The best botanists even those who 

 have made the Opuntias a special study 

 declare it to be one of the most difficult 

 genera to classify, as new forms are con- 

 stantly appearing and the older ones so 

 gradually and imperceptibly merge to- 

 gether. The facts, without doubt, are that 

 their ancestors had leaves like other vege- 

 tation and were as thornless as an apple 

 tree, but in ages past were stranded in 

 a region -which was gradually turning to 

 a desert, perhaps, by the slow evapora- 

 tion of some great inland lake or sea. 



Being thus stranded the plants which 

 could adapt themselves to the heat and 

 drought which as the years passed by be- 

 came each season more and more severe, 

 survived, at first by dropping the leaves, 

 thus preventing too much evaporation, 

 leaving the fat smooth stems only to per- 

 form the functions of leaves. 



The Opuntias even to this day always 

 shoot out very numerous rudimentary 

 leaves, which persist a few days or weeks 

 and then, having no function to perform, 

 drop off. These rudimentary leaves which 

 always appear for a time on the young 

 slabs are often mistaken for big thorns by 

 those who are not familiar with the 

 growth and -habits of the plant. 



But the Opuntias had yet to meet an- 

 other enemy ; desert animals were hungry 

 for their rich stores of nutriment and 

 water, so the rudimentary leaves were 

 supplemented by the awful needle-like 

 . thorns placed at exactly the right angles 

 for the best defense. 



Some seventeen years ago, while test- 

 ing the availability of a great number of 

 proposed forage plants from the various 

 arid regions of the world with a view to 

 the improvement of the most promising, I 

 was greatly impressed with the apparent 

 possibilities in this line among the Opun- 

 tias, which from their well-known vigor 

 and rapidity of growth, easy multiplica- 

 tion and universal adaptability to condi- 

 tions of drought, flood, heat, cold, rich 

 or arid soil, place them as a class far ahead 

 of all other members of the great cactus 

 family, both as forage plants and for their 

 most attractive, wholesome and delicious 

 fruits, which are produced abundantly and 

 without fail each season. 



These fruits, which are borne on the 

 different species and varieties, vary in 

 size from that of a small peanut to the 

 size of a very large banana and in colors 

 of crimson, scarlet, orange, yellow and 

 white, and also shaded in various colors 

 like apples, pears, peaches and plums, and 

 with more various attractive flavors than 

 are found in most other fruits except, per- 

 haps, the apple and the pear, the product 

 of a single plant being often from 50 to 

 200 pounds per annum, some bearing one 

 crop, others two or more each season like 

 the figs, the first or main crop ripening 

 as the second comes into bloom on the 

 same plants. 



The Opuntias, from root to tip, are 

 practically all food and drink and are 

 greatly relished by all herbivorous ani- 

 mals, and for this very reason have had 

 to be on the defensive, and perhaps no- 

 where in the whole vegetable kingdom 

 have such elaborate preparations been 

 made; the punishment inflicted is imme- 

 diate, the pain severe and lasting, often 

 ending in death, so that all living things 

 have learned to avoid the Opuntias as 

 _they do rattlesnakes, and notwithstanding 

 their most delicious and nourishing fruit 

 produced unfailingly in greatest abund- 

 ance have never before been systematic- 

 ally improved by the Agriculturalist and 

 Horticulturalist as their merits so well de- 

 serve. 



By my collectors and others, for the 

 earliest experiments in this work, the best 

 Opuntias from all sections of Mexico, 

 from Central and South America, from 

 North and South Africa, Australia, Japan, 

 Hawaii and the South Sea Islands, were 

 secured. The United States Agricultural 

 Department at Washington, through my 

 friend, Mr. David G. Fairchild, also se- 

 cured eight kinds of partially thornless 

 ones for me from Sicily, Italy, France and 

 North Africa, besides a small collection of 

 Mexican wild thorny ones which were in 

 the Government greenhouses at the time. 

 Besides these I had the hardy wild species 

 from Maine, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, 

 California, Arizona, New Mexico, Dakota, 

 Texas and other States. 



All these were grown and their agricul- 

 tural and horticultural values studied and 

 compared with great care. 



