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Show LUTHER BURBANK'S WORK. The current Popular Science has an interesting article on the work that Luther Burbank is doing in California, in the creation and improving of fruit and flowers. He is a wizard in his profession. He marries a mulberry to a raspberry and the progeny is a fruit that is superior to either parent. He takes a prune and manipulates it with the result that the new species is vastly superior to the old and is pitless. He takes the lilies that grow about the base of old Shasta, crosses them with other lilies and lo the result is a new order of lily compared com-pared with which Soloman in all his glory would look as though he had nothing on but his pajamas. He takes the California apple, and while not especially improving its flavor, gives it a solidity which makes possible the packing of the fruit and the sending of it to Europe. The miracles he performes are endless. All up and down the coast grows a wild beach plum. It is worthless in itself, but it grows on the most sterile points and cares no more for water than did Major Nounon in the old days. But on this he is grafting a valuable plum believing that his work will eventuate in producing a new plum that will grow in barren soil, and produce real fruit. He is breeding the thorns and prickly surfaces from the desert cactus (dehorning it, so to speak) and looks forward to a time when the cattle on the desert will exult in luxuriant food. His hobby is heredity, his thought being that there are germs of good in the most worthless of plants, but that by a proper blending the vagrant features can be bred out and some- thing beautiful or useful be produced. This is a thought which mortals should consider with all thoughtfulness. But note his way of working. He is struggling for a result. To accomplish it he gathers all the plants of the same species, no matter how remote, and grafts them. Often he has 50,000 of these. He notices the result. Out of the 50,000 he selects five or six that come nearest to the realization of his ideas, and all the rest are torn up and burned. Then he proc " : with his experiments on the few selected, and of these saves perhaps one or two, and the others are burned. In his garden he has 300,000 varieties of plums or prunes. He has produced pro-duced one called the Fleming prune. It is as big and round as a big peach. He has produced a wonderful flower that when it first blooms is a glorious red, but which gradually fades until it is snow white. His thought is to give to the world better fruit and to fill the gardens of the land with new and uncomparably beautiful flowers. His whole life is absorbed in the delightful work. He works incessantly, and when a new bloom or a new fruit materializes he knows how Watt felt when he heard the first respiration of the first steam engine; how Edison felt when the first still small voice' came to him through the telephone; how Columbus felt on that black night when, from the masthead of the little Pinto there rang down the cry: "A light, a light!" His life ought to be a great example to men. An intense desire for good and steady work can fill a life with happiness when the world outside turns only harsh corners to a struggling soul. There are new fruits to be created in all the world's fields, new flowers can be made to bloom everywhere that an earnest soul works. Of course Luther Burbank likes approval, but without it he i is not left desolate; the joy in his work is complete I and keeps his face always lighted with smiles. I |
