HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION"
Work of Luther Burbank Is Explained
Hints to Gardener and Orchardist Are Given From Career of
Wizard of Plant Life.
WeTeach You To Play
Any Instrument.Eastly Quickly
IX THIS, the early spring days, when
the men and women whose diver
sion involves work in the garden
and in the orchard, it might be well to
take a lesson from the resultful methods
of the greatest of all horticulturists,
Luther Burbank. While the world
knows much of his achievements in the
creation of new forms of plant life,
only a very small number of those
familiar with his work really know
how he gets the phenomenal results that
have made himthe genius that he is.
Luther Burbank has several funda
mental methods of procedure perhaps
the most important being the hybridis
ing of more or less closely related
species and varieties of plants. Early in
his career he discovered that he could
produce new varieties, and in some
'cases new species, by cross-fertilizing
different species of plants. As testi
monials to his success in this field, we
have his well known plumcot, a cross
between the plum and the apricot,
crosses between the apple and tho pear,
apple and quince, quince and pear,
peach and lemon, orange and lemon. By
crossing different varieties within the
species, he has produced hundreds of
new varieties of plums, prunes, peaches,
apples, pears, cherries and quince. His
stoneless plum and prune and his gi
gantic cherries are notable instances
of his creations by crossing different
varieties of the same species
Judgment Is Keen.
As a supplement to the process of
hybridization comes his keen judgment
fin the selection of varying individuals
of the same specie or -variety. By tak
ing a cherry that tore fruit early is
the season, he developed his present
, early appearing cherry. By selection he
evolved the Burbank sugar prune with
a S3 per cent sugar content.
I Burbank 's method precludes guess
work. He always knows exactly what
he is striving for and only uses such
examples as contain in the embryo the
ultimate qualities desired. If ho desires
to make the cherry larger, wider, redder
and juicier he i-educes the size of the
plant and shortens the stem to make
tho tree a hardy and a prolific bearer.
He blends the right heredities and
after securing plants that show a given
combination in a superlative degree, he
then proceeds to produce a great quan
tity of seedlings.
All Seeds Are Saved.
Here, perhaps, lies the secret of his
success, for by this he accomplishes,
within a comparatively short time, what
would otherwise take years to do. After
his attention is attracted to a plant,
Burbank saves all of the seeds and
sows them iu soil placed in green house
boxes about 18 inches square and four
and one-half inches deep. The soil itself
is prepared by mixing 50 parts of pure
sand," forty parts of loam containing
leaf mold, eight parts powdered moss
or peat and two parts bone fertilizer.
iThreoii is moistened by dropping boxes
into a tub of water. The seeds are
sewn on the surface and covered light
ly with a thia layer of soil and pow
dered mess,
Toe .seedlings are transplanted into a
field and then subjected to a rigid in
spection out of many thousand seed
lings Bnrbank may select less than a
dozen for further experiment. In his
selection ho lays particular stress on
tho sturdiness of the stock, the
branches, round fat buds, large thick
leaves, richvcolor, vigor and tendency to
upright growth.
How. He Saves Time.
In order to bridgo time and to
breathe into the complex hybrid, and
various trees of the different species,
he gets a seedling from its own root
and grafts it as a scion on the branch
of a mature tree. He grafts his seed
ling, as a rule, on a twig nearest
tho end of a branch. The scions
thus placed usually bear fruit in
tho second year, whereas, if they had
ee left to grew on their own roots,
fire or jhx years of growth would be
necessary to secure a bearing. Because
f tins method experiments are carried
on through, five or six generations in
the time that wonld originally be re
quired for two generations.
At the Burbank proving grounds at
Sebastopol, will be found many trees
with a score or more of graftings on
each and every one of them.
All of Burbank 's work has a perma
nent quality in it, and the methods that
ho employs, might be used by anyone
who has more than a mere cursory in
terest in plant development.
Neicr work a team of colta together until
thei ore thoroughly broken, as they will
worry each other.
Getting More Money
From Egg Crop
I AD- EGGS causo farmers a loss of
between three and fow million
,- - dollars annually. Gorraaieut .ex4
perts estimate that 5 per cent of the
eggs marketed have developing chick
ens and that 3 per cent are "rots" due
to the embryo decaying. All these
losses could be avoided by keeping
roosters out of the flocks, thus hav
ing only infertile eggs produced. If
farmers would follow this plan, they
could save one and three-fourths mil
lions of dollars annually.
Infertile eggs produced by flocks in
which there is no male bird are the
only kind that can reach the consumer
in good condition during the hot sum
mer months. The only object in having
-a male bird in the flock is to get fertilelgt Vkt fire-fighting forces of the serv-
'eggs for batching purposes, Now that
the batching season is over, colleges of
agriculture urge all farmers to sell off
-all the roosters or shut them away from
the hens.
Last year in July and August nearly
"one-half the eggs leaving the farms
were unfit for food. The farmer, as a
result, received a low price. Prevent
that loss this year by getting rid of
the rooster. Now is the time to act to
prevent future losses,
! The Note.
"Oh, by the way, dear," said the
merchant as he was preparing to leave
the house in the morning, "if I find I
can't be home to dinner I will send a
"note by messenger."
"Don 't trouble," said fci wife, sweet-
ly, "L have already tound it on the
Forest Fire Season
Gets Early Start
FfSST REPORTS of forest fires
- -e -begun to com in to Wash-
" inffrtm from the national forests
and they indicate to the federal offi
cers an early start of the fire season,
with unfavorable weatLer conditions
from the very beginning. In the North
west there was less snow on the mountain-,
at the end of the winter than for
many years past. Railroad rights of
way which were last year deep in snow
are reported clear now and dry enough
to burn readily.
From the Canadian border to Mexico
the reports are similar, and there have
already been extensiv) fires in Cali
fornia and Arizona.
The chief forester reports, however,
ice are orgaaiced better than ever be
fare, ftMtcutarly in respect to the fire
ietttitita eyatem of lookout stations. By
means ef toeae stations fires are report-
el quickly and accurately, so that the
control forces may be on the ground at
the earliest possible moment.
In those states whjre the gravest
danger threatens, special efforts are be
ing made by the government foresters
and by co-operative fire protection as
sociations organized among timberland
owners, to secure caro with fire on the
part of cfmpcrs, prospectors, loggers
and by railroads. The Northwestern
Porestcry and Conservation Association,
vith headquarters at Portland, Oregon,
is one of the leaders in. this campaign.
tiul rear ike fin Ism on the Canadian
UaVr-werrti raa the anallest ever knows,
Mb iieiWiBth sl to ira cent of tie area
YOU STUDY AT HOME
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Fifth Floor Commonwealth Bldg.
Portland, Oregon.
A Perfect Tiw Beattr Fraiiked Fret
STAFF
flora McCurdr Director P. E. McCo.-dy
Frti Emmerich; Slgnor A. Vicettl; Mont. Bails.
.Manager '
Hotel Butler
Seattle, Wash.
Under new management entire change in
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DATJLY RATES
$2.00 Up With Private Bath
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Service the Best
Cuisine Unexcelled
ROBERT J. ROBINSON
Manager
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