Luther Burbank. (Credit: Santa Rosa History)
Once in a great while society is blessed with an individual whose genius causes an indelible mark to be left on life as we know it. Many of the innovations that are so much a part of our lives can be associated with people whose brilliant minds and tireless efforts helped to make possible things we take for granted today. For example, what would the automobile be without the efforts of Henry Ford or the light bulb without the genius of Thomas Edison? Luther Burbank, a contemporary of Ford and Edison, was a man of great intellect and tremendous work ethic who helped to transform the horticultural world through the development of new plants. Having introduced over 800 new varieties in his 55-year career, Burbank is responsible for many of the plants we enjoy in our lives today.
Burbank as a young man. (Credit: Wikipedia)
Luther A. Burbank was born in 1849 in Lancaster, Massachusetts and grew up in the age of Gregor Mendel and Charles Darwin. Burbank was the second youngest in a family with 15 children and was schooled at Lancaster Academy where he received the equivalent of a high school education. An avid reader, he developed his love for plants in his mother's large garden. At the age of 21 Burbank inherited a modest sum of money from his father's estate and used it to buy 17 acres of land near Lunenburg, Massachusetts. It was on this plot of land that he first practiced what now is often referred to the "art and science" of plant improvement.
Burbank's success as a plant breeder was remarkable given the fact he began his work before the research of Mendel on the nature of inheritance was rediscovered by the scientific community. Instead, Burbank was influenced greatly by Darwin. It was Burbank's discovery of Darwin's 1868 publication The Variation of Plants and Animals Under Domestication that was in large part responsible for his interest in developing new plants.
He began his work in 1870 and soon happened upon a seed pod in his planting of potatoes. Potatoes are highly sterile, and the discovery of a seed pod is a rare event. Burbank planted the 23 seeds the pod contained but only two germinated. One of them produced tubers of outstanding quality and Burbank introduced it in 1873 as the 'Burbank Seedling' potato. This variety mutated to produce an unusual tuber with white flesh and russetted (netted) skin. From this chance mutation, 'Russet Burbank' potato was developed. Over 125 years after its introduction, 'Russet Burbank' still is the mainstay of the Idaho potato industry and connected (in lineage) to nearly every baked potato and French fry eaten today.
The famous 'Russet Burbank' potato. (Credit: Wikipedia)
Looking for a more favorable climate than Massachusetts to pursue his work, Burbank sold the rights to his new potato for $150 and used the money to move to Santa Rosa, California where he purchased a small plot of land. It was there as well as in nearby Sebastopol, California that he did the bulk of his plant improvement and achieved worldwide fame as a "plant wizard." Burbank was a man of boundless energy and uncanny insight. Driven by the desire to improve plants and help feed the world, his experimental plots were virtual "plant factories" with as many as 3000 different experiments being carried on at one time.
Burbank was a supporter of the theory of genetic variation which maintains that differences in heritable material leads to differences in the characteristics and appearance of living organisms. He focused his work on hybridization and grafting as he attempted to merge the desirable qualities of several plants into one. He was a tireless worker who would not accept defeat easily as evidenced by the fact he made and evaluated 65,000 crosses en route to developing a white blackberry. During his prodigious career, he developed an astonishing 238 new varieties of fruit species, 26 new vegetables and 91 new ornamental plants. The most notable of the latter probably is the Shasta daisy which took Burbank 17 years to develop.
Shasta daisy is one of Burbank's ornamental creations. (Credit: Missouri Botanical Gardens)
Burbank took great delight in developing horticultural novelties. For example, he introduced thirty-five varieties of spineless cacti for improved fruit (a.k.a., pear) production and better forage for livestock. Additionally, Burbank is responsible for the plumcot, an entirely new stone fruit that resulted from crossing a plum with an apricot as well as the white blackberry, a flavorful berry lacking pigment so as not to stain hands and clothing.
Luther Burbank was an icon of his generation and was said to be the most widely photographed man of his era. Many notable individuals of the day (e.g., Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone) posed to have their pictures taken with this unique individual with tousled hair and dirt on his hands. In all cases, they came to him. Burbank relied on the press to help promote his new creations but shunned them at the same time to retain his privacy. He once was quoted as saying "I think I am about 200 percent overrated."
(left to right) Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and Luther Burbank posing for a picture at Burbank's Santa Rosa home. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Burbank's legacy lives on today in the many plants he created as well as the in the Plant Protection Act that was passed by Congress in 1930, four years after his death. This legislation provided for patent rights on new plant varieties and made it more financially appealing to others to carry on the work of men such as Burbank. In the congressional hearings that led to the passage of the act, Thomas Edison testified "This [bill] will, I feel sure, give us many Burbanks." In deference to this creative genius, 16 plant patents were granted to him posthumously. However, there likely will never be another Luther Burbank.
On April 11, 1926, at the age of 77, Burbank succumbed to heart failure at his home in Santa Rosa, California. The famous horticulturist and real man of genius was buried in an unmarked grave, under a giant Cedar of Lebanon at the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens. Burbank's home has been named as a Registered National, State, City and Horticultural Historic Landmark and still can be visited today, along with a museum highlighting his career.
Luther Burbank's Home & Gardens have been designated as a National Historical Landmark. (Credit: Wikipedia)
Perhaps the most important factors of Burbank's success was his inherent personal genius, his innate connection with nature, and his ability to recognize outcomes of plant growth which seem to have been invisible to others. A humanitarian who devoted his life to help improve the lives of others, Burbank once said, "The greatest happiness in the world is to make others happy."
We will never know what might have happened had Burbank not found that potato seed pod in 1871, or if the genetic variability that is part of nature had not resulted in the gene combination that produced his famous 'Russet Burbank' potato. But we do know that, because of Luther Burbank and others who followed in his footsteps, there (seemingly) is no end to the variety of horticultural plants available to us today.