LUTHER BURBANK 



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 thousand 

 or two had the stamina to throw out new leaves — ■ 

 and to try over again. 



But just 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 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 

 million, there may have been but a hundred which 

 were able to ward off destruction. 



The hundred, stronger than the rest, though 

 eaten to the ground, were able still to send up new 

 leaves, and with each new crop the hairs became 

 stiffer and longer, the protuberances harder and 

 more pointed, until finally, if there were even only 

 one surviving representative of the race, there was 

 developed a cactus which was effectuallj' armored 

 against its every animal enemy. 



One such surviving cactus, as transformed 

 throughout ages and ages of time, meeting new 



[18] 



