Burbank, Luther (1849-1926), was an American plant breeder, nurseryman, and horticulturist. He introduced and developed many new fruits, vegetables, flowers, and grasses. His most famous creations include the Burbank potato, the Santa Rosa plum, and the Shasta daisy.
His life.
Burbank was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, on March 7, 1849. He had little opportunity for formal education but was able to attend Lancaster Academy, a college preparatory school, for a short time. He left school after his father died. He supported his mother by raising and selling vegetables.
Burbank read many works on botany by the British naturalist Charles R. Darwin and was influenced by Darwin’s views on the evolution of plants. Burbank took a special interest in hybrids—that is, plants produced from breeding two kinds of plants. In his early twenties, Burbank harvested a rare seed pod of Early Rose potato. He planted 23 of its seeds, and they produced two promising seedlings. Burbank sold the best seedling for $150 to a nurseryman, who called it Burbank’s Seedling. This event started Burbank on his career in plant breeding.
Burbank moved to California in 1875 and started a nursery business in Santa Rosa two years later. In 1885, he purchased a farm in nearby Sebastopol to carry out plant-breeding activities. He struck a financial bonanza with his importation of Japanese plums in 1885. These plums and some of Burbank’s other imports were well suited to California’s climate and proved especially valuable as breeding stock. In 1912, Burbank sold his past, present, and future creations to a firm that became known as the Luther Burbank Company. The company went bankrupt in less than four years and Burbank’s reputation suffered. After the company declared bankruptcy, Burbank started over again and established a successful seed business. He died on April 11, 1926.
His achievements and methods.
Burbank experimented with almost 200 genera (groups) of plants. He became a popular national figure and did much to popularize plant breeding. A number of his creations were produced from complex cross-pollinations (transfers of pollens) involving many species. Burbank introduced more than 250 cultivars (varieties) of fruit, including 113 kinds of plums. Many of his vegetables were cultivated widely during his life. Today, the most commonly grown variety of potato in the United States is the Russet Burbank, a strain of the Burbank potato. Burbank’s most important ornamental plant, the Shasta daisy, was created from crossings involving four chrysanthemum species.
Burbank cannot be considered a scientist in the academic sense. He left few records and his crossings were frequently made with mixed pollens rather than pure pollens. However, Burbank instinctively understood correct plant-breeding procedures. He made extensive crossings, grew thousands of seedlings, and continued to intercross the best seedlings to produce the most desirable hybrids. Although Burbank had no direct impact on genetics or plant breeding, his accomplishments were examples of evolution in action.
