THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



JANUARY, 1905. 



SOME EXPERIMENTS OF LUTHER BURBANK. 



By President DAVID STARR JORDAN, 



LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY. 



"A /TR. LUTHER BURBANK, of Santa Rosa, California, is doubt- 

 -^-'-L less the most skilful experimenter in the field of the formation 

 of new forms of plant life by the process of crossing and selection. He 

 is the creator of many of our most useful plant forms: roots, nuts, 

 fruits, grains and grasses, as well as of many of our most beautiful 

 flowers. His methods are the practical application of the theories of 

 Darwin and his followers, and to a degree wholly exceptional among 

 plant breeders, Mr. Burbank has kept in touch with most modern work 

 in the field of bionomics, and very much of his time and energy is 

 devoted to experiments of scientific interest not likely of themselves to 

 yield immediate practical results. In the nature of things, the de- 

 mands of his work, and the necessity for the sale of new forms produced 

 by him, have prevented the keeping of detailed records of his work, 

 although steps have been taken toward the provision of explicit records 

 in the future. For the rest, Mr. Burbank's success in practical achieve- 

 ment gives weight to his views on theoretical questions. 



The present writer has recently at different times spent three days 

 in Mr. Burbank's company at his gardens at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, 

 keeping note of things seen and of Mr. Burbank's views concerning 

 tbem. In this paper, selections are made from these notes, the forms 

 of plants referred to having been examined by the writer and the report 

 of explanations having been verified by Mr. Burbank. All quotation 

 marks refer to conversations with Mr. Burbank, the statement of which 

 Mr. Burbank has verified or corrected. The accompanying illustra- 

 tions are all from photographs by Mr. Burbank. 



VOL. LXVI. — 14. 



