burbank

1923burbankcactus

THE PRICKLY LUTHER BURBANK

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Luther Burbank was clearly peeved when the reporter asked for comment on whether his greatest achievement was actually a failure.

At issue was a government pamphlet released a month earlier, at the close of 1907. The topic was the prickly pear cactus, also known as genus Opuntia, also known as Burbank’s most profitable plant creation ever. The government experts were envious, Burbank told the reporter, because he had beaten them in developing a fast-growing spineless variety that had ten times the nutritional value of the regular plant.

(RIGHT: Luther Burbank with his spineless cactus. Photo from the Sept. 1908 issue of Overland Monthly)

The spineless cactus was Burbank’s moon shot – an odyssey with the goal of creating a hybrid that would be as important to mankind as his namesake potato. Worthless deserts would become valuable pastures and croplands; the fields once used to grow animal fodder like alfalfa could now feed the world’s hungry. It was his longest running project (a photograph in the Library of Congress collection shows Burbank tending a cactus seed bed c. 1890) and one that he called “soul-testing.” In his authorized Methods and Discoveries book series, he revealed uncharacteristic emotion:


…[T]he work through which this result was achieved constituted in some respects the most arduous and soul-testing experience that I have ever undergone….For five years or more the cactus blooming season was a period of torment to me both day and night. Time and again I have declared from the bottom of my heart that I wished I had never touched the cactus to attempt to remove its spines. Looking back on the experience now, I feel that I would not have courage to renew the experiments were it necessary to go through the same ordeal again.”

Burbank declared success in 1907, a year after making a deal for Australian rights to five varieties – a sale he credited for allowing him to build his fine new house – and he published a cactus catalog (a later version can be found here). The improved spineless cactus would mean “a new agricultural era for whole continents,” he boasted, and “in importance may be classed with the discovery of a new continent.” Most of the public, however, probably already knew of Burbank’s latest marvel from magazines and newspaper Sunday sections, which had been churning out gee-whiz photo features for a couple of years. Then came a widely-reprinted speech he delivered at an agricultural convention. Where the catalog offered grandiose visions of desert paradise, his speech read like a salesman’s list of can’t-refuse bullet points: Yield is 200 tons of food per acre; grows in the very worst conditions; cattle and other animals prefer it to everything else. How many would you like to order, at $2.00 each?

Cactus mania continued ballooning through the end of 1907 as it became publicized that Burbank would receive a staggering $27,000 – by far, the biggest single payday of his life – from a Southern California company for rights to some varieties. Eager to get in on a Sure Thing, investors and farmers besieged government ag field offices seeking more information about these spineless wonders, which led the Dept. of Agriculture to write a pamphlet. And that’s what brought the Press Democrat reporter to ask Luther Burbank whether his cactus was actually a “failure.”

At first read, it’s hard to understand why Burbank knocked the pamphlet and its authors. It doesn’t mention him at all; the 67-page report simply documents the wide variety of prickly pear cacti and how they are consumed in Latin America. Even the title, “The Tuna as Food for Man,” is perfectly clear about the author’s objective, as “tuna” is the Spanish name for this cactus. Some of the fruit described was inedible or tasteless, but a few varieties, such as the Amarilla, was delicious; other varieties were dangerous or plain weird, such as the Tapona (“plug”), which was said to cause such severe constipation that death could ensue.

The Ag. Dept. bulletin also noted that some prickly pear, which had been cultivated by native peoples for generations (probably millennia) were naturally spineless, a fact that Burbank wanted rarely known. Although he would simply answer “no” when asked directly if he had bred the smooth variety from the prickly sort, he wanted the public to believe exactly that. George Shull, the botanist from the Carnegie Institution who studied Burbank’s methods for years, later wrote of his dismay that Burbank set up a display intended to be “misleading to the uncritical:”


Just inside his gate at his Santa Rosa experimental Garden, he had planted a bed, some 15 feet square, with a sprawling, thorny cacti from the desert. In the midst of this forbidden looking culture, he planted a single specimen of Opuntia Ficus-Indica of the spineless variety, in most striking contrast with the thorny cacti around it. Mr. Burbank’s visitors, who often came in droves, would look over the fence at this striking demonstration and comments to one another [on] the amazing wizardry which “created” the smooth fat-slabbed cactus from the sprawling thorny ones.*

It may seem odd that the government would produce a 1907 pamphlet all about the prickly pear yet not mention the 800 lb. Burbank in the room, but this undoubtedly was the wisest decision. One reason is that Burbank was a polarizing celebrity, beloved by the public and viewed as something of a charlatan by the many in the scientific community, as discussed in the first “Burbank’s Follies” essay. Any explicit praise or criticism would be sure to raise someone’s hackles. Another reason is that Burbank simply hadn’t shared samples of his hybrids with government researchers – and according to an article in the Jan. 10, 1909 Los Angeles Herald, Washington was still waiting over a year later to see a Burbank cactus. A few sentences in the pamphlet’s introduction, however, took a very cautious aim at deflating a few of his claims:


Enthusiastic magazine writers would revolutionize conditions in arid regions by the establishment of plantations of prickly pear without spines, those converting the most arid deserts into populous, prosperous communities. Experience teaches, however, that the spineless varieties of cultivation are not hardy under natural desert conditions, that all of the valuable spineless species which produce either fruit or forage in economic quantities require considerable precipitation at some time of the year, and that economic species are not known which thrive under a minimum temperature of less that 10°F [Ed. note: In a later pamphlet, the author changed the cold-weather threshold to 20°F].

In other words, never would the desert bloom in vast cactus farms. The spineless varieties were more delicate than the spiny forms, sensitive to cold and not as drought tolerant. They grew best only in places with year-around rainfall or with wet, mild winters and dry summers. Places like Santa Rosa, California, for example.

Other claims by Burbank and his agents crumbled under scrutiny. Often mentioned was that a crop would yield 200 tons of forage; less said was that it would take at least three years for the cactus to grow to that size. Burbank also stated that his cactus required only about a third the amount of water needed to grow alfalfa – although again avoiding mention that a crop took three years, thus bringing water use to a draw. Since his cacti were slow growing (though apparently faster than many wild forms) it was impractical for pasture grazing, yet harvested cactus paddles were bulky, hard to transport, so they had to be grown near where they would be used. Any way you looked at it, the Burbank cactus was a failure as a world-changing plant; it was just another Burbank garden novelty.

The author of the Agriculture Department bulletin was horticulturist Dr. David Griffiths, who went on to write several more bulletins on the prickly pear in following years, all available through Google Books. He never mentioned Burbank or his hybrids, and never found farmers or ranchers growing the cactus in places where it was not naturally found, such as southern Texas. And the more he investigated the prickly pear, he learned that all varieties improved with irrigation and cultivation, yet it only really thrived in very specific conditions: Not too cold or hot, not at high altitude or at sea level, not too damp or dry. See again: Santa Rosa.

The Burbank cactus bubble floated along until 1915, when Burbank’s sales company received an order from Mexico that was too large to fill, so they shipped regular prickly pear with the thorns shaved off, a deceit that was discovered as soon as thorny new growth appeared. The scandal nearly destroyed Burbank’s reputation, particularly because the fraud was conducted by the “Luther Burbank Company” and every plant came with a tag promising the “guarantee of receiving original Burbank productions.” But some felt that the fraud actually began years before, as Burbank began making irresponsible claims about a plant that had little more potential than its wild cousin. (UPDATE: The Burbank biographies that state a bait-and-switch fraud was discovered are probably wrong. See this discussion.)

*pg. 141, Peter Dreyer, A Gardener Touched With Genius (Luther Burbank Home & Gardens, Santa Rosa, CA) 1985

THE GOVERNMENT EXPERTS BELITTLE BURBANK’S WORK
Declare the Spineless Cactus a Failure
Noted Santa Rosan, However, is Willing to Let His Work Speak For Itself and Abide by the Result–Working on Seedless Variety

San Francisco, Jan. 23– Luther Burbank is reported to be considerably wrought up over the publication of a government bulletin which says the Santa Rosan over-worked the facts when he declared that he had produced a spineless cacti. The bulletin is called “Tuna as a food for Man, and is issued by David Griffith of the Bureau of Plant Industry, last month.

The Bulletin declares that the general belief and hope that the species that the spineless cacti would displace its wild sister on the deserts of California and Arizona to furnish food and a substitute for water to lost prospectors is doomed to disappointment and failure. Experiments go to show, declares the circular, that the cultivated variety is unable to withstand of the hardships of the desert and will be no more acceptable than the wild cacti.


Mr. Burbank, when seen last night regarding the bulletin by a Press Democrat representative, said he had seen the statement and declared that the government experts were piqued because they had been beat out by him by five years in securing the spineless variety. He said he was more than willing to let his success speaks for itself, and abide by the results. He had been able to increase the cacti productiveness four times and its food value ten times as with his spineless variety a yield of 200 tons per acre could be secured as against 20 tons from the wild, while the sugar and fat in the spineless was greatly increased. “The next move will be to produce a seedless as well as a spineless variety,” said he in closing.

– Press Democrat, January 24, 1908

Read More

ELECTION 1908: THE BOSSES OF SANTA ROSA

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Luther Burbank was Santa Rosa’s #1 booster – except for the year he joined reformers who called the town scandalous and controlled by a handful of political bosses.

“We fail to see how Mr. Burbank’s advice on political matters becomes of any particular importance,” sniffed Press Democrat editor Ernest Finley. “He has always represented himself as being too much engrossed with scientific matters to pay any attention to anything else, and has never before taken any part in public affairs.”

As with most everything else that appeared in the PD about the city elections of 1908, it was untrue. Three years earlier, Burbank was one of the founders of the “Good Government League,” which likewise wanted to clean up the town. The difference in 1908 was that the political field was wide open: No incumbents were running for office. Also, the reformers had a leader who was willing to confront Santa Rosa’s entrenched Old Guard and name names.

The reform party was now called the Municipal League, as introduced in part I of this series on the Santa Rosa city election of 1908. Apparently so frightened that the reformers might sweep into office, the main political parties decided to offer voters a Democratic-Republican “fusion” ticket – a move that only underscored the reformer’s point that a tight group of “bosses” really controlled the town.

Everyone in Santa Rosa knew about “bossism” because newspapers kept readers updated on the latest pre-trial developments in the Abe Ruef case. A year earlier, “Boss Ruef” had plead guilty to bribing the San Francisco Supervisors over utility and cable car deals, followed by indictments against him and his puppet mayor. Ruef tried to block the trial right up to the selection of the jury, arguing that the prosecutor had tricked him into incriminating himself. It was a surprisingly high profile legal fight, with probably everyone in town having strong opinions on the fairness of a trial for the confessed villain. (Sidenote: Santa Rosans didn’t view a fusion ticket as unusual because just such a ballot appeared in the 1905 San Francisco election, when the Dems and Repubs of that city joined forces in a failed attempt to block Ruef’s corrupt Union Labor party from winning.)

In Santa Rosa, the political jabbing was over candidates for mayor. Heading the fusion ticket was Chamber of Commerce president James Gray, who vowed to maintain the status quo. The reform mayoral candidate was Rolfe Thompson, a former D.A. with bonus points among reformers for being the lawyer who had recently won a lawsuit against prostitutes and their landlord. Most remarkable, Thompson called out the people who he said really ran Santa Rosa: State Senator Walter Price (R), Santa Rosa Fire Chief Frank Muther, brewer Joseph Grace, and Thomas Geary, who was currently city attorney.

Even immersed in early 20th century Santa Rosa history as I am, it’s difficult to grasp how these four were the triumvirate (+1) of evil. Muther’s day job was as the owner of a small downtown cigar store with a little rolling factory in the back room – hardly the profile of a kingmaker. Grace also seemed apolitical; during the 1905 Battle of Sebastopol Avenue, he meekly hunkered down lest he offend any beer drinkers. Of Price I know nothing (update here) but of the odious Geary, I’ll believe anything horrible. Besides being the author of the Chinese Exclusion Act when he was a Democratic congressman in 1892, he was the “top gun” attorney in the area and could be found representing the wealthiest private interests before he became city attorney, as when he tried to get Santa Rosa to abandon its municipal water system (he also argued the rich deserved more water because they paid more taxes).

But how far did Thompson really push the “bossism” analogy? He implied that Gray was merely a figurehead in his political newsletter, “The Municipal League,” which apparently presented a crossword puzzle where the solution for one line read

GRACE GRAY GEARY

with only a tiny space to wedge in Gray’s name. Was he also hinting that he knew about Abe Ruef-style bribery of elected officials and secret backroom deals? Alas, we don’t know; no copies of the reformer’s newsletters from 1908 survive, and the Santa Rosa daily papers were hardly likely to mention allegations of serious crimes against their endorsed candidates.

STATEMENT OF MR. BURBANK
Tells People What He Believes of Situation

Luther Burbank, the well known resident of the city, has issued the following statement to the voters. It came from Mr. Burbank on Wednesday morning and is published herewith”

“I believe that the time has come when our city affairs should be divorced from politics, and when citizenship should be placed above partisanship. Having read the platform and the statement of principles of the Municipal League, I wish to express my appreciation of the movement and my hearty endorsement of its candidates.

“I further urge my fellow citizens to give these men their unanimous support. Luther Burbank”

– Santa Rosa Republican, April 1, 1908

It is announced that Luther Burbank favors the election of the so-called Municipal League ticket, and in a signed statement he gravely directs all qualified voters to follow his lead.

We fail to see how Mr. Burbank’s advice on political matters becomes of any particular importance.

He has always represented himself as being too much engrossed with scientific matters to pay any attention to anything else, and has never before taken any part in public affairs.

It is very probable that the motive actuating Mr. Burbank in taking the stand he does is the same that both Mr. McMeans and Dr. Anderson admit actuates them–they all three live in that part of town.

– Press Democrat editorial, April 2, 1908

ENTHUSIASTIC MASS MEETING
Thompson and McMeans Address Fourth Ward

A meeting, small in number at first, but large in enthusiasm, was held by the Municipal League at Germania Hall Wednesday evening, and was addressed by Rolfe L. Thompson and Alexander C. McMeans, candidates for mayor and councilman respectfully. Before the meeting closed the hall was well filled, including a number of ladies.

Professor McMeans was introduced by Chairman William R. Smith, the well-known pioneer and made a splendid speech. He declared that the laws of the city should be enforced or they were of no earthly good. The speaker declared he was not the nominee of the Ministerial Union, but that he represented the Municipal League, and that he accepted the nomination in the hope that if elected he might do something for the betterment of conditions in this city. The speaker read the application which saloon men have to sign before being allowed a liquor license, and then stated that women were permitted to conduct houses of prostitution without getting permission at a less cost than the saloon men were taxed. He declared the issue of prohibition was not before the people, neither was there any issue of saloon closing on Sunday or raising of liquor licenses. He declared if elected he would consider the wishes of the people and all things and if the requisite number asked that the question of licensing saloons be placed on the ballot, he would be in favor of permitting people to vote on the question.

Rolfe L. Thompson made a ringing speech, in which he spoke plainly regarding his candidacy, and paid a high complement to Professor McMeans. He declared that the people of the fourth ward had an honor in being permitted to vote for such a man, and that no fault could found with his character. He said no better man could be found in the city for the position of councilman, and predicted a great majority for him at the polls.

Mr. Thompson said at the outset he wanted the people to know exactly where we stood on all questions that he would be pleased to answer any questions regarding his stand. He declared if elected mayor he would administer city affairs fairly and impartially, and give a square deal to all the people. In appointments and in the employment of labor he said he would be fair to all parties.

The speaker said he was representing up a movement of citizens of Santa Rosa for the best interests of the city, and was not representing any class, clique or boss. The people interested in this movement, he said, were of all classes, mechanics, builders, lawyers, professional men, merchants. He asserted that the movement emanated from a growing sentiment in Santa Rosa to get away from bossism, and to destroy partisanship here. The speaker said the fusion ticket was dominated by one lawyer, one cigar maker, one politician and one brewer, and that the ticket emanated from these bosses.

Mr. Thompson denied emphatically and in plain language that he was representing a “dry” town, or in any manner a prohibition issue, and said these things were not an issue in the campaign. “I have no intention if elected,” he stated, “to initiate any new legislation against the saloon.” At this juncture the speaker was interrupted with the information that some saloon men were with him and intended to support his candidacy. He remarked that he was glad, indeed, to know that some saloon men had realized their own interests in the matter, and that they had not been deceived by a little clique of politicians. Speaking further on the subject, Mr. Thompson said he intended to enforce the present laws on the statue books, and that he would simply carry out the wishes of the people. The speaker reiterated his belief that the money lying in the bank in the building fund and not drawing interest should be utilized at once to build a suitable fire department, and said he was against the purchase of other property when the city owned good lots and bonding the town for $75,000 when it could be avoided.

[..]

– Santa Rosa Republican, April 2, 1908

[Selection of remarks by James Gray at a rally:]
Ladies and gentlemen: I have been charged with being in league with and under the control of some terrible people, described as political bosses, Price, Muther, Grace and Geary. As to Price and Muther, Mr. Thompson can tell you a great deal more about them than I can, as until up to the date that he attempted to throw his party into the control of the Municipal League and the Ministerial Union, he was either under their employ or taking advice from them in all matters pertaining to politics.

As to Grace Brothers, as near as I can find out, they are conducting a legitimate business of manufacturing here. They are also conducting a creamery which is certainly a great benefit to Santa Rosa and the surrounding country; also an ice and cold storage plant which is used extensively in the storage and packing of fruit. They employ a large number of men supporting a great many families and are one of the institutions that help make Santa Rosa a live town.

I never had any business with them, but they have the reputation of being honorable business men who are received with their families in the best of society, in the homes of members of the Municipal League, and are recognized and taken by the hand by not only Mr. Thompson, but by members of the Ministerial Union. They have built up a large business which they are no doubt trying to protect. If they are taking any interest in the fight, it is for the purpose of protecting their business interests, and has nothing whatever to do with me. I do not see how they are to be blamed for this. If they expect any favors from me they will not get them any more than any other citizen interested in the growth and welfare of the town…

…As soon as it was noised about that I would be a candidate the Municipal League began preparations to make an aggressive campaign, and I must say they laid their plans carefully and have left no stone unturned to get a vote. After a great deal of thought and discussion they finally decided that their wisest political move would be to attack the present administration, make the present city administration as unpopular as possible and connect the present candidate with them. At Mr. Geary, on account of his prominence, they have directed most of the fire. I accepted the nomination because I thought that I could carry out plans that would benefit Santa Rosa…

…They started the movement with good intentions. They thought the Prohibition movement, which is likely to die out before it reaches Sonoma County, whose backbone is the production of hops and grapes, was a good thing. It was a prohibition movement pure and simple, and they should have stuck to their principles, but their leader and candidate for mayor is so carried away with the desire to be elected that he has forgotten his principles and is bowing down and soliciting votes of the interest that he had organized to fight.

We are all pledged to repeal the boarding house ordinance, and of course it will be done as soon as possible after those who are elected have taken office. But what will you do with the parties in dispute? Leave them in the lodging houses on Fourth street, where they were driven from the former from the Behmer house, where they have become a familiar sight to every shopper and mingle with the innocent stranger bringing his family here to locate? Drive them back to their old quarters to plague respectable residents of that part of town? At the most move them to some isolated spot? Or shall we take the advice of Saul’s Letter and cast a mantle of charity over the unfortunate creatures and try to reform them?

[..]

– Press Democrat, April 5, 1908

The League manipulators have had a great deal to say about “bosses,” apparently imagining the public would overlook the fact that the men who are most active in support of that organization themselves aspire to be bosses, by all the rules governing such propositions.

They have also indulged in uncalled for personalities and tried to appeal to individual likes and dislikes, regardless of facts. A case in point has been the amusing attempt to make a city attorney Thomas J. Geary an issue in the campaign. In an effort to secure the support of that gentleman’s political enemies, the charge has been made that in the event of Mr. Gray’s election he would be re-appointed to his present position, although Mr. Geary has repeatedly and publicly declared that under no consideration with the accept the appointment for another term, and most of the men who are making the charge know that owing to the pressure of other businesses he has wanted to resign for some time, and did prepare to give up the office last summer when Mayor Overton handed in his resignation, and was only prevented from doing so through the earnest solicitation of that gentleman and others wen public sentiment against allowing Mayor Overton’s resignation to be accepted was so strongly manifested. Having no particular interest in the campaign one way or the other, and having already stated his position, Mr. Geary suggested that we make some mention of the fact in the paper, but we declined to thus dignify the charge. Although Mr. Thompson has known the facts all along, he has continued to charge that “a vote for Mr. Gray is a voted to keep Mr. Geary in the city attorney’s office,” and as far as we know is still so charging.


One of the worst features of the present campaign has been the reckless hurling of charges broadcast effecting the reputation and character of the community. People all over the state have been led to believe that Santa Rosa is a grossly immoral place where crime and vice run rampant, and where only evil influences prevail. Great damage has been done Santa Rosa in this way, and it is likely we will feel the effects for many years to come. It would have been bad enough had any of the charge been true, but when we consider the fact that Santa Rosa is one of the cleanest and best-governed in towns in California, if not in the entire west, the full significance of this phase of the situation becomes even more apparent.

– Press Democrat editorial, April 5, 1908
ADDRESS OF MR. BURBANK
Delivered at Pavilion Rink Monday Evening

“Every party is supposed to have a platform. Every voter should also have one of his own. Perhaps you would like a photograph of mine.

“I believe in justice to all. I am not a partisan not a politician, have no axe to grind, have no personal interests to boost, am not an expert at political mud throwing, generally mind my own business and rejoice in giving others the same privilege. As it happens I belong to no church, no saloon, no Ministerial Union, no brewery.

“Personal schemes, passion and prejudice should not be allowed to overshadow the public welfare, and any man or any party who, at any time or under any circumstances by threats, fraud, boycott, or any other form of coercion or deceit tries to influence the vote of another is not a true American. He is not a patriot. He is a relic of the dark ages and has not yet arrived. He is a back number and should be made to realize the fact by every intelligent. citizen’s vote.

“I prefer to think that every voter wishes to cast his vote for the best interests of Santa Rosa and to have every honest industry protected.

“The hobo, the hoodlum, the confidence man, the crook, the swindler, the gambler, the bully and the bum are not needed by Santa Rosa. All these tend to weaken the confidence of man in man which is the foundation of all prosperity. Talk is cheap, character counts. Every city should have, above all, good men to attended to its business affairs, men you can trust to hold your purse.

“I am not here to tell you how to vote. Some of the gentlemen whose names are on the fusion ticket are admirable neighbors and personal friends. I have no objection to them except that they are, in my opinion, on the wrong side and have the wrong kind of boosters behind them.

“My interest in the city, its people, its progress, is very natural as I was here at its birth, voted for its first mayor and city council and have continued to do so up to the present time.

“I endorse the Municipal League as a party–it has a right to live and if I shall be honored by giving it my vote tomorrow, whether the party wins or not, by voting as I think for the best interests of Santa Rosa. I, at least, have won. Count me for one.”

– Santa Rosa Republican, April 7, 1908

Read More

BURBANK FOLLIES, PART III

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment
– –

THE BURBANK FOLLIES SERIES

These articles cover Luther Burbank’s association with the Carnegie Institution, which awarded him a subsidy of $10,000 a year “for so long a time as may be mutually agreeable.” The grant began in 1905 and continued through 1909.

Part one explains the significance of the grant and why Burbank was such a controversial figure at the time. Also introduced here is Dr. George Shull, a noted botanist sent by the Institution to study and document Burbank’s methods.

Part two explores Dr. Shull’s relationship with Burbank, whom he found mostly uncooperative. Shull discovered his work was scientifically worthless as Burbank kept few notes – a failure that led to Burbank’s reputation being tarnished in the embarrassing “Wonderberry” dispute.

Part three describes Dr. Shull’s dismay in 1907 to find competition for Burbank’s attention with researchers from the Cree Publishing Company, which had contracted with Burbank to create a ten volume encyclopedia about his work. This section also covers the short-lived plans by Petaluma’s George P. McNear and others to create a Burbank Institute.

Part four finds Burbank embittered in early 1910 after the Carnegie grant is cancelled and he finds himself defending his work in the national press.

Events in 1909 that probably contributed to the termination of his grant are discussed in “Selling Luther Burbank“, including the appearance of Oscar Binner as his new publisher and publicist, plus the short-lived deal for distribution of Burbank products with the controversial brothers Herbert and Dr. Hartland Law.

In the summer of 1907, Luther Burbank was a man with many Boswells trailing his steps, hoping to pry secrets from his encyclopedic mind. Each biographer desired to author the magnum opus on Burbank and his plant-breeding methods, and Burbank cooperated with them all equally, which is to say that he barely cooperated with anyone at all.

Besides Shull, another habitue was a writer named W.S. Harwood, preparing a second edition of “New Creations in Plant Life.” Harwood had written a 1904 magazine article on Burbank and expanded that into a book-length profile with descriptions of his work methods a year later. That book sold well even though it was slammed by knowledgeable critics, suffering a particularly harsh review in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society: “[Harwood] traces the course of his hero’s life and work with all the ardour of the true hero-worshipper…The book does not help at all, as we had hoped it would, to enable us to sift the truth from the obviously exaggerated accounts.”

In the published fragments of Shull’s correspondence with the Carnegie Institution, the sycophant Harwood is only mentioned once, and in passing; aside from being another person demanding Burbank’s attention, Shull didn’t consider him a competitor. But Shull didn’t know what to make of a new visitor to Burbank’s farm: Dr. William Martin, an editor from the Cree Publishing Company of Minneapolis, who was now living in Burbank’s old house and studying all of Burbank’s scrapbooks. The publisher had been negotiating with Burbank for over a year to prepare a ten-volume set that would document Burbank’s methods – an arrangement that seemed in direct conflict with the Burbank’s $10,000/year grant from Carnegie. Shull wrote to the Committee in February, 1907:1


Mr. Burbank informed me that the Cree books can not be in the least conflict with our work. He says that the 10 volumes will not contain as much ‘meat’ as ten pages of the Carnegie work. It is to be made up mostly of illustrations, on thick paper, with very brief statements in large type:–to be sold by subscription.

Shull’s supervisor urged him to “find out all you can” about the Cree project, and Shull replied the next month:2


I do not believe that it will be possible for me to learn much more intimately of the contents of Cree books than I have already reported. I do not think that they will be in very direct conflict, however, with the work we are planning, though without doubt, a large part of the public will draw a comparison between that work and ours, which will not be as favorable to the Carnegie work as we might hope, since the Cree work is being planned specifically to please the popular mind…

Dr. Martin was the Rev. William Mayo Martin, D. D. from Minneapolis, who the Santa Rosa Republican described as “a prominent author and man of letters.” (Martin was replaced a few months later by H. B. Humphrey, a plant pathologist from Washington State College, but Martin’s qualifications for the project are a mystery. I’ve been unable to find anything about him professionally, academically, or even personally through census records. It’s as if he never existed. UPDATE: Martin was Cree’s brother-in-law.) Besides Martin, the Cree faction also included Martin’s stenographer and a junior professor from Stanford University, botanist Dr. Leroy Abrams, who had been hired to work with Martin, and was expected to be there for a year. Shull wrote to the president of the Carnegie Institution that it was getting crowded at Burbank’s place.3


Yesterday Mr. Harwood was here revising his book on ‘New Creations.’ Dr. Martin is here getting material for the ten volumes of the Cree Co., and a representative of Collier’s [Magazine] was also securing data for articles, so you can see none of us will be able to receive much attention. Mr. Burbank is trying to treat us all alike and has assigned different hours to each of these various interests.

Shull’s 1907 stint with Burbank was cut short by the death of his wife and infant at their Santa Rosa home. With the Carnegie Institution work on hiatus while he was in mourning back east, Shull hoped that Burbank would spend more time with the Cree team, all the better to concentrate on the scientific questions Shull would pose when he returned. Alas, Burbank sent him a letter stating that he had been very busy, “and so have not dictated to the other company at all since you left, but when you come back will try to give both parties a short time each day as usual.”4 Back in Santa Rosa, Shull wrote to the Committee in February, 1908 that he was no longer sure that the Cree project would be as lightweight as Burbank had claimed:5


It should also be noted that the management of the Cree Publishing Company’s projected work, is fully aware of the wave of adverse criticism which has been directed against Harwood’s book because of its unbridled praise of Mr. Burbank’s achievements, and is obviously taking steps to lessen this tendency in their publication. The employment of a trained botanist by that company, to stand sponsor for the scientific bearings of the work who will have been a longer time in actual contact with Mr. Burbank than I will have been, opens the question as to the relative merits of that work and ours, and also as to whether one or the other of these two works will not be superfluous in the presence of the other.

There was no need for Shull to worry. Sometime during 1908, plans fell apart for Cree to publish that ten-volume set. Reasons are unknown; it could be that Prof. Abrams withdrew because of the frustrations working with the uncommunicative Burbank, or that the publisher ran out of money or patience. Although that work was abandoned, partners in the Cree venture would continue to develop money-making schemes with Burbank, which will be the subject of following installments in the “Burbank Follies.”


Now a century past, the story of Burbank’s conflicted doings with the Carnegie Institution, Cree Publishing and other would-be suitors is well-documented in books and journal articles. At the time, however, the Santa Rosa newspapers only reported approvingly of Dr. Shull’s comings and goings and the “splendid work” turned out by Cree; to the public, all apparently were having a merry time hanging out with the plant wizard, according to the papers. But there is one significant event from 1907 that was newsworthy, yet is not mentioned in any literature about Burbank: The thwarted plans to create a “Burbank Institute.”

in late October, Petaluma’s George P. McNear, possibly the most financially important man in the county, announced that “premature publicity” had derailed plans to create a Burbank Institute. As this was the first mention in the newspapers of any plans to create an international plant-breeding school, one has to wonder what publicity he meant – and why that should squelch the deal. There were other mysteries in McNear’s single-paragraph non-announcement: Who were the “wealthy men interested in results of experiments” that were expected to fund a “permanent endowment” for the institution? If truly “Burbank’s consent [had] not been secured,” as McNear wrote, how could any group presume to found a school centered upon Burbank’s methods?

The Press Democrat and Santa Rosa Republican articles that followed McNear’s statement filled in some details. Yes, the editors knew about the plans and had indeed vowed secrecy. The PD reported Stanford President David Starr Jordan, a well-known Burbank booster, was said to be the author of the press release signed by McNear. Whether that’s true or not, it’s clear something actually was afoot.

It’s difficult to know what to make of this episode. One reason to be skeptical is because plans for a potential Burbank Institute were not mentioned by any of his biographers, and this period is well-documented, thanks to Shull’s correspondence with the Carnegie Institution. It also appears that the newspaper articles about the thwarted plans for the school were written nearly verbatim from Burbank’s dictation. His fingerprints can be found in his customary overstated claims that “the Carnegie Institution has already set aside the sum of $100,000” for his support and “its perpetuation would appear only reasonable,” that he would “teach the higher science of plant breeding,” and that “University professors…were greatly interested in the project.”

There are two possible scenarios that I can imagine – and in both cases, Burbank is my pick as the probable source of the newsleak, inadvertently or no:

* There might have been “cigar talk” among some of Burbank’s more well-heeled supporters about the possibility of creating a Burbank school. Unable to restrain his need for self-aggrandizement, Burbank boasted to someone that wealthy and famous people were soon to build an institute in his honor. Word got back to McNear and the others, who became alarmed that Burbank was pushing them into commitment, so they shot down the idea, fast.


* Serious plans really might have been underway to create and endow a Burbank Institute. But the bank panic of 1907 – which occurred the same week as McNear’s declaration – caused potential investors/donors to hunker down. With the intent of pushing them into commitment, Burbank whispered to the papers that the secret deal was still in the works, which led McNear and the others to send out the statement to the press.

Some combination of the two scenarios is also possible. Yes, the nation was suddenly facing the total collapse of the U.S. economy, and investors would be foolish to give Luther Burbank a bunch of post-dated blank checks during the crisis. At the same time, many believed that Burbank’s new spineless cactus was as important a discovery as the Russet potato, and speculators were indeed “interested in results of [Burbank’s] experiments,” hoping to get in on the ground floor. As for Burbank’s role, the only thing he loved more than being idolized was having a reliable income, and a Burbank Institute had enormous potential for both. One can imagine his anguish at seeing such a project suddenly dissolve, and one can imagine he might risk a long-shot bid to snatch it from defeat.

NOTES:
 1pg. 138, Bentley Glass, The strange encounter of Luther Burbank and George Harrison Shull (American Philosophical Society) 1980
2pg. 139, ibid
3pg. 171, Peter Dreyer, A Gardener Touched With Genius (Luther Burbank Home & Gardens, Santa Rosa, CA) 1985
4pg. 140, Glass
5pg. 139, Glass

COMES TO WRITE VOLUMES ON BURBANK

Rev. William Mayse [sic] Martin of Minneapolis, a prominent author and man of letters, arrived here Friday morning, and will make his home here for the coming year. He comes to edit a work of ten volumes, to be entitled “New Creations.” This will explain in detail the marvelous work of Luther Burbank, the well known local scientist, in his propagation of new plants and flowers. This work is to be published by the Cree Publishing Company, which is having the large colored panels and colored postals made of Mr. Burbank’s creations. Rev. Mr. Martin is accompanied by his private stenographer and will have his office in the former Burbank home. His family have remained to spend some time in Los Angeles, but later will come here to make their home while Mr. Martin is doing the great work he has undertaken.

– Santa Rosa Republican, February 2, 1907
CREE GETS OUT SPLENDID WORK

Donald [sic] Cree, President of the Cree Publishing Company of Minneapolis, Minn., who is engaged in getting out a ten-volume work entitled, “Burbank’s Creation,” is on the coast making arrangements to place the work with subscription agencies. While in this city Monday Mr. Cree made the Press Democrat a pleasant call and permitted an inspection of the prospectus of the sets of volumes.

The work gives promise of being the most elaborate of its kind ever attempted. The paper is all especially made with the “Luther Burbank” watermark in the margin, and the plates are all colored to life, from handpainted samples prepared here by specialists.The binding represents the finest the art can produce and are in several styles from the luxurious $1000 to the $500 and $250 per set down to a popular edition.

Mr. Burbank has been dictating for several months for the text of the work and the “copy” is being sent out as fast as prepared and placed in the hands of the printer. The first volume is expected to be ready for delivery within a short time and the rest will follow as rapidly as they can be handled. The work is sold by subscription only.

– Press Democrat, May 28, 1907
DR. MARTIN IS CHANGED
Cree Publishing Company Plans Burbank Cards

Dr. William Mays [sic] Martin, who has been here for several months past as editor of the Cree publishing company’s works on Luther Burbank and his work, has been given another line of work by his firm, and the editorship has been placed in the hands of H. B. Humphrey, who will continue the work on the set of books under course of publication.

The Cree company has determined to issue a series of postal cards, setting forth various views of the Burbank home, Mr. Burbank’s photograph, some of his flowers and fruits and views from the experimental grounds. This department of the work has been placed in charge of Mr. Martin and already thousands of the cards have been ordered from all parts of this state, and dealers as far east as Chicago have placed large orders for the cards. It is expected that this line of the of the work will be in great demand, and the cards will be made from the superb views recently made by the company from oil paintings of the real views, such as are being used in the publication of the illustrations in the books.

– Santa Rosa Republican, October 28, 1907

SET OF BOOKS ON BURBANK WORK
Complete Scientific History of Eminent Scientist’s Work in Realm of Nature

President Dugal Cree of the Cree Publishing Company, of Minneapolis, accompanied by Rev. William Mayes Martin, D. D., has been spending several days in this city. This is Mr. Cree’s second visit to Santa Rosa, he having been here last September, at which time he entered into negotiations with Luther Burbank for the rights to publish a set of books covering the scientist’s life work. During the present visit the details have been completed and a contract entered into between Mr. Burbank and the publishing house for the latter to bring out a set of ten volumes of “New Creations,” an edition authorized by Luther Burbank giving a history of the facts, methods, principles, and a description of the new creations brought out by the famous scientist during his thirty-five years work among fruit, flowers, and foliage.

Dr. Marin will remain here to look after the Publisher’s interests and forward the copy as rapidly as the stenographer, who will take the subject matter from Mr. Burbank’s personal dictation, completes it, assist in gathering data, and see that nothing is left undone to hurry forward the preparation of the completed work.

The desire of the publishers and hopes of Mr. Burbank are to in this manner answer the thousands of questions which are constantly pouring in on Mr. Burbank, and also save the valuable time and labor which it requires to answer such requests by letter. Mr. Burbank has had most insistant demands from publishers all over the United States as well as Europe for the publication of such a work while the reading public and horticulturists desire it as a permanent monument to his memory as well as to preserve the methods and plans of the noted scientist for future reference.

The work will be profusely illustrated with full page colored plates made natural to life of all Mr. Burbank’s star creations with scenes and views of his home and experimental grounds, both here and at Sebastopol. The work will be as the name implies, a complete review of the actual methods of work carried on by Mr. Burbank in accomplishing the results which has made his name famous the world over.

“For years,” Mr. Burbank said today, while discussing the publication, “I have been importuned and urged to write a complete work which would stand as an authority of my work among fruits and flowers, but I have felt my time and attention belonged to the work in hand and that others might write the story of it. I have refused all offers up to the present time and Mr. Cree is the only many who has been able to bring me to consider the subject seriously much less enter into a contract or agreement to prepare a complete work.”

– Press Democrat, January 10, 1907

REPRESENTS THE CREE COMPANY
Bruce is Canvassing State For Burbank Books

R. A. Bruce, representing the Cree publishing company, is in the City of Roses for a visit. He spent Christmas day with relatives here. He is a partner with John J. Newbegin of San Francisco, the agents for this state of the splendid work being published by the Cree Company on Burbank’s New Creations. Regarding a story that appeared in the Republican a few days ago, the substance of which was taken from a Marysville paper, Mr. Bruce claims he never pretended to represent Mr. Burbank, and it is a well-known fact that Mr. Burbank has no agents of an kind in the field for the sale of his new creations. Mr. Bruce is traveling over the state securing subscribers to the work being published by the Cree Company, and is meeting with good success. We have reasons to believe from the credentials he has presented that he is doing a legitimate and fair business in every respect.

– Santa Rosa Republican, December 26, 1907

PERPETUATION OF BURBANK METHODS
Promoters of Plan to Establish Institute Say Discussion of Matter at This Time is Premature

Admitting that the facts as published are correct, and yet fearful that undue publicity at this time may geopardise [sic] the final outcome, certain of the projectors of the proposed Burbank institution for the perpetuation of expert plant-breeding have undertaken to discourage further discussion of the matter, and the following statement ssaid to have been prepared by President David Starr Jordan of Stanford University and signed by George P. McNear of Petaluma, chairman of the committee having the project in charge, has been given to the press:

Petaluma, Oct. 26–Several persons have met to devise plans for permanent endowment and perpetuation of a laboratory of plant-breeding through the aid of wealthy men interested in results of experiments. No satisfactory plan has been yet devised. Premature publicity makes it necessary to abandon the matter. Mr. Burbank’s consent has not been secured.
George P. McNear, Chairman,

The Press Democrat believes it is in a position to state, however, that the abandonment of the project is only temporary; and that the institution will be established in due time. The idea has been suggested on numerous occasions, and when President R. S. Woodward of the Carnegie Institution was in Santa Rosa some two or three years ago he intimated that such a project was even then under consideration [illegible microfilm] the Carnegie Institution has already set aside the sum of $100,000 to assist Mr. Burbank in his work, and under the circumstances some arrangements for its perpetuation would appear only reasonable and proper. Such an arrangement as the one proposed would certainly have the hearty support of all Santa Rosans as well as of the entire scientific world.

– Press Democrat, October 27, 1907

INJURIOUS TO SONOMA COUNTY
Premature Publication Will Thwart Plans

The premature publication of the proposed plan of establishing a school of international character and importance in Sonoma county has caused the abandonment of the plans which were in process of formation. The publication has done an untold and irreparable injury to Sonoma county, and was done without authorization and after the parties to the conference had been pledged to secrecy, and after a request had been made of the newspapers that it should not be published because of the fact that it [would] cause the matter to be dropped. In the face of this request, which was made wholy with the idea of benefiting Sonoma county, the giving of publicity in the matters was unwarranted and injurious.

The REPUBLICAN was requested at the time to refrain from any mention of this matter regarding the establishment of the great international school until it was ready for publication, at which time the same was to be given out officially by Mayor John P. Overton. For the reason that it was for the benefit of the county, this paper withheld mention of the same, desiring to throw no obstacle in the way of the accomplishment of anything that would be in any manner injurious to the best interests of the county. The matter has been abandoned and the unwise action of the paper which published the matter when requested not to do so may prevent its ever being taken up again.

Luther Burbank, who had been approached to become the head of this great school, which was to teach the higher science of plant breeding along the lines of Mr. Burbank’s work was to have taken the matter up with his confreres after arranging his affairs with the Carnegie Institution, and the publicity given may prevent this being accomplished.

– Santa Rosa Republican, November 2, 1907

PLANS WORKING ALONG NICELY
Another Important Announcement Will Be Made Later In Connection With the Burbank Laboratory

Plans for the establishment of a laboratory or college for the imparting of special instruction in Luther Burbank’s great work in the creation of new fruits and flowers are going along very nicely.

It is expected that before long another important announcement will be made in connection with this matter. The Republican will get this news later.

The University professors here the past week were greatly interested in the project and both at Berkeley and Stanford it is occasioning much discussion.

– Press Democrat, November 3, 1907

Read More