LUTHER BURBANK 
conditions with changes so slight as to be almost 
imperceptible, but gradually accommodating itself 
to the conditions under which it lived and grew— 
one such survivor out of all the billions of 
cactus plants that have ever grown, would have 
been sufficient to have covered the deserts of the 
world with its progeny—to have produced all of 
the thorny cactus which we have in the world 
today. 
“You see,” said Mr. Burbank, “the cactus did 
not prepare in advance to meet an enemy—it 
simply adapted itself to changing conditions as 
those conditions arose. First, surviving the desert 
drought and the broiling sun, it threw its roots 
deep so that its main source of life was below 
ground. Then, attacked by an enemy which ate 
off the leaves above the surface, it still had life 
and resistance to try again. Ineffectually, at first, it 
began to build its armor, but each discouragement 
proved but the incentive to another attempt. It 
is a vivid picture: the whole cactus family in 
a death struggle for supremacy over an enemy 
which threatens its very life — millions and 
millions of the family perishing in the struggle, 
and perhaps but one victorious survivor left to 
start a new and armored race. 
“It is wonderful, too; but, whenever we plant a 
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