THE NEW OPUNTIAS 



Now that Mr. Burbank has taken this wild 

 cactus and developed it as here set forth, pre- 

 serving and enhancing its desirable character- 

 istics and eliminating its objectionable ones, 

 the whole situation is simplified : his new cacti 

 enter, figures of commanding importance. In- 

 stead of attempting to devise mechanical or 

 other allied means for the removal of the dan- 

 gerous thorns and spicules, he has removed 

 them by breeding, while, at the same time, 

 enormously improving the general character 

 of the plant. 



This leads to a consideration of the produc- 

 ing powers of the cactus as compared with 

 other forage foods. During the past summer, 

 (1906, the new opuntias which Mr. Burbank 

 [has created produced in the first six months 

 of their life, from single-rooted plants (this in 

 a climate and soil supposed to be poorly 

 adapted to the cactus), forty-seven and one- 

 half pounds per plant, yielding at the distance 

 planted, — in rows five feet apart and with 

 plants two and one-half feet distant from each 

 other, — at the rate of 180,230 pounds per 

 acre. This is over ninety tons per acre. The 

 second and succeeding years the opuntias are 



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