LUTHER BURBANK 



employed may be made applicable, as well, to the 

 improvement of otber plants. 



It suffices, here, to say that, beginning with his 

 simple observation and reading the history of the 

 cactus from its present-day appearance, he was 

 able to see outlined before him the method by 

 which a plant yielding rich food and forage has 

 been produced, which, more than any other plant, 

 promises to solve the present-day problem of 

 higher living costs. 



***** 



"But, Mr. Burbank," asked a visitor at the Santa 

 Rosa Experiment Farm, "do you mean that the 

 cactus foresaw the coming of an enemj' which was 

 to destroy it? Is it believable that a plant, like 

 a nation expecting war, could armor itself in 

 advance of the necessity? And if the cactus did 

 not know that an enemy was later to destroy it, 

 would it not have been destroyed by the enemy 

 before it had the opportunity of preparing a means 

 of defense?" 



Let us look into the history of the plant as it 

 revealed itself to Mr. Burbank and see the answer 



to these questions. 



* * * * * 



The likelihood is that parts of Nevada, Arizona, 

 Utah and Northern Mexico were once a great 

 inland sea — that the deserts now there were the 



[14] 



