IV 



THE PRODUCTION OF HORTICULTURAL 

 NOVELTIES BY LUTHER BURBANK 



A. METHODS AND MATERIAL 



The commercial catalogues of the horticulturists contain, 

 yearly, a certain number of novelties. Some of these are 

 introduced from foreign countries, others are due to acciden- 

 tal sports, but many are the results of artificial improvements. 

 They are produced either by nurserymen or by private per- 

 sons who charge the seedsmen with their sale. As a rule, 

 this production of novelties is a subordinate matter. It is 

 very rare to find a man who devotes his wdiole life and all 

 his energies to the introduction and production of new, 

 beautiful or useful, horticukural plants. 



Such a man is Luther Burbank of Santa Rosa in Cahfor- 

 nia. He is a nurseryman, but has no nursery in the ordinary 

 sense of the word. He is a tradesman, but sells nothing 

 besides his novelties, and these only to other dealers who will 

 multiply them and offer them to the general pubUc. His 

 aim is not the accumulation of wealth, but to contribute to 

 the welfare of other men by giving them better food, better 

 fruits, and more beautiful flowers. He is especially interested 

 in the production of cheap ornamental plants for private 

 gardens, in order to cUsperse their enjoyment as widely as 

 possible. He is not engaged in pure scientific research, but 

 of late he has consented to have his methods and cultures 

 pubHshed, that they may become a guide for other men in 

 their work along the same line. The Carnegie Institution 

 of Washington has accorded him an annual grant of $10,000 

 for ten years, thus enabhng him to extend his cultures on as 

 large a scale as is possible for the work of one man. jMore- 



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