LUTHER BURBANK 



are rich in nutriment for man and for beast, here 

 in the desert where the demand for food is the 

 most acute — and the supply of it the most scanty. 



"And here they are, ruined for every useful 

 purpose, by the bitterness which makes them 

 inedible, or the poison which sickens or kills, or 

 the spiny armor which places their store of nutri- 

 ment and moisture beyond reach. 



"There must be some reason for that bitterness, 

 that poison, those spines. 



"What other reason could there be than that 

 these are Nature's provisions for self defense? 



"Here are the sagebrush, with a bitterness as 

 irritant, almost, as the sting of a bee, the euphorbia 

 as poisonous as a snake, the cactus as well 

 armored as a porcupine — and for the same reason 

 that bees have stings, that snakes have fangs, 

 that porcupines have arrow-like spines — for self 

 protection from some stronger enemj'^ which seeks 



to destroy." 



***** 



Self preservation comes before self sacrifice, 

 apparently, in plant life just as it does in human 

 life. 



The plum trees in our orchards outdo each 

 other in bearing fruit to please us; the geraniums 

 in our dooryards compete to see which may give 

 us the greatest delight. 



[10] 



