NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



which one of Mr. Burbank's creations is the 

 most valuable to the world from a practical 

 point of view, which one adds most to the 

 wealth of nations. But probably no other 

 creation has surpassed this one, for it provides 

 for the sustenance of the race, food for man 

 and food for beast; it utilizes the vast desert 

 areas of the world without the intervention 

 of irrigation, though irrigation will aid here as 

 elsewhere ; it converts enormous reaches of 

 semi-arable land in all zones to profitable 

 husbandry. 



It had long been known that there were 

 certain kinds of cactus growths having few, 

 if any, thorns and certain ones the fruit of 

 which natives of some countries considered 

 edible. It sometimes happens in Mr. Bur- 

 bank's work that the essential thing is to com- 

 bine excellent attributes and eliminate bad 

 ones, rather than to create a wholly new plant. 

 And so it was in the case of the cactus. And 

 yet, in one sense, the cactus he has produced 

 is absolutely new, because no other cactus has 

 ever combined so many excellencies, devoid of 

 obnoxious elements, — he has bred out the bad 

 and bred in the good. It is quite like the 



150 



