THE THORNLESS EDIBLE CACTUS 
while in the fruit from another plant the flesh 
is crimson. It is delicious to the taste. To 
some it has the flavor of a peach, to some a 
melon, to some the suggestion of a pineapple, 
to some a blackberry—to every one who tastes 
it a different flavor from anything before 
eaten. It is, indeed, a new taste for the palate 
of the world. It may be eaten fresh or cooked, 
or it may be preserved. The thalli, too, have a 
peculiarly attractive flavor when cooked and 
may be eaten in a variety of ways, or they 
may be put up as ginger or melon rinds are 
preserved. As a food for cattle the thalli are 
peculiarly rich, at least one half as nutritious 
as alfalfa, and they will produce the finest 
beef, mutton and pork. 
It is quite significant, it may be said in 
passing, that at a time when industrious 
explorers of the United States Government 
were scouring the desert places of the earth 
in search of a thornless cactus which they 
thought might be introduced into the arid 
regions of America, finding at last in Algeria 
a prickly pear almost spineless, Mr. Burbank 
had been for years cultivating tens of thou- 
sands of cacti upon his proving grounds, 
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