136 LUTHER BURBANK 



they can be grown, are taking measures to secure supplies 

 of stock to provide against the possibility of all too fre- 

 quent famines. For they can be planted and remain un- 

 cultivated and undisturbed, constantly increasing in size 

 and weight, until needed; then each acre would preserve 

 the lives of hundreds of animals or even human beings 

 for months, until other food could be obtained. No 

 class of plants is easier grown. Quality of soil is of 

 little importance. Cultivation is almost or quite unneces- 

 sary. 



The old prickly pears produced as much as eighteen 

 thousand pounds of fruit to the acre, and this was a com- 

 mon crop on the poorest soil. The best of the new Opun- 

 tias will sometimes produce more than one hundred eighty 

 thousand pounds of delicious fruit on the same space. It 

 is the only forage* plant that furnishes such an abundance 

 of juicy, green feed the year round. Its big leaves can be 

 cut at any time, summer or winter, and they furnish water 

 as well as food. This is why intelligent people know that 

 a new era of agriculture has dawned for continents like 

 Australia and Africa, and for millions of the now useless 

 acres in other countries. 



Remember these spineless edible cacti are new plants 

 wholly new the product of the brain and hand of Luther 

 Burbank. Partially thorny ones have been grown for ages 

 and cultivated for their fruit. But systematic training in 



* Forage food for horses or cattle. 



