Luther Burbank’s Methods

The process of formation of new types may be grouped under four heads: selection, crossing, hybridization, and mutation (or saltation).

Continuing Luther Burbank’s Accomplishments.
Today is our final installment from Garrett P. Servtss and then we begin the second part of the series with David Starr Jordan. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Luther Burbank’s Accomplishments.

Place: Santa Rosa, California

When the seeds of the artificially pollinated flower have ripened, they are sown, and the plants that spring up from them will contain a mingling of the hereditary characteristics of the two parents. A considerable variety of forms will be exhibited by the individual plants sprung from this seed, and if afterward a second crossing is effected, the number of variations produced will be greatly increased.

All sorts of latent traits now make their appearance. The hidden children burst forth in a wild crowd! But having made his selections, the experimenter allows all the other forms to disappear, and in a few generations (plant generations) the chosen ones become fixed new varieties or species. On the average, Mr. Burbank finds that about half a dozen generations are required for this purpose. The mutation theory of Professor De Vries can not stand in the light of Mr. Burbank’s experiments, because while that theory assumes that only at certain periods in the life of plants do sudden mutations, producing new species, take place, the experiments demonstrate that man can produce mutations whenever he wills it, and that “mutation is not a period but a state.” The so called Mendelian laws are proved by these experiments to be inadequate, because they are found to apply only in a limited number of cases. Mr. Burbank’s operations have been conducted on so gigantic a scale that, for breadth of view, he has the same advantage over other experimenters that one standing on the summit of a dominating mountain possesses over those who have climbed only to the top of a foothill. Finally, his experiments have proved the falsity of the doctrine that acquired characteristics are not transmitted.

There was once a flower growing at Santa Rosa which, in view of its subsequent history, I would have given much to see — a hybrid Mesembrianthemum, a plant without sufficient native distinction to have a popular name. But, led by some dim suggestion of hidden beauty which he alone could perceive, Mr. Burbank took this insignificant flower and, by crossing and selection, produced a bed of delicate little pink-white blossoms, which for four years were the admiration of all be holders. Then, suddenly, without discoverable cause, every one of these new plants died. It is said that they all perished in a night, as if the breath of a pestilence had blown upon them alone, leaving their stately companions in the garden of beauty untouched and unharmed. They had looked out upon the world and charmed it for a few brief seasons, but its touch was too rough, and they quickly shrank into the habitation of forgotten forms. No human eye may ever see their like again, for years of experimentation had been required to bring them forth, and they left not a seed nor a living root!

But the field from which these things may be developed is illimitable, and Mr. Burbank is only at the beginning of his work. With his hybrid thornless and spiculeless cactuses, bearing rich and nourishing fruit, and juicy stems, which may turn arid deserts into populated plains; with his fruit trees taught to withstand the frost, and his grains educated to defy the drought; with his continually growing array of new plants, new plums, new cherries, new apples, new berries, new fruits never before seen in orchard or garden, new flowers never before dreamed of by florists — with all these, still the greatest part of his career, we may hope, is before him. And wider yet will be the effect of his example and the inspiration of his genius upon others who shall take up the work after him.

David Starr Jordan

Now we begin the second the second part of our series with our selection from an article in Popular Science Magazine by David Starr Jordan. The selection is presented in 1.5 easy 5 minute installments.

David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) was a scientist and the first President of Stanford University.

Mr. Luther Burbank, of Santa Rosa, California, is doubt less the most skillful experimenter in the field of the formation of new forms of plant-life by the process of crossing and selection. He is the creator of many of our most useful plant forms: roots, nuts, fruits, grains, and grasses, as well as of many of our most beautiful flowers. His methods are the practical application of the theories of Darwin and his followers, and to a degree wholly exceptional among plant-breeders, Mr. Burbank has kept in touch with most modern work in the field of bionomics, and very much of his time and energy is devoted to experiments of scientific interest not likely of themselves to yield immediate practical results. In the nature of things, the demands of his work, and the necessity for the sale of new forms produced by him, have prevented the keeping of detailed records of his work, although steps have been taken toward the provision of explicit records in the future. For the rest, Mr. Burbank’s success in practical achievement gives weight to his views on theoretical questions. Some of these views follow, all quotation marks referring to Mr. Burbank’s own statements.

The process of formation of new types may be grouped under four heads : selection, crossing, hybridization, and mutation (or saltation). The process of artificial selection is used in all cases, those varying strains likely prove useful being preserved, the others destroyed. The word “crossing” may be advantageously used for the mingling of strains within a species, and “hybridization” for the breeding together of members of different species. The name “mutation” (or preferably “saltation”) is applied to sudden changes of characters for which no immediate cause is apparent.

Not many of Mr. Burbank’s results are due to unassisted selection, as the processes of crossing and hybridization save time by the increase of the rate or degree of variation. There is, however, no evident limit to the results to be obtained by a simple selection. New and permanent species of wheat have, without a shadow of doubt, been produced by selection alone.

Garrett P. Servtss began here.

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