144 
GOI chronology of the Burbank creations 
* and ameliorations has never been pub- 
lished. In presenting this, the reader 
should be informed that these survivors 
of their producer’s rigid exactions have 
received during their history two and 
sometimes three names. At first they 
were merely numbered, separated from their companions 
by an epithet, or nicknamed for field reference. Then, 
when proven, they were given in the bulletins less domestic 
and unscientific designation; as at christening in the Ro- 
man Catholic communion a saint’s name is given to the 
child. Finally, when turned over to the nurseryman for 
distribution, he gives them in his catalogue more high 
sounding and generally more assuring titles, for which the 
originator is mistakenly held responsible by the public. For 
instance, that latest-appearing culture—now in controversy 
—the cross of the African 
stubble-berry (Solanum — gut- 
neuse) with the Pacific coast 
(S. villosum) was called the 
“Sunberry” when it was gradu- 
ated the experiment 
grounds. It came 
to the public as the ‘‘Wonder- 
beriya. 
The registry begins in 1873, 
when Mr. Burbank, then 24, 
answered the demand for a po- 
tato which should yield 200 
bushels to the acre, with the 
famous seedling from the 
“Early Rose’’ (itself from seed 
of a garnet Chile plant) which 
at -once gave a yield of 4355 
bushels, and has since produced 
525 bushels. With its pro- 
ceeds, $125, Mr. Burbank ar- 
rived in Santa Rosa, Califor- 
nia, in October, 1875. Five 
years of severe ordeal, poverty, 
starvation, discouragement 
well-nigh fatal awaited him. 
At last he was able to buy four 
acres of the soil for which he 
had crossed the continent. His 
own words are: 
“In 1880 I began paying 
especial attention to the Rubus 
family. I had in my collection of blackberries and rasp- 
berries nearly all the popular varieties. In 1883 I began 
crossing. In 1884 I had about 60 hybrids, the first ever 
produced. The next season more extensive trials were 
made with many new subjects.” (He now possessed 10 
acres, home land.) ‘‘From hybrid seeds of the third gen- 
from 
advertised 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
Luther Burbank’s 
Wonderful Work in 
Horticulture 
By Charles J. Woodbury 
Luther Burbank 
Branch of sunberry plant 
eration, I obtained black, red and yellow raspberries, white, 
black, red and pink blackberries, in every possible combina- 
tion of sizes, colors, qualities and flavors. Many were 
totally barren, some with long trailing vines, some 
stiff and upright as a currant bush; some thorny, others as 
free from thorns as currants; still others producing leaves, 
flowers and fruit perpetually. Then there were others 
growing into canes 3 to 4 inches in circumference, others 
20 feet long on the ground or straight 10 feet high. But 
from all these were presented more radical improvements 
in blackberries and raspberries than had been obtained for 
eignteen centuries.” 
The list of the main species incorporated to establish 
these hybrids is too long to print. The photographs of the 
leaves of different individuals show remarkable variations 
and eccentricity, a few offering but a single leaf, or leaves, 
as reticulate as ferns; many profuse and palmate. The 
results in their entirety made 
the scientific botanists’ barriers 
between species and varieties, 
to use the audacious horticul- 
turists’ word, “wobble.” 
witnessed the 
1884 an- 
nouncement of the “Japanese 
Golden Mayberry” and the 
“Primus.” ©The distinction of 
the former was that it led far 
in advance the berry season, the 
earliest raspberry known, ripe 
while yet the standards were 
well-nigh dormant. It was a 
blend of the Cuthbert with a 
diminutive variety of Rubus 
palmatus, characterized by Mr. 
Burbank as “‘one of the most 
worthless, tasteless, dingy, yel- 
low berries I have ever seen.” 
The new fruit is large, sweet, 
glossy, semi-translucent, grow- 
ing on bushes resembling trees, 
six to eight feet high) ihe 
Primus is now grown exten- 
sively in semi-tropical climates, 
thriving especially in the Philip- 
pines. It ripens a month be- 
fore either of its parents, the 
wild dewberry (Rubus ursinus ) 
and the Siberian (X Rubus 
_cratoegifolius). It produces a 
large and perfectly black fruit in abundance, a distinct new. 
race of the garden berry. The seedlings of this pioneer 
have taken their places as standards in various localities. 
In 1886 the experiments had become more extensive. 
He was crossing the Satsuma and other Japanese plums 
with the Eastern, European and California, Nevada and 
