78 LUTHER BURBANK 



Then came the fight of the cactus to outdo the 

 heasts which sought to devour it — the fight as a 

 family, and the fight within the family to see 

 which of its individuals should be found fit to 

 persist. 



Of a million cactus plants eaten to the ground 

 by ravenously hungry antelopes, we will say — 

 antelopes which had increased in numbers year 

 by year while their food supply year by year was 

 relentlessly dwindling — of these million plants 

 gnawed down to the roots, perhaps but a thou- 

 sand or two had the stamina to throw out new 

 leaves and to try over again. 



It is a well known fact that plants which are 

 pliable enough to change their characteristics 

 under changed conditions, more readily adapt 

 themselves to still newer conditions. 



As in its previous experience, the cactus had 

 changed the character of its stalk, so now it 

 undertook another change — the acquisition of an 

 armor. 



This armor probably at first consisted of 

 nothing but a soft protuberance, a modified fruit 

 bud or leaf, perhaps, ineffectual in warding off 

 the onslaughts of the hungry animals. 



So, of the thousand or two left out of the 

 millions, there may have been but a hundred 

 which were able to ward off destruction. 



