/i? 



PASTIME FOR THE RICH 



263 



soil and easy culture, and enormous produc- 

 tivity; and they are wonderful fruit producers 

 as well. But they are the result of a most ardu- 

 ous series of experiments in plant development, 

 and they constitute new races, entitled to the 

 rank of new species if ordinary botanical 

 standards are to be accepted, that have been 

 developed here, and that, so far as there is any 

 evidence, had never previously existed anywhere 

 in the world." 



Nowhere in the world is there a cactus closely 

 resembling them in their combination of entire 

 spinelessness and inviting forage quality. 



Burbank's thomless cactus is at present used 

 extensively on the goat farms of California as 

 well as on the dairy farms. It supplies both 

 meat and drink in arid regions. It is also used 

 extensively for poultry, and many large poultry 

 raisers consider it not only the cheapest, but the 

 best, of all green feed for their hens. In India 

 the Burbank cactus is being planted for the 

 purpose of tiding people over in years of famine. 



If Burbank had not succeeded in his attempt 

 to create a giant thomless cactus he would have 

 included these experiments in the chapter in 

 which he frankly enumerates his failures; that's 

 the kind of a man he is. (Remember what I 

 wrote about his "$10,000 bonfires.") Instead of 

 being a failure, his cactus is the biggest and 

 most wonderful of his successes. And it will 

 remain a success. Until lately there was a 



