'8? BURBANK'S WORK 215 



new and valuable forms of plant life of this or 

 any other age." In an address before the House 

 of Representatives at Washington, the Hon. 

 Everis A. Hayes said: "Ninety-five per cent of 

 the plums shipped out of California, for example, 

 are of the varieties originated by Mr. Burbank. 

 Practically all of the potatoes raised and mar- 

 keted in our state are Burbank seedlings, unques- 

 tionably the best potatoes ever produced in the 

 world." 



It is of particular interest to note that of the 

 three most prominent American contributions 

 to commercial plant life — potatoes, com, and 

 tobacco — two have been perfected through the 

 labors of this gardener. In tobacco he is not 

 interested, smokers will be sorry to hear; but 

 one of his floral curiosities is a hybrid of the 

 tobacco and petunia plants, "a very curious 

 plant which combined the characteristics of 

 both parents. Burbank named it the Nico- 

 tunia. It was facetiously described as a petunia 

 that had acquired the tobacco habit." 



Com is entirely a product of human horti- 

 cultural sagacity. Burbank did not create it; 

 he did not even originate the sweetest and now 

 most popular of all varieties of table com, the 

 Golden Bantam; but he has greatly enlarged it 

 and made it far more profitable to grow and can 

 than the original by increasing the number of 

 rows on each cob from eight rows to twelve and 

 more. Do you realize what that means? It has 



