The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants
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The wide-ranging and delightful history of celebrated plant breeder Luther Burbank and the business of farm and garden in early twentieth- century America At no other time in history has there been more curiosity or concern about the food we eat-and genetically modified foods, in particular, have become both pervasive and suspect. A century ago, however, Luther Burbank's blight-resistant potatoes, white raspberries, and plumcots-a plum-apricot hybrid-were celebrated as triumphs in the best tradition of American ingenuity and perseverance. In his experimental grounds in Santa Rosa, California, Burbank bred and cross-bred edible and ornamental plants-for both home gardens and commercial farms-until they were bigger, hardier, more beautiful, and more productive than ever before. A fascinating portrait of an American original, The Garden of Invention is also a colorful and engrossing tale of the intersection of gardening, science and business in the years between the Civil War and the Great Depression. The New York Times - Janet Maslin …[a] colorful, far-reaching book about the genetic, agricultural, economic and legal issues raised by Burbank's life and legend.
ProloguePart I Inventing the Garden1 Nature in an Age of Invention 132 The Lucky Spud 353 The Second Gold Rush 514 Faster, Better, Sweeter 755 A Personal Interlude 996 Marketing the New Creation 107Part II Understanding the Garden7 The Philosopher in the Orchard, the Scientist in the Pea Patch 1338 California Boosters and the Ivory Tower 1599 The Carnegie Institution Seal of Approval 17510 The Training of the Human Plant 18911 Learning from Luther Burbank 19712 The Corn Palace and the Empire of the Prickly Pear 319Part III Possessing the Garden13 The Meeting of the Masters 23914 The Garden of Beautiful Thoughts 25315 Transplanting the Legacy 27316 The Creator's Art 28717 The Garden as Intellectual Property 297Epilogue: Searching for Luther Burbank 317Acknowledgments 327Notes 330Selected Bibliography 337Index 344
