LUTHER BURBANK 
A cactus plant pulled from the ground and 
tied by a string to the branch of a tree remained 
hanging in the air for six years and eight months. 
During this time it had no source of nourishment, 
and its slabs withered and turned brown. But, 
planted again by sticking one of its slabs six 
inches in the ground, it immediately took root, 
and within a few weeks began to throw out new 
blossoms and slabs. 
Another detached cactus slab, long forgotten 
in a closet, and after having been in the dark 
for more than a year, was found to have thrown 
out a sickly looking baby slab when the closet 
door was left open for a few days. 
The more the adaptability of the present- 
day cactus and its tenacious hold on life are 
observed, the easier it becomes to understand 
its fight against a devouring enemy which lived 
during the desert-forming age, and to see the 
origin of the thorny cactus of today. 
Nor is the cactus the only desert plant which 
shows evidences of such a struggle. 
The goldenrods of the desert are more bitter 
than the goldenrods of the plains. 
The wormwood of the desert is more bitter 
even than the wormwood which grows where there 
have been fewer enemies. 
[26] 
