HOW PLANTS ADAPT THEM- 

 SELVES TO CONDITIONS 



The Influence of Environment 



IT is the two acres of spineless cactus on one 

 of my experiment farms which first strikes 

 the eye. On the same grounds there are some 

 3,000 other experiments under way — new flow- 

 ers, fruits, vegetables, trees, and plants of all 

 descriptions such as man has never before seen, 

 but the velvet-leaved cactus — freed from its 

 thorns — seems more than a plant transforma- 

 tion; it seems to some a miracle. 



Every native plant growing on the desert is 

 either bitter, poisonous, or spiny. It was this 

 fact which gave me the suggestion for producing 

 this new plant — a plant which already has shown 

 its ability to outdo alfalfa five to one in quantity 

 and which promises to support our cattle on 

 much land which has heretofore been considered 

 useless, so that our ranges may be turned into 

 gardens to produce the vegetable sustenance for 

 a multiplying population. 



69 



