NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



years uncultivated and undisturbed, constantly 

 growing on and adding to its vast store, so 

 that, should famine come, it is ready with 

 food for man and beast, each acre thus being 

 able to preserve the lives of hundreds of hu- 

 man beings for months if needful. 



Reference has been made to the use of the 

 wild cacti as a food for animals after singeing 

 the thorns with fire. On this point Mr. Bur- 

 bank says: 



"Those who have fed the wild cactus exten- 

 sively acknowledge that cattle are often seen 

 with blood dripping from their mouths, and 

 that their throats and tongues become in- 

 flamed, very painful and at last like a piece of 

 sole leather. How would you enjoy being fed 

 on needles, fish-hooks, toothpicks, barbed-wire 

 fence, nettles and chestnut-burs? The wild 

 thorny cactus always has been and always 

 must be more or less of a pest. The best 

 newer thornless ones will withstand frost, 

 flood, drought, heat, wind and poor soil as well 

 as the wild ones, and will produce ten tons of 

 fairly good food, where the average wild one 

 will produce one ton of poor food." 



The fruit of the new cactus has steadily 



394 



