100 LUTHEK BURBANK 



to. Meantime I was carrying on extensive 

 experiments with all the half-spineless ones 

 which had been well known for centuries. 



A SOUL-TESTING EXPERIENCE 



But the work through which this result was 

 achieved constituted in some respects the most 

 arduous and soul-testing experience that I have 

 ever undergone. 



In carrying out the experiments, from the 

 initial pollenizing through stages that involved 

 the handling of seed and the constant handling 

 of seedlings, I was obliged to associate most 

 intimately with the cactus plants, and it was ab- 

 solutely impossible to avoid their spicules. Par- 

 ticularly after the work had advanced to a stage 

 where the larger spines had been removed and 

 the remaining spicules were in little bundles on 

 the older joints, did it become impossible to 

 handle them without filling one's fingers with the 

 irritating prickles. 



For five years or more the cactus-blooming 

 season was a period of torment to me both day 

 and night. Time and again I have declared 

 from the bottom of my heart that I wished I had 

 never touched the cactus to attempt to remove 

 its spines. Looking back on the experience now, 

 I feel that I would not have courage to renew 



