84. LUTHER BURBANK 



Nor does its attempt at reproduction require 

 much encouragement. Fifty young cactus slabs 

 laid on a burlap-covered wooden shelf four feet 

 above ground were found to have thrown long 

 roots down through the burlap and through the 

 cracks of the boards within a few days. 



A cactus plant pulled from the ground and 

 tied by a string to the branch of a tree remained 

 hanging in the air for six years and eight months. 

 During this time it had no source of nourishment 

 and its slabs shriveled and turned a light brown. 

 By planting these slabs in the ground they im- 

 mediately took root and within a few weeks 

 began to throw out buds and new slabs. 



A detached cactus slab, long forgotten in a 

 closet, after having been in the dark for more 

 than two years, was found to have thrown out a 

 sickly looking baby slab. 



The more the adaptability of the present-day 

 cactus and its tenacious hold on life are observed, 

 the easier it becomes to understand its successful 

 fight against its numerous enemies which lived 

 during the desert-forming age, and to see the 

 origin of the thorny cactus of to-day. 



Nor is the cactus the only desert plant which 

 shows evidences of such a struggle. 



The goldenrods of the desert are more bitter 

 than the goldenrods of the plains. 



