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THE GUIDE TO N VTURE 



BIRTHPLACE OF LUTHER BURBANK, LANCASTER, MASSACHUSETTS. MARCH 



1849. 



I .uther Burbank, while primarily an 

 artist, is, in his general attitude, essen- 

 tially a man of science. Academic he 

 doubtless is not, but the qualities we call 

 scientific are not necessarily bred in the 

 academy. Science is human experience 

 tested and set in order. Within the 

 range of his profession of moulding 

 plant life. Air. Burbank has read care- 

 fully, and thought carefully, maturing 

 his own generalizations and resting them 

 on the basis of his own knowledge. 

 Within the range of his own experience 

 he is an original and logical thinker, and 

 his conclusions are in general most sound. 



Burbank has worked for years alone, 

 not understood and not appreciated, at a 

 constant financial loss, and for this rea- 

 son — that his instincts and purposes are 

 essentially those of a scientific man, not 

 of a nurseryman or even of a horticul- 

 turist. To have tried fewer experi- 

 ments and all of a kind likely to prove 

 economically valuable, and finally to 

 have exploited these as a nurseryman, 

 would have brought him more money. 

 In his own way, Burbank belongs in the 

 class of Faraday and the long array of 

 self-taught great men who lived while 

 the universities were spending their 

 strength on fine points of grammar and 

 hazy conceptions of philosophy. His 



work is already an inspiration to botan- 

 ists as well as horticulturists, opening a 

 new line of search in heredity, as well 

 as a new field for economic advance. 

 Already his methods are yielding rich 

 results in the hands of others. We shall 

 by such means find much more than we 

 now know of the evolution of organisms, 

 while the improvement of organisms for 

 the use and pleasure of man is yet in 

 its infancy. 



Scientific men belong to many classes ; 

 some observe, some compare, some think, 

 and some carry knowledge into action. 

 There is need for all kinds and a place 

 for all. With a broader opportunity. 

 Burbank could have done a greater 

 variety of things and touched life at 

 more points ; but, at the same time, he 

 would have lost something of his simple 

 intensity and fine delicacy of touch — 

 things which schools do not always give 

 and which too much contact with men 

 sometimes takes away. 



Great men are usually men of simple, 

 direct sincerity of character. These 

 marks are found in Burbank. As sweet, 

 straight-forward, and as unspoiled as a 

 child, always interested in the phenomena 

 of Nature, and never seeking fame or 

 monev or anything else for himself. If 

 his place is outside the temple of science. 



