Luther Burbank (1849–1926) was the 13th of 15 children born to Samuel Walton and Olive Ross Burbank in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Raised on a farm, it seems he was destined to be a man of the soil.
As a child, he roamed his mother’s gardens, infatuated with plant life. Although he received a limited education (some sources say only an elementary education), the era in which he lived, especially in the northeast, was a world of bustling industry and invention. Burbank showed great interest in science and mechanics and would later become close friends with Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. His scientific interest blossomed during his time at Lancaster Academy, where a Professor Gunning’s scientific lectures left a lasting impression on him.
Burbank was influenced by his uncle, a department head at a Boston museum, as well as his uncle’s friend, Louis Agassiz, a professor of zoology and geology. Arguably the greatest influence on Burbank’s interest in plants was Charles Darwin’s “Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication,” which he read at the age of 19. This book led him to consider creating variations of plant species by a method called hybridization. One of his first and most lasting successes was with the potato.
Seeds of Promise
At 21, his father died and he received his inheritance. With his money, he purchased a 17-acre farm and began experimenting with hybridization. He had taken one of the potatoes from his mother’s garden, the Early Rose, which was a derivative of the Garnet Chili potato, and cultivated its 23 seedlings. He chose the 15th seedling, which according to the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS), “produced an unusually high yield of large, very oblong tubers, stored well, and was a good eating potato.”Moving to California
Burbank took his money, seeds, and whatever else he would need for a new life in Santa Rosa, California. By the time he arrived in 1875, the city of Santa Rosa was rather small, but was growing as the railroad had only begun servicing the city five years prior. After examining the soil of Santa Rosa, he said, “I firmly believe, from what I have seen, that this is the chosen spot of all this earth as far as Nature is concerned.” He purchased a 4-acre farm and built a nursery and a greenhouse. Interestingly, Santa Rosa is named after St. Rose of Lima, considered the patroness of gardeners.
Another Potato
On his Santa Rosa farm, the potato was again one of his first and most successful derivatives. This time, it was the Russet Burbank potato (famously known as the Idaho potato), which is now one of the world’s most famous, According to the ASHS, “The ‘Russet Burbank’ potato cultivar currently [in 2015] occupies first place in acreage planted in North America and is worth in the United States $1.4 billion annually.”
After 10 years on his 4-acre farm, he purchased an 18-acre farm in Sebastopol, California. The town is named after the city in southern Ukraine, the nation monikered “The Breadbasket of Europe.”
Doubters and Patents
Burbank’s 55 years of work indeed supplied a breadbasket for much of America and the world, earning him the nickname “The Plant Wizard.” His work was tedious, profitable, and world-altering. His critics complained that his work was not scientific because he was not diligent in keeping his records. This lack of recordkeeping led to the dissolution of a 10-year $10,000-per-annum contract with the Carnegie Institution after five years.Burbank, however, was apparently more focused on creating plant derivatives with his hybridization method than taking copious notes on his successes and failures. That focus speaks for itself. By the time of his death on April 11, 1926, Burbank had created more than 800 new varieties of fruits (most famously, the plum and prune varieties), vegetables (most famously, the potatoes), and nuts, grains, and flowers.
