LUTHER BURBANK 



are boiled to make them available as food for 

 hogs, especially in long seasons of drought. Such 

 facts sufficiently attest the value of this plant, as 

 well as its palatability. 



The spines which have hitherto constituted the 

 one perennial drawback having now been re- 

 moved, and the plant itself having been made to 

 reveal new capacity for growth and for the pro- 

 duction of flesh and fruit of peculiar succulence 

 and food value, the cactus, as represented by the 

 new races of spineless Opuntias, must take a lead- 

 ing place among forage plants in all arid and semi- 

 arid districts, where the climate is semi-tropical. 



— There is no reason why the 

 cactus should not compete on 

 something more than equal- 

 ity with any other forage 

 crop — not excepting alfalfa — 

 even in regions admirably 

 adapted to the growth of 

 plants of less hardy character. 



