382 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



fixity entitles it to the rank of a species. We plant the seed of a 

 wild flower, and at first we get but little variation. It has acquired 

 a fixity that is repeated in its offspring. In its new environment 

 the plant soon begins to vary. Burbank's success lies in his ability 

 to determine this initial variation at an early stage of the work. He 

 can induce variation to a marvelous degree by high feeding. Fur- 

 thermore he is very skillful ; his mechanical execution of the work 

 is perfect. He showed me a small knife, with a very thin blade, 

 with which he removes the stamens before the flowers open. The 

 stamens are not always removed. Burbank said there is no need 

 of it if the stigmas are closely watched as they become receptive 

 and with the pollen applied at the right time there will be no self- 

 pollination. 



Burbank's work with the cactus was especially interesting. He 

 has developed by crossing a spineless cactus that is good for food. 

 The Minnesota wild cactus was made spineless by selection, and by 

 crossing some five different species of opuntia this thornless cac- 

 tus has been developed. What is the use of the spineless cactus ? 

 The leaves are good fodder for stock, and the fruit is edible for man. 

 It flourishes without irrigation on dry deserts, and enough cacti 

 could be raised to feed the population of the earth. So this theory 

 of Malthus that the population is increasing faster than it can be 

 fed is a visionary idea. Mr. Burbank asked me to i^encl him some 

 South Dakota cactus. A few days ago I was out in the wilds of 

 the Missouri river hunting large fruited wild plum trees I had pre- 

 viously marked, and I found some of our South Dakota cactus and 

 intend to send some soon to Mr. Burbank. The cactus may not be 

 introduced in Minnesota, and yet there are some sandy lands where 

 the cactus would grow well. 



Mr. Burbank has also worked with California apples. He has 

 raised thousands of seedlings, and I had to admit that some of the 

 apples were equal in flavor and color to the Spitzenberg. His con- 

 tention and reasoning was this, that if such apples can be raised 

 in California, where apples range low in quality, that these same 

 apples taken east to a better climate will be the finest apples in 

 the world. I must admit the idea appears very reasonable. We 

 are still raising apples that are not good to eat. They are good 

 to look upon and sell for a good price. I refer to the Ben Davis 

 type and some others I might name. 



Burbank also showed me the "pomato," some combination of a 



