78 LUTHER BURBANK 



In the same way the cactus, when taken under 

 cultivation, can dispense with the spines that 

 were so necessary a protection to it while it grew 

 in the desert, where, in the old days, buffalo and 

 antelope, and in more recent times cattle and 

 horses, would feed on its succulent slabs were 

 they not carefully guarded. 



The apple, pear, and plum, which armed them- 

 selves with sharp thorns when in the wild state, 

 have given up the thorns since they came into 

 the orchard. 



Among other families of plants we find that 

 protection has been secured by the development 

 of acrid or astringent or poisonous properties, 

 offensive odors, or imitative colors that serve no 

 useful purpose except to safeguard the plant 

 against its enemies. And such protective devices 

 and mechanisms often become a burden when 

 the plant is brought under the guardianship 

 of man. 



Of a piece with these protective devices is the 

 peculiar covering that the plums and their allies 

 have developed about the seed that grows at the 

 heart of their fleshy and succulent fruit. This 

 stone is like an armor-plate covering that success- 

 fully protects the seed from the action of even 

 the strongest jaws, or from almost any forces of 

 nature to which it is likely to be subjected. 



