1849 – He was born this year in in Lancaster, Massachusetts,
Burbank grew up on a farm and received only an elementary
education. 1870 – His father died this year, and he used his
small inheritance to buy a 17-acre (69,000 m²) plot of land near
Lunenburg. 1872 – He developed the Burbank potato, this year
until 1874. 1875 – He sold the rights to the Burbank potato for
$150 and used the money to travel to Santa Rosa, California. He
established a greenhouse, nursery, and experimental fields that
he used to conduct crossbreeding experiments on plants. 1880 –
He married twice to Helen Coleman in this year. 1893 – He
published a descriptive catalog of some of his best varieties,
entitled called New Creations in Fruits and Flowers. 1896 – He
divorced his wife this year. 1907 – He published an “essay on
childrearing,” called The Training of the Human Plant. 1916 – He
married Elizabeth Waters in this year. 1921 – During his career,
Burbank wrote, or co-wrote, several books on his methods and
results, including his eig