NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
nearly an inch in thickness, bearing fruit of 
large size, not a thorn upon it, not a spicule in 
all its rich meat,—the bitter enemy of the 
desert converted into an abiding friend of 
man. 
In creating this edible, thornless cactus Mr. 
Burbank took into account a thousand and 
one things which may find no mention here, 
but one of them which may be noted shows 
how persistently practical is all his work. It 
takes much of the vital forces of the cactus to 
make its powerfully constructed thorns and to 
supply its thalli with spicules. In breeding 
these away from it he gives to Nature the 
opportunity to devote all her energies to 
the production of food and fruit, and this will 
have a most important bearing upon the 
future; he has not only transformed the 
cactus as to its product but has, in removing 
these thorns and spicules, provided a means 
for vastly increasing this product. 
The fruit of the new cactus is in shape quite 
like a fat cucumber slightly flattened at both 
ends. It is about two and one-quarter inches 
in diameter by three and a half inches long. 
Sometimes it is a beautiful yellow in color, 
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