AND HIS PLANT SCHOOL 123 



mate of California it will keep on the vines until Christmas 

 and New Year, if protected from heavy rains. 



Thus we see how strangely plants vary when taken un- 

 der training and grown from seed. From this experiment 

 by selection alone, one of the earliest grapes ever known 

 is produced, and also one of the latest. 



"This is not a wine grape," said Luther Burbank, when 

 asked if any of the new varieties excelled as a wine product. 

 Then looking at the questioner with eyes full of thought- 

 ful emotion, as if penetrating far into the future, he added: 

 "The continued use of wine destroys the finer qualities 

 of both body and mind. Tell the children I have never 

 produced a superior wine grape, and that if I ever do 

 produce one, it shall be at once destroyed. No wine grape 

 will ever be sent into the world from my plant school." 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

 OPUNTIA, THE CACTUS CHILD 



There was a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flowers, 

 and a suppressed titter ran through the chestnuts when 

 Opuntia, the cactus child, came into school. He was so 

 very green and such a homely fellow to look upon that it 

 must have been hard for them to keep their faces straight. 

 But most of the plant children had long since caught the 



