these , Burbank added in 1904 and in 1906...
is listed in the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
a few miles west of Santa Rosa in the town of
Sebastopol, CaliforniaSebastopol is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, approximately north of San Francisco. The population was 7,379 at the 2010 census, but its businesses also serve surrounding rural portions of Sonoma County, totaling about 50,000 people...
.
The home that Luther Burbank was born in, as well as his California garden office, were moved by
Henry FordHenry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
to
Dearborn, Michigan-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
, and are part of Greenfield Village.
The following are named after the horticulturist:
- Luther Burbank Elementary School at 2035 N. Mobile in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois
- Luther Burbank Elementary School in Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
.
- Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
.
- Luther Burbank High School in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
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- Luther Burbank Middle School in Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
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- Luther Burbank Elementary School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
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- Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
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- The Luther Burbank School District
The Luther Burbank School District is located in San Jose, California, USA.-Elementary schools:*Luther Burbank Elementary School serves 440 students in kindergarten through grade eight, as well as 70 preschoolers. As of the 2003/2004 school year, 85 percent of the student body was Hispanic, 5...
in San Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
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- Santa Rosa's
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
Luther Burbank Rose Parade and Festival.
- Luther Burbank Elementary School in Burbank, Illinois
Burbank is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,902 at the 2000 census. It is located at the southwest edge of the city of Chicago; the Chicago city limit – specifically that of the Ashburn neighborhood – is in common with Burbank's eastern city limit...
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- Luther Burbank Elementary School in Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
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- Luther Burbank Savings Bank, with headquarters in Santa Rosa, California.
- Santa Rosa used to have a performing arts center named after Burbank
Wells Fargo Center for the Arts is a performance venue located just north of Santa Rosa, California, by U.S...
, but Wells Fargo bought naming rights for $3.2 million in 2006 and renamed it.
- "Burbank" is a house in Stern, a student residential center at Stanford University in Stanford, California.
- The Lancaster Middle School in Lancaster, Massachusetts
Lancaster is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the United States. Incorporated in 1653, Lancaster is the oldest town in Worcester County...
, was renamed to Luther Burbank Middle SchoolThe Luther Burbank Middle School is a middle school located in Lancaster, Massachusettslos angeles, california. It is named after Luther Burbank, a botanist who was born and lived in Lancaster.The school is a part of the Nashoba Regional School District...
in 2003.
- A middle school in Highland Park, Los Angeles, California
Highland Park is a neighborhood in Northeast Los Angeles.-Geography:Highland Park is located along the Arroyo Seco. It is situated within what was once Rancho San Rafael of the Spanish / Mexican era...
, named Burbank Middle School was also named after Burbank.
- Luther Burbank Elementary School in Altadena, California
Altadena is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately from the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center, and directly north of the city of Pasadena, California...
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- In 1931 the Boys Parental School located on Mercer Island, Washington
Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States and the name of the island in Lake Washington on which the city sits. The population was 22,699 at the 2010 census....
, 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 CountyKing County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....
and converted into Luther Burbank Park.
- Burbank Elementary School in Roxana, Illinois
Roxana is a village in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,547 at the 2000 census. A majority of the land in Roxana is taken up by the Wood River Conoco-Phillips oil refinery; the refinery was built and originally owned by Shell Oil...
, was named after Burbank. It was built in 1936, with an addition in 1966. Due to declining enrollment, the school was closed in 1983 and sold to a local chiropractor. It was transferred to the village and demolished in December 2008.
- Luther Burbank Elementary School in Long Beach, California. Built and put into use before 1945 and still in operation in 2010.
- Luther Burbank Elementary School in Logan Heights, San Diego, California
Logan Heights is a neighborhood in central San Diego, California. It is bordered by Interstate 5 on the south and west, Interstate 15 on the east, and Imperial Avenue on the north.-History:...
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- The town of Burbank, Washington
Burbank is a census-designated place in Walla Walla County, Washington, United States, where the Snake River meets the Columbia. The population was 3,291 at the 2010 census. Named for Luther Burbank, the city is located just east of Pasco and Kennewick, across the Snake and Columbia Rivers,...
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Plant species named after Luther Burbank
- Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums, often called mums or chrysanths, are of the genus constituting approximately 30 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae which is native to Asia and northeastern Europe.-Etymology:...
burbankii Makinothumb|200px|Tomitaro Makino was a pioneer Japanese botanist noted for his taxonomic work. He has been called "Father of Japanese Botany", as he was one of the first Japanese botanists to work extensively on classifying Japanese plants using the system developed by Linnaeus...
(AsteraceaeThe Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...
)
- Myrica
Myrica is a genus of about 35–50 species of small trees and shrubs in the family Myricaceae, order Fagales. The genus has a wide distribution, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America, and missing only from Australasia...
× burbankii A.Chev. (MyricaceaeThe Myricaceae is a small family of dicotyledonous shrubs and small trees in the order Fagales. There are three genera in the family, although some botanists separate many species from Myrica into a fourth genus Morella...
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- Solanum
Solanum, the nightshades, horsenettles and relatives, is a large and diverse genus of annual and perennial plants. They grow as forbs, vines, subshrubs, shrubs, and small trees, and often have attractive fruit and flowers. Many formerly independent genera like Lycopersicon or Cyphomandra are...
burbankii Bitter (SolanaceaeSolanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...
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Further reading
- Burbank, Luther. “The Training of the Human Plant.” Century Magazine, May 1907. http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?sid=ee2702066663ae4e729bbb6c9e6f63d9&idno=4765397
- Burbank, Luther. The Canna and the Calla: and some interesting work with striking results. Paperback ISBN 978-1414702001
- Burbank, Luther with Wilbur Hall, Harvest of the Years. This is Luther Burbank's autobiography published posthumously after his death in 1926.
- Burbank, Luther. 1939.An Architect of Nature. Same details as ref. above, publisher: Watts & Co. (London) 'The Thinker's Library, No.76'
- Burt, Olive W. Luther Burbank, Boy Wizard. Biography published by Bobbs-Merrill in 1948 aimed at intermediate level students.
- Dreyer, Peter, A Gardener Touched With Genius The Life of Luther Burbank, # L. Burbank Home & Gardens; New & expanded edition (January 1993), ISBN 0-9637883-0-2
- Kraft, K. Luther Burbank, the Wizard and the Man. New York : Meredith Press, 1967 ASIN: B0006BQE6C
- Pandora, Katherine. "Luther Burbank". American National Biography. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
- Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles : Self-Realization Fellowship, 1946 ISBN 0-87612-083-4
External links
- A complete bibliography of books by and about Luther Burbank on WorldCat.
- Luther Burbank Home and Gardens official website
- National Inventors Hall of Fame profile
- UN report on spineless cactus cultivation in Tunisia
- Luther Burbank Virtual Museum
- Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda, Chapter 38: Luther Burbank – A Saint Amidst the Roses
- The Wisdom of Life
- A Rare Crossing: Frida Kahlo and Luther Burbank
- Luther Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries and Their Practical Application, a 12-volume monographic series, is available online through the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center
The University of Wisconsin System is a university system of public universities in the state of Wisconsin. It is one of the largest public higher education systems in the country, enrolling more than 182,000 students each year and employing more than 32,000 faculty and staff statewide...
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- Official website of the Western Sonoma County Historical Society and Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment Farm
- Burbank Steps Forward with a Super-Wheat, Popular Science
Popular Science is an American monthly magazine founded in 1872 carrying articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. Popular Science has won over 58 awards, including the ASME awards for its journalistic excellence in both 2003 and 2004...
monthly, January 1919, page 22; scanned by Google Books