Luther Burbank
Luther Burbank was born the thirteenth of 15 children in Lancaster,
Massachusetts on March 7, 1849. He was a sensitive, shy boy with a curiosity
about the outdoors. His cousin, Professor Levi Burbank, took him on long
walks in the woods to study plant life and discuss his interests in biology.
He completed his formal education at Lancaster Academy, where he
studied biology, chemistry and physics, but he didn't decide upon a career. He
wanted to study medicine but there was so many children in his family and so
little money, he was forced to go to work. He got a job in a near-by factory as
a wood turner and pattern maker for fifty cents a day. He didn't like this work
because it was indoors, so he decided to become a truck gardener. It was at this
time that Luther first read Charles Darwin's Animals and Plants Under
Domestication. He decided then and there to make plant breeding his life's
work. Although he had no real scientific education, he did have an intense
curiosity about plants and a love of nature. He began simple experiments, and,
through trial and error, improved growing methods. These he tested in further
experiments as he tried to develop new and sturdier vegetables. One of his first
experiments was with sweet corn. In order to get corn on the market earlier, he
forced the kernels to grow inside the warm house two weeks before the ground
was ready. Then when it was warm enough outside, he planted the seeds which
had already sprouted. This way he already gained two weeks on the other
gardeners, and the sweet corn was ready to sell two weeks earlier. This method
of growth created many advantages for gardeners since they could reap the
benefit of their crops at an earlier date.
One day Burbank discovered among his potato plants a seed ball on the
leafy part of the plant. He collected it carefully and plan
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