THE NEW OPUNTIAS 



over and over again pronounced impossible, 

 just as he has set aside some pet theories, be- 

 cause in his life-work he has had such oppor- 

 tunities to test and prove and observe as no 

 other man living or dead has ever had, ena- 

 bling him on this unprecedented scale to detect 

 the errors that have arisen from tests made in 

 a petty way, so in the practical side of his 

 work, like that in the fast-growing trees and 

 the new cactus, he has demonstrated to be 

 fact that which practical men, sincere to the 

 core but having inadequate knowledge, have 

 believed to be impossible. 



It is extremely interesting to note in pass- 

 ing that Mr. Burbank has received numerous 

 letters from various desert-like places in the 

 world, and from regions where Famine stalks, 

 asking, — indeed, it might sometimes well be 

 termed pleading — for information as to the 

 new cactus, the hope of the desert world. Re- 

 cently a communication was received from the 

 representatives of the British government in 

 India, making enquiry how this new cactus 

 may be introduced into the famine-stricken 

 regions of that land. Once established on a 

 large scale, the new cactus may remain for 



