The Cactus Pear— 

 A Profitable Fruit 



Its Flavors Fixed, Now Workijjg Mostly for 

 Seedlessness 



THE story of the spineless cactus has been 

 briefly outlined in an earlier volume, and 

 will be told in detail in a later one. 

 There is no more important story to be told in 

 connection with the record of my entire work, but 

 it would not comport with the purpose of the pres- 

 ent chapter to go into details as to the manner of 

 dievelopment of this extraordinary plant. For the 

 moment, we are concerned solely with the fruit 

 of the cactus. In the present chapter it will be 

 |sonsidered altogether from that standpoint. 

 f' It should be explained at the outset, however, 

 hihat whereas the improved forms of cactus pear 

 about which we are speaking are grown on the 

 ■(Isjpineless cactus plants, yet the fruit itself is not 

 yet altogether without spicules. 



To remove the spines from the cactus slabs — 

 as the "leaves" are commonly termed— was a task 



[Volume VI — Chapter VII] 



