New Creations In Plant Life An Authoritative Account Of The Life And Work Of Luther Burbank

Author : Luther Burbank
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780898752960
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (529 download)

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Download or read book Luther Burbank written by Luther Burbank and published by . This book was released on 2001-06-01 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vol. V of a twelve Volume setUnquestionably the greatest work which Mr. Burbank had done in the line of tree fruits had been with plums and that greatest plum of all, the prune. It has been his purpose in this volume, however, to limit in no wise its value to the plum and prune grower; but, because of the number and completeness of the experiments outlined, it is designed to have a broad, practical worth to the producer of other desirable new fruits, or in fact of any other plants.This book concludes with one of Mr. Burbank's most interesting achievements - the production of the plumcot, a combination between trees of different species, such as men of science had always thought to be impossible.Some of the chapters are: Four Burbank Plums-And How They Were Made, Plums and Prunes Without Stones and Seeds, Accomplishing the Impossible-The Plumcot and many more.Luther Burbank (1849-1926) was an American horticulturist, botanist, and pioneer plant breeder, who developed more than 200 new varieties of plants for which he was recognized by an Act of Congress, among many other honors. Burbank was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, and was educated at local schools and at Lancaster Academy. His boyhood was spent on a farm, and at the age of 21 he purchased a plot of land near Lunenburg, Massachusetts, and began his lifework of plant breeding. In 1873 he developed the so-called Burbank potato, a large, hardy variety of potato considered much superior to the small, easily spoiled type then grown. In 1875 Burbank moved to Santa Rosa, California, and established a nursery garden and a greenhouse that were the site of his experiments for the next 50 years. There he developed the edible, thornless Opuntia cactus; several improved varieties of fruits and vegetables; several new strains of roses and many other ornamental and decorative flowers and plants; and a new fruit called the plumcot, which is a cross between the plum and the apricot. At the time of his death he had more than 3000 experiments under way and was growing more than 5000 distinct botanical species native to many parts of the world. His work stimulated worldwide interest in plant breeding. Burbank's primary concern was the development of new varieties of plants. His ability to perform experiments that produced plants with favorable characteristics depended more on his sense of intuition than on strict scientific methodology. However, Burbank was influenced by certain scientific theories, such as the formerly accepted theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics affirmed by Jean de Lamarck and others. Burbank's writings include Luther Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries (12 vol., 1914-15) and How Plants Are Trained to Work for Man (8 vol., 1921). This set was prepared from the author's original field notes covering more than 100,000 experiments made during forty years devoted to plant improvement.