136 LUTHER BURBANK 



spineless variety, which is sometimes found in 

 tropical islands. Yet it is obvious that the spines 

 cannot add to the health of the creature, and it is 

 hardly to be doubted that the animals will appre- 

 ciate the giant spineless varieties when they have 

 access to them. 



But the most remarkable part of the story re- 

 mains to be told. 



This is the fact that the cattle have water to 

 drink only during the rainy season, which usually 

 includes the months of December and January. 

 During these two months there is a certain 

 amount of grass and they have water to drink. 



But during the other ten months of the year 

 the cattle subsist exclusively on the fruit and 

 young leaves of the cactus. 



They receive not a drop of water except as 

 they find it in the succulent cactus slabs. 



"Yet," the narrator continues, "it is a remark- 

 able fact that during the dry months of the year 

 we get a higher percentage of fat cattle from 

 that paddock than from any of the others." He 

 adds that he considers the cattle fed in this way 

 on cactus to make as well-flavored beef as any 

 that he has tasted in San Francisco and New 

 Zealand. 



Another record of the same sort is given by 

 Mr. Robert Hind, a millionaire sugar planter 



