Famous Scientists 



567 



breeding of plants. He not only greatly improved existing 

 varieties, but succeeded in developing many new plants which 

 proved of great economic importance. While he was called 

 a "wizard" of the plant world, there was little mystery in his 

 methods of work for he secured his results by the use of estab- 

 lished scientific laws and by 

 following closely nature's own 

 methods. 



While Luther Burbank 

 markedly improved the quality 

 of many well-known vege- 

 tables and fruits, including the 

 development of corn that 

 grows to a height of 18 feet, 

 he also is responsible for the 

 Iceberg, an improved white 

 blackberry, for the plumcot, a 

 new fruit obtained by crossing 

 the apricot and the plum, for 

 the giant Shasta daisy and for 

 other new food and orna- 

 mental plants. While devot- 

 ing himself largely to certain 

 fields of growing things, he 

 was an intense lover and 

 student of nature in all its 

 phases. He died in 1926. 



Ediscm. Thomas Alva 

 Edison, the well-known in- 

 ventor, was born at Milan, Ohio, February llth, 1847. His 

 mother taught him to read but beyond that he had practically no 

 early education. While still quite young he went to work as a 

 newsboy on the Grand Trunk Railway. During this period he 

 studied in his spare moments, experimenting with chemicals and 

 also learning printing. He edited and printed a small newspaper, 

 being permitted to run his press in one corner of the baggage car. 

 This newspaper he sold on the train. 



Brown Brothers. 



LUTHER BURBANK 



He developed wonderful new plants. 



