8 LUTHER BURBANK 



requiring somewhat less time than the removal 

 of the smaller spines, and in particular of the 

 very minute spicules, from the fruit. 



The reason for this is not that the spines of 

 the fruit are more fixed and intrinsically more 

 difficult of removal than those on the body of the 

 plant itself, but merely that the work must pro- 

 gress more slowly because it is necessary to wait 

 for a term of years, sometimes four or five, before 

 the cactus plant comes to the fruiting age when 

 grown from seed. Unfortunately it cannot with 

 any degree of certainty be predicted from obser- 

 vation of the plant itself whether or not it will 

 bear spiny fruit, so it is necessary to wait until 

 the plant comes to fruiting age before its charac- 

 teristics in this regard can be known. 



On the other hand, the character of the plant 

 itself with regard to spine bearing is revealed im- 

 mediately when the first tiny shoots come up 

 from the seed. So selection may be made at once 

 among the seedlings, and by weeding out those 

 that show any propensity to bear spines, and 

 selecting those that are smooth, the experiment 

 may go forward with relative rapidity. 



We know that we are making no mistake in 

 our selection as regards the bearing of spines on 

 the flattened stalks of the plant, because their 

 character as to this is fixed from the outset, and 



