LUTHER BURBANK 
“No favorite garden flower can outdo this 
ungainly monster of the desert, when in bloom, 
in the seductiveness of its advertisement to the 
bee. 
“When summer comes, and the bee has paid, 
by the service it has rendered, for the honey it has 
taken, the nest of fertile eggs beneath each cactus 
blossom begins to grow into a luscious fruit. 
“In this cactus fruit there is an acid sweetness 
as tempting as that of the raspberry, the straw- 
berry or the pineapple. Its outward covering has 
a brilliant beauty no less attractive than that of 
the cherry, or the grape. 
“Thus, in the springtime, the cactus, like the 
cherry, advertises to the friendly bees to bring 
its offspring new heredities, and, in the fall, it 
advertises to the friendly birds to carry off its 
seed and piant it where its young may have the 
advantage of new environments. 
“In its spiny armor we read the plant’s response 
to the enemies in its environment. 
“In its brilliant flowers and tempting fruit we 
read its receptiveness to the friendship of the birds 
and bees. 
“Those spines and those flowers and fruits tell 
us that while its ancestors were fighting a common 
foe, they still found time to build up lasting 
partnerships. 
[108] 
