NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



helps instead of the hindrances of the race. 

 Sometimes he comes instantly to a conclusion, 

 seeing immediately the bearing of things and 

 setting out upon a certain course fortified at 

 all points. Sometimes, as in the regeneration 

 of the cactus, he is met with grave problems 

 which demand profound study. 



When he turned to the cactus on which he 

 was to spend more than ten years of study, it 

 was, in the main, a stubborn, irreconcilable 

 foe to the race ; in order to make it a friend of 

 man its whole nature must be changed ; it 

 must be re-created. To the average man it 

 would seem a waste of time and energy to 

 seek to improve a plant which for millions 

 of years had been hostile to the race, which 

 seemed to have absolutely nothing in common 

 with civilization, which by its pariah -like 

 nature seemed peculiarly fitted for a home 

 upon the desert, its closest comrades the 

 rattlesnake and the scorpion, its highest aim, 

 apparently, to cause the death of some thirst- 

 maddened animal driven to eat its juicy but 

 deadly leaves. 



But, the more difficult the problem, the 

 keener his desire to solve it. He knew that 



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