For fans of Burbank, here’s a free article to download about his extensive ornamental plants breeding.
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you posted this a month ago but haven’t received a single response, until now.
thanks for sharing. the breadth and depth of burbank’s breeding is mind-boggling. but he barely made any notes, which is perhaps related to his considerable effort to protect his numerous trade secrets, making it a bit challenging to try standing on his shoulders.
there’s a paradox. if burbank had freely shared all his trade secrets, he would have made a lot less money, which would have severely hindered his ability to make new discoveries (such as new trade secrets).
the inherent issue is that a freely available trade secret is a public good, which makes it subject to free-riding. people can benefit from public goods whether or not they pay anything for them. i didn’t pay anything for your sharing of the article, or for the article itself, even though i benefited from both things.
what difference does free-riding make? it means we get less of the things we truly want more of. nothing does more than free-riding to bonsai society’s growth, development and progress.
here’s a list of my ficus hybrids…
ficus opposita x carica
ficus fraseri x carica
ficus ulmifolia x carica
ficus racemosa x carica
ficus aspera x carica
ficus lutea x carica
ficus sycomorus x (carica x johannis)
is this list a trade secret? it was, until i shared it. as a result of sharing it, now i will make a lot less money from these crosses, since others can remake them.
making it easier for others to stand on my shoulders is bad for my wallet, but good for society. most reasonable people, like burbank, will rank their wallets higher than society. there’s a relatively simple solution which i won’t share here because last time i did so i got in trouble. hopefully i won’t get in trouble for sharing the problem, but its one of the central themes in the article… “Burbank trusted no one, ever afraid of losing his trade secrets.”
I would suggest that burbanks success in plant breeding had less to do with trade secrets and more to do with an insane work ethic combined with a love of plants, tremendous curiosity, and a willingness to try all sorts of things to see what would work. Also the patience and foresight to work on large scale, multi-generational long term projects with very little guarantee of financial return. A few of those projects did very well for him from a financial point of view, and a whole lot more didn’t.
I would also suggest that outside of a few commodity crops where much money is to be made, very little has changed in plant breeding since burbanks day. There is nothing stopping people to day from making similar advances, at least in a plant species or two, if they are patient and apply themselves. Many plant species can be very effectively grown and bred on a backyard scale. Not many people, if any, will have the capacity and work ethic necessary to work on just about everything at the same time the way Burbank did, but that ability is what made him a one off in a lot of ways.
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I grew up in Santa Rosa and my childhood was full of field trips to Luther Burbank’s home and gardens. I really think that’s what sparked my lifelong interest in plants and gardening. I grew up convinced he was a historical figure on the order of Thomas Jefferson or MLK because of how much time we spent learning about him in school. I was so shocked to leave for college and realize none of my friends knew who he was! It’s fun to see this post, I feel like I’ve found my people 
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