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THE SPINELESS CACTUS : 
The Opuntias, having once been thornless, there is no reason why they should not some¬ 
time again revert to a state of partial thornlessness and this is exactly what they do. In 
the Hawaiian Islands a partially thornless Opuntia' is sometimes found, always growing, 
however, in places absolutely inaccessible to browsing animals. In California, Mexico, 
Colorado, New Mexico and Texas small patches of half thornless ones are sometimes found 
almost always in inaccessible crevices among rocks. And on some of the South Sea Is- 
ands where vegetation is abundant and browsing animals few, the Opuntias having no 
use for thorns have either reverted back to thornlessness or often the thorns have become 
hair-like, diminished and perfectly harmless. 
Some twelve years ago, while testing the availibility of a great number of proposed forage 
plants from the various arid regions of the world with a view to the improvement of the 
most promising, I was greatly impressed with the apparent possibilities in this line among 
the Opuntias which from their well known hardiness, remarkable vigor and rapidity of 
growth, easy multiplication and universal adaptability to conditions of drought, flood, 
heat, cold, rich or arid soil, place them as a class far ahead of all other members of the 
great cactus family, both as forage plants and for their most attractive, wholesome and 
delicious fruits, which are produced abundantly and without fail each season. These 
fruits which are borne on the different species and varieties, vary in size from that of a small 
peanut to the size of a large banana and in colors of crimson, scarlet, 3 ^ 11 ow and white, 
and have more various attractive flavors than are usually found in most other fruits except 
perhaps the apple and the pear, the product of a single plant being often from 50 to 200 
pounds per annum, some bearing one crop, others two or more each season like the figs, 
the first or main crop ripening as the second comes into bloom on the same plants. 
The Opuntias, from root to tip, are practically all food and drink and are greatly relished 
by all herbivorous animals from a canary bird to an elephant and for this very reason 
have to be on the defensive and perhaps nowhere in the whole vegetable kingdom have 
such elaborate preparations been made; the punishment inflicted is immediate, the pain 
severe and lasting, often ending in death, so that all living things have learned to avoid 
the Opuntias as they do rattlesnakes, and notwithstanding their most delicious and nour¬ 
ishing fruit produced unfailingly in greatest abundance have not been systematically 
improved by the Agriculturist and Horticulturist as their merits so well deserve. 
By my collectors and others I secured the best Opuntias from all sections of Mexico, 
from Central and South America, from North and South Africa, Australia, Japan, Hawaiian 
and the South Sea Islands. The United States Agricultural Department at Washington, 
through my friend, Mr. David G. Fairchild, also secured eight kinds of partially thorn¬ 
less ones for me from Sicily, Italy, France and North Africa, besides a small collection 
of Mexican wild thorny ones which were in the Government greenhouses at the time. 
Besides these, I had the hardy wild species from Maine, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, California 
Arizona, New Mexico, Dakota, Texas and other states. All these were grown and their 
agricultural and horticultural values studied and compared with great care. Many so- 
called thornless or partly thornless ones were obtained, but not one among the thousands 
received from all these sources was absolutely free from thorns and spicules and even 
worse, those which were the most promising in these respects often bore the poorest fruit, 
were the most unproductive of fruit or produced less fodder or were less hardy than the 
wild thornless species and varieties. The first work was to select the best of these, cross 
them, raise numerous seedlings, select the best of these and so continue hoping for im¬ 
provement. One of the first and not unexpected facts of importance to be observed, was 
that by crossing, the thorns were often increased rather than diminished, but not so with 
all. Some vei^ few stdl became even more thornless than their so-called thornless parents 
greatly increased size and quality of leaves (raquettes or slabs) and among them 
