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{{short description|American botanist and horticulturist (1849–1926)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=
{{Infobox scientist
| image = Luther Burbank cph.3a00184.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date|1849|03|07}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1926|04|11|1849|03|07}}
| death_place =
| field = Botany
| author_abbrev_bot = '''Burbank'''
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| signature = Signature of Luther Burbank.png
}}
[[File:Burbank birthplace.jpg|thumb|Burbank birthplace in
'''Luther Burbank''' (March 7, 1849 – April 11, 1926)<ref>[http://invent.org/inductee-detail/?IID=21 Luther Burbank. Peach and Other Fruit. US Patent No. PP15. Inducted in 1986], National Inventors Hall of Fame</ref> was an American [[botany|botanist]], [[horticulturist]], and pioneer in [[agricultural science]].
He developed more than 800 [[Strain (biology)|strains]] and [[Variety (biology)|varieties]] of
Burbank's most successful strains and varieties included the [[Leucanthemum × superbum|Shasta daisy]], the fire poppy (note possible confusion with the California wildflower, ''[[Papaver californicum]]'', which is also called a fire poppy), the "July Elberta" [[peach]], the "Santa Rosa"
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Burbank's first job was with the Ames Plow Company in Worcester (1864-1867). He attended the Lancaster Academy for a year, during which he read Charles Darwin's ''On The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication'' (1868), a book that had a profound influence on his career. Burbank learned from Darwin the methods of artificial selection that breeders use to develop desirable characteristics in domestic plants and animals. On his family's farm in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, he developed the Burbank potato, an immensely popular and economically important variety, the antecedent of the Idaho potato.
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==Life and work==
Born in [[Lancaster, Massachusetts]], Burbank grew up on a farm and received only a high school education in Lancaster County Academy. The thirteenth of fifteen children,<ref>Luther's father, Samuel Walton, had nine children with wife Hannah Ball, two children with wife Mary Ann Rugg and four children with wife Olive Ross. In addition the first birth with Olive did not survive a day, so is not counted among the fifteen.</ref> he enjoyed the plants in his mother's large garden. His father died when he was 18 years old,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Society/luther-burbank.html|title=Luther Burbank, Biography|access-date=December 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330172312/http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Society/luther-burbank.html|archive-date=March 30, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Burbank used his inheritance to buy a 17-acre (69,000 m
[[File:Picture of Luther Burbank.jpg|thumb|Photograph by [[Gabriel Moulin]]]]
In Santa Rosa, Burbank purchased a {{convert|4|acre|
Burbank became known through his plant catalogs, the most famous being 1893's "New Creations in Fruits and Flowers," and through the word of mouth of satisfied customers, as well as press reports that kept him in the news throughout the first decade of the century.
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Among those with the foresight to recognize the possibilities of Burbank's work was Clarence McDowell Stark, who went to California and sought Burbank out. After talking to him in Santa Rosa and seeing the results of his experiments, Clarence was convinced that Burbank was right, and his professorial critics were wrong. To Clarence's great dismay, he saw that Luther Burbank was operating a small seed and nursery business in an attempt to finance his experiments and provide himself a living. It was clear that he would never be able to realize his potential under these meager circumstances.
Clarence said to Burbank: "I don't think you will ever make a real success in the nursery business because your heart is not in it. But if you will carry forward the type of hybridizing you are doing, I think you will go very far in your chosen field. To demonstrate our sincere belief in your work, our company will give you $9,000 if you will let me pick three of these new fruits you have shown me.
Burbank often credited the Stark family with making his work profitable. In return, he later joined with Thomas Edison to support Paul Stark Sr. in his fight to get patent legislation passed for plant breeders.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Janick|first=Jules|date=February 2015|title=Luther Burbank: Plant Breeding Artist, Horticulturist, and Legend|url=https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pdfs/burbank-ashs-2015.pdf|journal=HortScience|access-date=May 18, 2016}}</ref> Along with Clarence's $9,000 worth of help, Luther also had something of a fan club
From 1904 through 1909, Burbank received several grants from the Carnegie Institution to support his ongoing research on hybridization. He was supported by the practical-minded Andrew Carnegie himself, over those of his advisers who objected that Burbank was not "scientific" in his methods.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468300282.html|title=Luther Burbank|encyclopedia=encyclopedia.com}}</ref>
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"If anything happens to me, you will have to dispose of the business and the work, because you can't go on with it. There aren't a dozen organizations in the world that are equipped to go forward with it; of them all, there is really only one I think of that could make the most of it."
He named Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co. to carry on the work. Considerable argument has been spent upon whether the plants were technically willed to Stark Bro's; they were not. He left everything to Elizabeth: money, personal property, real estate, dozens of municipal utility bonds — and the plants and precious seeds.<ref name=":0" /> Elizabeth had first approached both Stanford and Berkeley to have either or both universities take over the experimental farm, but sold to Stark when those proffers didn't materialize. Mrs. Burbank entered into an agreement with Stark Bro's on August 23, 1927, to take the material they wanted from Burbank's properties. The contract included ownership of the business name and all of the customer information. A September 6, 1927, contract provided exclusive rights to sell uncompleted experiments with fruits at Sebastopol (except the Royal and Paradox) for 10 years. Stark Bro's had right of renewal. Tax receipts indicate payments of $27,000 to Mrs. Burbank.<ref name=":0" /> Exciting new kinds of fruits and flowers Burbank had developed (but never marketed) included 120 types of plums, 18 peaches, 28 apples, 500 hybrid roses, 30 cherries, 34 pears, 52 gladioli and many more. Stark Bro's subsequently introduced many of these varieties of their catalog.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:1986-Clay-accepting-NIHF-award.jpg|thumb|Clay Stark Logan (l) accepting induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame on behalf of Luther Burbank (1986).]]
Until 1931, the Experiment Farm fell into some disrepair, so Stark Bro's sent emissaries to retrieve the most promising fruit, nut and ornamental shrubs, and in 1931 sold the flowers, vegetables and seeds to Burpee Seed Co. J. B. Keil came from Stark Bro's to coordinate the efforts and worked there from 1931 to 1934. Over the following years, Elizabeth worked with the Stark brothers to patent 16 Burbank fruits and flowers. The patents name Luther Burbank, deceased, as "inventor" by Elizabeth Waters Burbank, executrix of his estate. In 1935, Stark ended the agreement with Mrs. Burbank (or vice versa).
Mrs. Burbank then dispersed the majority of the gardens for subdivision. She sold the remaining property (excluding the house and greenhouse) to the Santa Rosa Junior College for use as a training ground. This lasted until 1954 (J. B. Keil stayed on as the caretaker). Twenty years later, the City took over ownership of the property (which it retains today as a free public showplace). The gardens include a thornless rose, spineless cactus, rainbow corn, a hybrid mulberry tree (which Luther hoped would spark an American silk industry) and his
===Burbank cultivars===
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*10 [[cherry|cherries]]
*10 [[strawberry|strawberries]]
*10
*8 [[peach]]es
*6 [[chestnut]]s
*5 [[nectarine]]s
*4
*4
*3 [[walnut]]s
*2 [[ficus|fig]]s
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*91 types{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}
On paper his method seems simple, but in practice it was extremely difficult. Most of the time, he would grow 10,000 or more plants of one variety, from which he selected as many as 50 seedlings or as few as one. From the selected plant or plants, he grew another 10,000 seedlings, continuing selective process until he produced the results he wanted.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Whitman|first=John|title=The Psychic Power of Plants |date=December 3, 1974
===Publications===
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In 1893, Burbank published a descriptive catalog of some of his best varieties, entitled ''New Creations in Fruits and Flowers''.
In 1907, Burbank published an "essay on childrearing", called ''The Training of the Human Plant''. In it, he advocated improved treatment of children, cultural homogenization and replacement in education, and management of reproduction and development in both a [[Eugenics|eugenic]] and [[Euthenics|euthenic]] manner, though he does not directly reference either. His support for eugenic methods is couched in his horticultural methodology and he makes direct analogies between the two, comparing the population of the
|text=We are more crossed than any other nation in the history of the world, and here we meet the same results that are always seen in a much-crossed race of plants: all the worst as well as all the best qualities of each are brought out in their fullest intensities. When all the necessary crossing has been done, then comes the elimination, the work of refining, until we shall get an ultimate product that should be the finest race ever.<ref name="train_hum_plant">{{Cite book|title=The Training of the Human Plant|last=Burbank|first=Luther|date=1907|publisher=The Century Company, The de Vinne Press|location=New York, N.Y.|oclc=1393659|url=http://reader.library.cornell.edu/docviewer/digital?id=hearth4765397}}</ref>
|author=Luther Burbank
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===Methodology===
Burbank experimented with a variety of techniques such as grafting, hybridization, and cross-breeding.
====Intraspecific breeding====
Intraspecific [[Interspecific hybrids|hybrid]]ization within a plant species was demonstrated by [[Charles Darwin]] and [[Gregor Mendel]]
In 1908, [[George Harrison Shull]] described [[heterosis]], also known as hybrid vigor. Heterosis describes the tendency of the progeny of a specific cross to outperform both parents. The detection of the usefulness of heterosis for plant breeding has led to the development of inbred lines that reveal a heterotic yield advantage when they are crossed.
By the 1920s,
These early breeding techniques resulted in large yield increase in the
===Eugenics===
{{Eugenics sidebar|pre-war academics}}
Along with breeding plants, Burbank believed human beings should be selectively bred, and he was active in the [[Eugenics in the United States|American eugenics movement]] and wrote in publications of the [[American Genetic Association|American Breeders' Association]] as an honorary member.<ref name="ABA_hon_mem">{{cite journal |last1=Stansfield |first1=William D. |title=Luther Burbank: Honorary Member of the American Breeders' Association |journal=Journal of Heredity |date=March 2006 |volume=97 |issue=2 |pages=95–99 |doi=10.1093/jhered/esj015|pmid=16489147 |doi-access=free }}</ref> He was also elected to the ABA's Committee on Eugenics in 1906.<ref name="ABA_hon_mem" /> As a [[Eugenics|eugenicist]], he promoted genetic discrimination.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The unfit : a history of a bad idea|last=Carlson, Elof Axel.|date=2001|publisher=Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press|isbn=0879696583|location=Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.|oclc=46959597}}</ref><ref name="ABA_hon_mem" /> In Burbank's book, ''The Training
|text=I have constantly been impressed with the similarity between the organization and development of plant and human life. … I have come to find in the crossing of species and in selection, wisely directed, a great and powerful instrument for the transformation of the vegetable kingdom along lines that lead constantly upward. The crossing of species is to me paramount. Upon it, wisely directed and accompanied by a rigid selection of the best and as rigid an exclusion of the poorest, rests the hope of all progress. The mere crossing of species, unaccompanied by selection, wise supervision, intelligent care, and the utmost patience, is not likely to result in marked good, and may result in vast harm.<ref name="train_hum_plant" />
|author=Luther Burbank
|source=''The Training
}} This belief in the benefit of crossing human "species" and his staunch support for [[Lamarckism|Lamarckian inheritance]]<ref name="ABA_hon_mem" /> put him somewhat at odds with mainstream eugenic views of the time, which were in the majority strongly anti-miscegenation. His [[Lamarckism|Lamarckian]] belief in the inheritance of acquired characteristics informed his support for population improvement primarily by managing the environment of children over many generations, which aligned him also with the [[Euthenics|euthenics movement]]. He believed that environment played a crucial role in the development of children: {{Blockquote
|text=Heredity is simply the sum of all the effects of all the environments of all past generations on the responsive, ever-moving life forces. There is no doubt that if a child with a vicious temper be placed in an environment of peace and quiet the temper will change. Put a boy born of gentle white parents among Indians and he will grow up like an Indian. Let the child born of criminal parents have a setting of morality, integrity, and love, and the chances are that he will not grow into a criminal, but into an upright man.
|author=Luther Burbank
|source=''The Training
}}
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Traits that breeders have tried to incorporate into crop plants in the last 100 years include:
# Increased [[Quality (business)|quality]] and [[Crop yield|yield]] of the crop
# Increased [[Physiological tolerance|tolerance]] of environmental pressures ([[salinity]], extreme
# Resistance to
# Increased tolerance to
# Increased tolerance of [[herbicide]]s
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Burbank [[pollination|cross-pollinated]] the flowers of plants by hand and planted all the resulting seeds. He then selected the most promising plants to cross with other ones.
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He kept With fruit trees he would graft cuttings from his seedlings to mature trees in order to obtain fruit sooner.records that were haphazard and unsystematic (in those cases when he kept any records at all) and claimed to work by instinct alone according to principles he learned from Darwin's books. With berries he practiced selection on a massive scale, sometimes growing thousands of bushes and discarding all but a few from his breeding pool. Burbank had no use either for Mendelian genetics or for Hugo de Vries's theory of mutation. He believed that de Vries, who visited Burbank's operation and praised it highly, had erred in mistaking certain hybrids for mutants. In one of his few published writings, an article titled "The Training of the Human Plant," he outlined his own theory of heredity, which was very much in the line of American neo-Lamarckian biology of the second half of the nineteenth century. Like the neo-Lamarckians, Burbank assumed the inheritance of acquired characteristics. He believed that if a plant should produce an uncommonly good fruit owing to its having been provided with the proper environment and care, the qualities of that fruit would be passed along to its descendants. "Environment is the architect of heredity," he wrote, "all characters which are transmitted have been acquired." Among Burbank's many "new creations" were the Royal and Paradox walnuts, the Primus berry
-->
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Burbank was praised and admired not only for his gardening skills but for his modesty, generosity and kind spirit.<ref name="Smith, Jane S 2009">Smith, Jane S. "Prologue." The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants. New York: Penguin, 2009. Print.</ref> He was very interested in education and gave money to the local schools.
He married twice: to Helen Coleman in 1890, which ended in divorce in 1896; and to Elizabeth Waters in 1916. He had no children of his own but did adopt a daughter.
{{
In a speech given to the First [[Congregational church
{{
Luther Burbank was highly revered throughout the United States of America. In September 1905 a group of California's most influential businessmen, intellectuals, and politicians gathered at a banquet thrown in honor of Luther Burbank by the [[California Chamber of Commerce|State Board of Trade]]. Many people spoke about Burbank, such as Senator Perkins who stated that Burbank could teach the government valuable lessons, and that "he is doing more to instruct, interest, and make popular the work in the garden than any man of his generation."<ref name="The Garden of Invention">{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Jane S.|title=The Garden of Invention|url=https://archive.org/details/gardenofinventio0000smit|url-access=registration|date=2009|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0143116899|pages=[https://archive.org/details/gardenofinventio0000smit/page/3 3]–6}}</ref>
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In 1924 Burbank wrote a letter endorsing the "Yogoda" training system of [[Paramahansa Yogananda]] as a superior alternative to what he considered narrowly intellectual education offered by most schools.<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7452/7452-h/7452-h.htm Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda, Chapter 38] Note: navigation by chapter only, no pages #s</ref> He caused a great deal of public controversy<ref name="Freethought Today">{{Cite web |url=https://ffrf.org/component/k2/item/18437-i-am-an-infidel |title=I Am An Infidel |last=Barker |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Barker |date=August 1993 |publisher=[[Freedom From Religion Foundation]] |work=[[Freethought Today]] |access-date=November 8, 2019}}</ref> a few months before his death in 1926 when he answered questions about his deepest beliefs by a reporter from the ''[[San Francisco Bulletin]]'' with the following statement:
{{
Paramahansa Yogananda
===Death===
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==Legacy==
California's Arbor Day was made March 7, Luther Burbank's birthday, in honor of him. Burt, Olive W., Luther Burbank, Boy Wizard, Bobbs-Merril Company, Inc., 1948, 1962, p.
Burbank's fame and admiration reflect the various ways people see humans' roles in nature, by representing both the importance of our connection to the natural world and the numerous possibilities created by plant manipulation.<ref name="Smith, Jane S 2009"/> Burbank's work spurred the passing of the 1930 [[Plant Patent Act]] four years after his death. The legislation made it possible to patent new varieties of plants (excluding [[tuber]]-propagated plants). [[Thomas Edison]] testified before [[Congress of the United States|Congress]] in support of the legislation and said that "This [bill] will, I feel sure, give us many Burbanks." The authorities issued Plant Patents
In 1931, while visiting San Francisco, [[Frida Kahlo]] painted a portrait of Burbank emerging as a tree from his interred corpse.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fridakahlo.org/portrait-of-luther-burbank.jsp|title=Portrait of Luther Burbank, 1931
In 1940, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 3-cent stamp honoring Burbank.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stamp Series |publisher=United States Postal Service |url=http://beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series |access-date=September 2, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810160707/http://beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series |archive-date=August 10, 2013}}</ref>
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The home that Luther Burbank was born in, as well as his California garden office, were moved by [[Henry Ford]] to [[Dearborn, Michigan]], and are part of [[Greenfield Village]].
Several places and
* [[Luther Burbank Center for the Arts]], a large facility in [[Santa Rosa, California]]
* [[Luther Burbank High School (California)|Luther Burbank High School]] in [[Sacramento, California]]
* [[Luther Burbank High School (Texas)|Luther Burbank High School]] in [[San Antonio]], Texas
* The [[Luther Burbank School District]] in [[San Jose, California]]
* [[Luther Burbank Middle School (Massachusetts)|Luther Burbank Middle School]] in [[Lancaster, Massachusetts]]
* Luther Burbank Middle School in the Los Angeles neighborhood of [[Highland Park, California]]
* Luther Burbank Middle School in [[Burbank, California]]
* Luther Burbank Elementary School in [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]
* Luther Burbank Elementary School in [[Santa Rosa, California]]
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* Luther Burbank Elementary School in [[Merced, California]]
*Burbank Elementary School in [[Modesto, California]]
* {{ill|Luther Burbank Park|ceb|Luther Burbank Park}} in [[Mercer Island, Washington]]
* Burbank Elementary School in [[Artesia, California]]
* The census-designated place [[Burbank, Washington]]
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{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bailey |first=Liberty H. |date=August 1901 |title=A Maker of New Fruits and Flowers: How Luther Burbank Breeds New Varieties of Plants on His California Farm |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=II |pages=1209–1214 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=IF6tNZnhO7wC&pg=PA1209|access-date=July 9, 2009 }}
*Burbank, Luther. "[
*{{cite book|title=The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants|first=Jane S.|last=Smith|publisher=[[Penguin Group (USA)]]|year=2009|isbn=978-1-59420-209-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/gardenofinventio0000smit}}
*Burbank, Luther. ''The Canna and the Calla: and some interesting work with striking results''. Paperback {{ISBN|978-1-4147-0200-1}}
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*Burbank, Luther. 1939.''An Architect of Nature''. Same details as ref. above, publisher: Watts & Co. (London) 'The Thinker's Library, No.76'
*Burt, Olive W. ''Luther Burbank, Boy Wizard''. Biography published by Bobbs-Merrill in 1948 aimed at intermediate level students.
*Anderson, N. O., & Olsen, R. T. (2015). [https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84923121568 ''A vast array of beauty: The accomplishments of the father of American ornamental plant breeding, Luther Burbank.''] HortScience, 50(2),
*Dreyer, Peter, ''A Gardener Touched With Genius The Life of Luther Burbank'', # L. Burbank Home & Gardens; New & expanded edition (January 1993), {{ISBN|0-9637883-0-2}}
*Kraft, K. ''Luther Burbank, the Wizard and the Man''. New York : Meredith Press, 1967 ASIN: B0006BQE6C
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*Yogananda, Paramahansa. ''Autobiography of a Yogi''. Los Angeles : Self-Realization Fellowship, 1946 {{ISBN|0-87612-083-4}}
*{{cite journal |author1= Harte, Bret |date=September 1903 |title=King of Horticulture |journal=Overland Monthly |volume=XLII |pages=226–233 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8WI4AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA6-PA226 }}
*Tuomey, Honoria. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KG8LAQAAIAAJ&
{{Refend}}
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*[http://www.lutherburbank.org Luther Burbank Home and Gardens official website]
*[http://invent.org/inductee-detail/?IID=21 National Inventors Hall of Fame profile]
*[http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/PUBLICAT/Cactusnt/cactus3.htm UN report on spineless cactus cultivation in Tunisia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924043858/http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/PUBLICAT/Cactusnt/cactus3.htm |date=September 24, 2015 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131014015412/http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/lbsite/lobby.html Luther Burbank Virtual Museum]
*[http://www.ananda.org/inspiration/books/ay/38.html Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda, Chapter 38: Luther Burbank – A Saint Amidst the Roses]
*[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3109372 ''A Rare Crossing:
* ''[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/HistSciTech.LutherBurbank Luther Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries and Their Practical Application]'',
*[http://www.lutherburbankonline.com/index.html Luther Burbank Online], 2013
*http://www.wschsgrf.org Official website of the Western Sonoma County Historical Society and Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment Farm
*''Burbank Steps Forward with a Super-Wheat'', [[Popular Science]] monthly, January 1919, page 22; [https://books.google.com/books?id=HykDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22 scanned by Google Books]
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*[http://www.google.com/search?q=inauthor:%22Luther+Burbank%22&tbm=bks&source=lnt&tbs=bkv:r&sa=X&ei=54bnVISiL4v_yQSf2YDgBw&ved=0CA8QpwU selected readings of Luther Burbank writings]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/002755}}
*Preece, John E. and Gale McGranahan."[https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI.50.2.201 Luther Burbank’s Contributions to Walnuts]," ''HortScience'', Vol. 50:2, Feb. 2015, pp.
{{Hall of Fame for Great Americans}}
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