Hollinger Corp. pH 8.5 Luther Burbank’s Spineless Cactus This Seal guarantees a genuine Luther Burbank Production The Luther Burbank Cn Sole Distributer Santa Rosa, California, U. S. A. Copyrighted 1912 by The Luther Burbank Company + es aia! > / v/ ©.A334228 a Nene A man must confine his efforts to one occupation if he is to do it well. To be a successful creator of new forms of plant life, and a successful merchant is beyond the limit of one man. Such is my case. I must either confine myself entirely to selling my new varieties of plant life and leave the development alone; or confine my efforts to new forms and improved varieties, without distributing them to the world and making them of practical usefulness. I prefer to devote my entire energies to production. Plant life is my one absorbing thought night and day. In view of these circumstances, a corporation has been formed which will manage, market, and carry on exclus- ively the business of selling the various new forms of plant life which I have evolved. This corporation is the sole dis- tributer of the Luther Burbank horticultural productions, and from no other source can one be positively assured of obtaining genuine Luther Burbank creations. It is called The Luther Burbank Co. To give each pur- chaser a guarantee of receiving original Burbank produc- tions this corporation has originated a trade mark. The name ‘Burbank’ has been so indiscriminately and fraud- ulently used that it has in a measure lost its true signifi- cance. Every package of seed and eyery plant sent out from this corporation will have this trade mark on it for your protection. All fraudulent uses of the same will be vigorously prosecuted and any information that will give knowledge of its misuse will ke welcome. Signed, The Spineless Cactus For hundreds, probably thousands of years, the great, rapid growing, desert thorny cactus (Opuntias and others), have furnished food for stock and fruit for man, especially in Southern Europe, Northern Africa and Mexico, where the fruit, though rather seedy and difficult or almost dangerous to handle, is very highly prized, more so perhaps than any other fruit except the orange and banana. The whole plant furnishes nutritious food in abundance, yet great pain and often death was the penalty for using them. Seventeen years ago the first scientific experiments for their improvement were instituted on Luther Burbank’s farms. How to Judge Novelties—Look to Their Source. The greatest inconvenience and injus- tice is not misunderstanding, prejudice, envy, jealousy, ignorance or ingratitude, but that purchasers are so often deceived by various unscrupulous dealers who, taking advantage of the name “Burbank” hoist on the public green carnations, hardy bananas, half wild, thorny cactus for Burbank thornless ones, blue roses, seedless watermelons, cigars, soap, real estate, magazine articles, obtaining money or positions under false statements of having been in his employ, and a thousand other similar schemes; and by outrageous misrepresentations or the change or ad- dition of a word or two from the correct descriptions, deceiving purchasers even when a genuine product of real value may happen to be offered. Wise planters procure their cuttings and plants from the original source. Tons of so-called “thornless” cactus cuttings have been sold to unsuspecting customers as “Burbank’s” or “just as good as Bur- bank’s” by a few dealers who well know that they are not in any respect what they claim for them. History of the Spineless Cactus By Luther Burbank. For more than fifty years I have been quite familiar with “thornless cactus” of many species and varieties, In fact, one of the first pets which I had in earliest childhood was a thornless cactus, one of the beautiful Epiphyllums. The Phyllocactus and many of the Cereus family are also thornless, not a trace to be found on any part of the plants or fruit. Thus the somewhat indefinite popular name of “spineless cactus” has been used by persons unacquainted with 2 these facts, for be it known that “thorn- less cactus” is no more of a novelty than a “thornless” watermelon. But among the Cacti, which grow to an immense size with great rapidity and which can be readily cultivated in garden, field or desert no perfectly thornless ones were known and very little interest taken in the cacti of any kind, either thorny or thornless, as to their agricultural or hor- ticultural value until some seventeen years ago when the work of improvement was taken up on my experiment farms, and improved perfectly smooth, rapid- growing varieties had been produced and made known. Some of the best growers among these will produce five to ten times as much weight of food as will the wild thorny ones (which some ignorant or unprinci- pled dealers have recommended for cul- tivation), under exactly the same condi- tions. These wonderful results were not unexpected as the genus Opuntia is a surprisingly variable one even in the wild state. The best botanists—even those who have made the Opuntias a special study— declare it to be one of the most difficult genera to classify, as new forms are con- stantly appearing and the older ones so gradually and imperceptibly merge to- gether. The facts without doubt are that their ancestors had leaves like other vege- tation and were as thornless as an apple tree, but in ages past were stranded in a region which was gradually turning to a desert, perhaps, by the slow evapora- tion of some great inland lake or sea. Being thus stranded the plants which could adapt themselves to the heat and drought which as the years passed by be- came each season more and more severe, survived, at first by dropping the leaves, thus preventing too much evaporation, leaving the fat smooth stems only to per- form the functions of leaves. The Opuntias even to this day always shoot out very numerous rudimentary leaves, which persist a few days or weeks and then, having no function to perform, drop off. These rudimentary leaves which always appear for a time on the young slabs are often mistaken for big thorns by those who are not familiar with the growth and habits of the plant. But the Opuntias had yet to meet an- other enemy; desert animals were hungry for their rich stores of nutriment and water, so the rudimentary leaves were supplemented by the awful needle-like thorns placed at exactly the right angles for the best defense. Some seventeen years ago, while test- ing the availability 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 Opun- tias, which from their well-known vigor and rapidity of growth, easy multiplica- tion and universal adaptability to condi- tions 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 very large banana and in coiors of crimson, scarlet, orange, yellow and white, and also shaded in various colors like apples, pears, peaches and plums, and with more various attractive flavors than are found in most other fruits except per- haps 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 ani- mals, and for this very reason have had to be on the defensive, and perhaps no- where in the whole vegetable kingdom have such elaborate preparations been made; the punishment inflicted is imme- diate, 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 nourishing fruit produced unfailingly in greatest abund- ance have never before been systematic- ally improved by the Agriculturist and Horticulturist as their merits so well de- serve. By my collectors and others, for the earliest experiments in this work the best Opuntias from all sections of Mexico, from Central and South America, from North and South Africa, Australia, Japan, Hawaii and the South Sea Islands, were 3 secured. The United States Agricultural Department at Washington, through my friend, Mr. David G. Fairchild, also se- cured eight kinds of partially thornless 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 agricul- tural 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 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 Thorny and Smooth. fodder or were less hardy than the wild thorny species and varieties. The first work was to select the best of these, cross them, raise numerous seed- lings, select the best of these and so con- tinue hoping for improvement. 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 very few still became even more thcrnless than their so-called thornless parents with greatly increased size and quality of leaves (raquettes or slabs), and among them a combination of the best qualities of both parents with surprising productiveness of slabs for feeding. The work is still in progress but on a still larger scale and now these improved Opuntias promise to be one of the most important food-producers of this age, some of these new creations grown from the same lot of seed yielding fully ten times as much feed as others under ex- actly the same conditions. Old half thornless ones have been grown for ages. Among the very nu- merous wild seedling Opuntias, partially thornless ones have appeared from time to time and these have been growing gen- erally unnoticed here and there in every part of the earth where the thorny ones grew, the seeds no doubt scattered by birds and other agencies. Some of these bore fairly good but seedy fruits and have been locally cultivated for ages, but have never received specific horticultural names or descriptions though the fruits of these and the thorny ones have long been used extensively as food and are the principal source of food for millions of human be- ings in Southern Europe, North Africa, Mexico and other lands, for about three months in each year. Systematic work for their improvement has shown how pliable and readily mould- ed is this unique, hardy denizen of rocky, drought-cursed, wind-swept, sun-blistered districts and how readily it adapts itself to more fertile soils and how rapidly it improves under cultivation and improved conditions. Some one asks: “Won’t they run wild again and produce thorns, when placed under desert conditions?” Has the “Burbank” plum which though introduced twenty-two years ago and is now more widely grown than any other plum on this earth, shown a tend- ency to be different in Africa, Borneo, Japan, Egypt, Madagascar or France? No, it is the same everywhere and the res- idents of Chicago, Auckland, London, San Francisco, New York and Valparaiso con- sume them in great (and rapidly increas- ing) numbers of carloads each season. The same may be said of the later intro- duced Wickson, America and numerous other plums and of my improved fruits and flowers which are extensively grown and generally offered for sale by most re- sponsible firms in all civilized countries and are generally slowly but very surely replacing the old and heretofore standard varieties. It will be so with these “‘new creations”’ in Opuntia. Tens of thousands of others not now ready to be distributed are under test, this catalog partially describing only the beginnings of a great work with the Opuntias, which in importance may be classed with the discovery of a new con- tinent. Does this work which has been only just briefly outlined mean anything? Intelligent people everywhere know well that it means a new agricultural era for whole continents like Australia and Africa and millions of otherwise useless acres in North and South America, Eu- rope and Asia. And now during the past three years the United States Department of Agri- culture has despatched agents to all parts where cacti grow to look up this matter among those who had for years been feeding the wild, thorny ones to their stock with good results when prop- erly prepared by fire, though it is ac- knowledged that thus prepared a portion of their nutritive value is lost and though the dangers of loss from feeding to stock are lessened, are not by any means made safe, even by singeing or any other pro- cess, while many of these new thornless ones are as safe to handle and as safe to feed as beets, potatoes, carrots or pump- kins. But let it be understood that these thorns are not growing on the wild Opun- tias for ornament any more than poison fangs, teeth, claws and stings are pos- sessed by various animals. They are for defense, and when de- prived of these defenses they must be protected from stock like any other feed grown in farm, fields or gardens. Still some doubter who has no knowl- edge of desert conditions or of these new plants will say, “Will it pay?” .Does any- thing pay? Some people seem to think that corn, wheat, oats, barley, cotton, rice, tobacco, melons and potatoes pay. How many tons of hay, beets or pota- toes can be raised each season on an acre of good soil? Yes, well, by actual weight cee egetere2seR segegreatyisinary a, es? Stifaes ee “i. " ay’ . 4 ‘ Peete: $ The Spineless Cactus. in the summer of 1906 in the cool coast climate of Sonoma County, Cal., on a heavy, black “adobe” soil, generally thought wholly unsuited for cactus, my new Opuntias produced the first year, six months from single rooted leaves, planted about June 1, an average of 47 1-2 pounds per plant or one-fourth acre, yielding at the distance planted (2 1-2x5 feet), at the rate of 180,230 pounds, over ninety tons, of forage per acre. Some of the best varieties produced very much above this average. Though planted much too closely for permanent field culture yet these notes are of interest on a subject of which little has been known. These Opuntias are always expected to and do produce nearly or quite double as much feed the third and succeeding years as they do the second season of planting. Yet, I would not expect one-fourth the above yield on desert soil without irriga- tion but would expect nearly or quite twice as much as the yield mentioned above in a very warm climate with one or two light irrigations each season. These improved Opuntias must of course be fenced from stock when young, but after two or three years’ growth stock may safely be turned loose among them as with age the main stem becomes woody and will not be injured, but on removal of stock will at once make a most rapid new growth. The leaves are to be fed to stock at any season throughout the whole year when most needed, and in countries where great numbers of valuable stock are lost in times of unusual drought, will be of inestimable value and will also prove of enormous value in less arid countries as a common farm or orchard crop even on the best agricultural soils but more especially on barren, rocky, hill and mountain sides and gravelly river beds which are now of no use whatever. The small, hard, wild thorny cactus has been a common everyday food for horses, camels, mules, oxen, growing and beef stock, dairy cows, pigs, and poultry for more than fifty years. Though millions have died from the thorns*, yet, no systematic work for their improvement had been taken up until some seventeen years ago; now agricul- turists and horticulturists in every land are deeply interested and the governments of all countries are taking measures to se- cure a stock of the improved Burbank Opuntias to avoid if possible the too com- mon occurrence of famines, for the Opun- tias can remain uncultivated and undis- turbed year after year, constantly increas- ing in size and weight until needed; then each acre will preserve the lives of a hun- dred animals or even human beings for months until other food can be obtained. The wild cactus is generally prepared for stock by singeing the thorns with fire, yet this never destroys all of the thorns. Those who have fed the wild cactus ex- tensively acknowledge that cattle are often seen with blood dripping from their mouths, and that their throats and tongues become at last inflamed, very painful and hard like a piece of sole leather. se How would you enjoy being fed on needles, fish-hooks, toothpicks, barbed wire fence, nettles and chestnut burrs? The wild, thorny cactus is and always must be more or less of a pest. Millions of cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, ostriches and other animals have been destroyed by it. The new thornless ones will withstand flood, drought, heat, wind and poor soil better than the wild ones and will produce one hundred tons of good food where the average wild ones will produce ten tons of inferior food. Dry seasons which are certain to come have been and will continue to be the source of irreparable loss to stock raisers. Even alfalfa, which is probably the most important forage plant in existence, can not be grown without a deep rich soil and an abundant supply of water. Many of the owners of the great stock ranges have seen the necessity of some insurance against these fearful losses and are devoting certain tracts to these new cactus plants to avert this danger as well as for supplementing the usual feed. *The wild cactus is prepared by boiling or steam- ing in Australia in times of drought, but even though great loss of stock is sometimes reported when thus prepared, some are saved from other- wise certain starvation. i Where Cactus Can Be og Monit, OCEAN g Zee ue ‘03 Islands INDIAN Xe ia Rey OCEAN MADAGASCAR Albany Colombe Melbourne sy’ a PACIEIC Successfully Grown. a Hop, np ~ (Gulf ofS / Mexi “guna Hawaii 6 Porto Rieo so * Caribber Men ee rinidad SR Sa cine is nama \ /S OU TH AMERICA” Callao ¥ A ta re Straits of? ey Punta Arenas Magellan Map of Globe, Where Spineless Cactus Can Be Grown. Cactus can be grown close in along the coast of California south to San Diego, in the great valleys of California, in a considerable part of Southern Arizona, Southern New Mexico, Southern Texas, Southern Louisiana and all along the Gulf and Atlantic Coast of the United States well up to South Carolina for about one hundred miles inland, more or less, ac- cording to elevation and other factors. In a general way, this is the part of the United States best adapted for cactus culture. RESTORING THE LAND There is every prospect that before the life’s work of Luther Burbank has ended he will have seen thousands of square miles of desert lands of the world trained to a profitable condition of fertility through the medium of his spineless cac- tus. The British government is consider- ing the feasibility of introducing Mr. Burbank’s hybrid plant in the Sahara desert, with a view of eventually forcing the most unprolific district in the world to suvport life.—‘‘Register-Leader,’’ Des Moines, Iowa. Maps of the Globe with cross lines in- dicating the northern and southern limits for the successful cultivation of the new Giant Burbank Cactus plants for fruit and forage; it will be observed that the whole continents of Africa and Australia, most of South America and the southern part of North America, Southern Europe and Asia and most of the thousands of islands of the seas are included in the territory where they can be grown; even this great territory including more than _ three- fourths of the inhabitable land of the earth is being somewhat extended by the production of hardier varieties. This work is progressing slowly but very surely. ‘*The production of these new spineless fruiting cacti is, in my opinion, as im- portant to the world as the discovery of a new continent.’’—Judge S. F. L., San Jose, Cal. Of Easy Culture and Rapid Growth Always Grown from Cuttings, Never By Seeds, Everybody knows that Baldwin apples, Bartlett pears and our favorite peaches, plums and cherries can not be raised from seeds; just the same laws hold true with the improved Opuntias, but fortuntely they can be raised from cuttings in any quantity with the utmost ease—more truly they raise themselves, for when broken from the parent plant, the cuttings attend to rooting without further atten- tion, whether planted right end up, bot- tom up, sideways or not at all. Best results are generally secured by planting the lower half of the cuttings below the surface of well prepared, dry, warm soil or sand. The two chief classes of Opuntias from which the majority of varieties of spine- less cactus originated are the Ficus Indica class and the Tapuna class, the Ficus In- dica class being more thoroughly domes- ticated and cultivated. The Ficusindica class may also be called the “Barbary Fig” class, most of the varieties yielding superior fruit in larger quantities than the Tapunas. They are also probably the heaviest producers of slabs, which are usually grass green in color and of a variety of shapes. The pads are produced in great masses. The Fresno and Santa Rosa are of the Fucis Indica class. The Tapuna class of spineless cactus contains the hardiest of the Opuntias. The Monterey and Chico are ot this class and each variety possesses great resistance to extremes of temperature. The slabs are usually a pale greenish white and have a minimum of fibre. They are very juicy and succulent and are perhaps the most palatable to live stock, which eagerly de- vour the pads. These varieties bear large quantities of fruit of the coarser kind which is highly desirable as hog or stock food, owing to the high percentage of sugar. This is of considerable importance and offers variety in feeding the slabs. No form of plant life perhaps responds more readily to kindly treatment than the Opuntia. This is demonstrated in the faster, heavier and _ generally better growth possible through a moderate amount of cultivation, the keeping down of grass and weeds, during the earlier pe- riods of growth. Larger yields of finer fruit and more and tenderer pads are the result of proper treatment. It is but natural that under distressing conditions due to the lack of proper care some varieties, espe- cially fruiting varieties, may develop a few short spines on the edge of a slab or rarely one here and there, but these gen- erally will be found, if at all, to be soft and cottony and so insignificant as to be harmless. What spines do appear as a general thing—will drop off as the plant grows older. Professor J. P. Leotsakos says in regard to the Cactus: ‘“‘The old, somewhat thorny fruiting cactus is in my native country one of the principal foods for both opulence and pov- erty during three months of the year when it is abundant. These pear fruits are deli- cious, exceedingly nutritious and healthful. I would rather by far have half a dozen of them for breakfast than the best beef- steak or any other food. The fruit of these perfected cacti is the best fruit food for man or beast and Mr. Burbank is a great benefactor in perfecting the cactus. If he lived in Greece a monument would be erected to him in every city. I have never seen in all the world such an astounding crop of fruit as I saw on Burbank’s new varieties of truly spineless cactus at Santa Rosa, California.’’ Prof. J. P. Leotsakos is a graduate of the Royal Classical College of Athens and a teleiofoitos of the law department of the University of Athens, and belongs to one of the best known families of contem- porary Greece. His father was the com- mander of the revolutionary army that brought about the deposition of King Otho in 1862, afterwards an aide-de-camp to the present King George, and finally Senator from Lakonia in the Greek Parliament at Athens.—D. N. Botassi, Consul General of Greece. The New Burbank Opuntias The best of these improved Spineless Opuntias when grown under favorable conditions on good soil in a warm cli- mate may confidently be expected to pro- duce an average of nearly or quite fifty to one hundred tons of feed per acre when once established, each season. So.much has been written about the spineless cactus and so many are de- ceived with the old cheap, half-wild va- rieties which are so often offered as “Bur- bank’s” or “just as good as Burbank’s” that it seems necessary to have them dis- tributed direct from the originator and under correct descriptions so as to avoid as much as possible any misunderstand- 10 ings, exaggerations or misstatements such as heretofore have been carelessly, igno- rantly or willfully made, Utterly spurious “Burbank’s Thornless Cactus” has been offered for sale by dishonest parties for six years or more, not only in America, but also in Europe, Africa and Australia. In producing these new Opuntias more than seventeen years and much thought, labor and capital have been expended, thousands of crosses have been made and many hundred thousand seedlings and crossbred seedlings raised. The finished product is receiving a royal welcome everywhere by those who know. Few of the cacti are of any economic value except the Opuntias; of these there are more than one hundred and fifty spe- cies and innumerable varieties; all prob- ably originally natives of the Western Hemisphere and were cultivated by the Indians long before Columbus discovered America. No class of plants are more easily grown, soil is not of much import- ance and cultivation almost unnecessary. The leaves of these new Giant cactus varieties should be shrunken slightly or wilted at least (except in absolutely dry deserts or in very warm summer weath- er). Meantime an earlier and more rapid growth will be secured by plowing and harrowing the land as for any other crop. The cuttings may then be easily and rapidly planted one-third to two-thirds their length under ground, either with spade or plow, in deserts slanting towards the position of the two o’clock p. m. sun; or they may simply be thrown on the ground and left to themselves; in either case they will grow, but in the end it is probably better to plant as above. Three by ten feet apart is the best dis- tance for permanent plantations, either for fruit or forage, but they may be planted at half these distances and later, three-fourths of the plants removed. People who are not acquainted with the cactus often mistake the numerous point- ed leaflets on the undeveloped slabs for spines. These, having no function to per- form, soon drop off. They are as different from spines as blossoms are from leaves. View of Spineless Cactus Field in Fruit. 11 The Spineless Cactus for Forage The leaves or slabs of the spineless cactus are used for food for all kinds of stock including poultry. The whole plant, both the leaves and the fruit, almost without exception, finds immediate favor with all herbiverous animals. They actually prefer it to almost any other food. More than that, it makes a superior quality of beef and exceedingly rich milk, This is not surprising as the cactus is one of the richest foods known in sodium, potash and magnesium, which are the principal salts found in milk. These valuable organic salts are found in the cactus more abundantly than in any other food. The fact is often observed that ani- mals, when fed on cactus, improve in con- dition more than can be accounted for by the usual chemical analysis for food values. It has been a matter of much study by chemists until it was discovered by actual experiment that the organic mineral salts, known as sodium, potash and magnesia aided in the digestion of food, which was not otherwise assimi- lated and utilized by the animal. “The Burbank Spineless Cactus will prove especially valuable in feeding dairy cattle as it will furnish a succulent feed throughout the entire year, so that an even flow of milk can be obtained. When fed with a little cotton-seed meal or other concentrated food or used with about fifteen pounds of good alfalfa hay, it will prove the ideal feed by which dairy- men may obtain the same quantity and quality of milk in January as in June. Even now, the best butter is being made from dairy herds fed on singed wild cactus with only three or four pounds of cottonseed meal per day or its equivalent; while some of the best beef cattle have been fattened on the same rations and sheep, hogs and calves are being prepared for the market on an exclusive cactus diet.” As cattle always follow feed there should be an ever present market for cac- tus forage wherever it is grown. Besides, as the different varieties of cactus mature fruit from September to March, they en- joy a season of exceptional shipping ad- vantages. Cactus Era Inevitable. ‘*The cactus area is just opening. Ten or twenty years hence many well informed men believe, the cactus will have sup- planted and displaced alfalfa throughout a great area of the civilized world. Why? Because the cactus will grow with little or no irrigation, upon any kind of soil, with infinitely less attention than alfalfa must have and will produce far greater results in yield of fodder. ‘“‘The romance and marvel of the Bur- bank Cactus would fill a large book. The story of the sixteen years of patient effort employed by that wonder worker, Luther Burbank, justly calls for a place in litera- ture. ‘‘Imagine, if you please, a man collect- ing the cacti of the world, selecting from all of these varieties the best, then grow- ing millions of seedlings, crossing and re- crossing them, selecting and re-selecting, and, finally, after sixteen years tri- 12 umphantly evolving from this patient, la- borious process and from millions of dis- carded cacti, seven plants which were not only free from spines but which possessed the growing and feeding values for which he had so long striven. This, in a nutshell, is what Luther Burbank did with the cac- tus. Sometimes out of 100,000 seedlings, he destroyed 99,999. The remaining in- dividual he watched and tended as care- fully as a mother her nursing babe. Pa- tience, infinite patience, had to be added to the Burbank genius, the truly Spine- less Cactus. ‘‘Of those anxious ones who have en- deavored to detract from the merit of this, the greatest of the Burbank triumphs, we will say nothing. The Burbank Thornless Cactus speaks for itself. It will, by its wonder-working accomplishments, best an- swer all critics, whether malicious or igno- rant.’ ’—Ex. Varieties for Sale. Chico in Hand. Chico (Forage). (Tapuna Class.) “Chico” is one of the two best of the new Opuntias of this class. The plant is an upright, compact grower with large, smooth, greenish-white pads. It is a very rapid grower. Like the Monterey this variety is very hardy and will stand great extremes of temperature. The fruit grows in profusion and is somewhat smaller than the fruit of the Monterey. Analysis by Professor M. E. Jaffa, of the State University, shows the great value of the pads for food, the amount of fat and starch especially being a surprise. Monterey Round Slab on Plant. Monterey (Forage). (Tapuna Class). The Monterey is one of the most rapid growing Opuntia, and has the largest and heaviest pads, slabs or leaves of any of this class. They are nearly circular in outline, pale greenish-white, ten to twelve inches across even on one-year-old plants, and are extremely thick. The slabs have attained a weight of seven and one-half pounds. This variety is very hardy and possesses great resistance to extremes of temperature. The fruit is egg-shaped, sometimes almost globular, and grows four to ten to each slab; some of the larger weighing as much as a half pound each. “BETTER THAN THE GOVERNMENT FIFTEEN TO ONE.” ‘On one of our experimental farms, in this state, we have some of Mr. Burbank’s thornless cactus growing side by side with the best varieties of the government’s thornless cactus, distributed last spring. ‘“‘The rate of increase on the part of the poorest of the Burbank cactus as com- pared to the best of the government cac- tus, is about fifteen to one.’’—‘‘Enter- prise,’’ Silver City, N. M. 13 Fresno—Two Seasons Growth. Fresno (Forage). (Ficus Indica Class). This valuable new creation is a cross- bred seedling and is a very heavy pro- ducer: makes a beautiful compact plant, fruits abundantly. The fruit is medium in size, light yellow and of fine quality. A most valuable sort for all livestock and especially hogs, which are very fond of the fruit. Santa Rosa (Forage). (Ficus Indica Class). This new creation in Opuntias is a very strong, rapid grower, yielding enor- mously. The slabs are fat, dark green, often two feet long by ten inches wide. The orginial plant of this variety pro- duced 500 pounds of slabs in three years. Fruits in fairly large quantity and of good quality. This variety is one of the best for forage. Haleakala Ranch, Makawao, Maui, T. H., April 17, 1905. Editor Butchers’ and Stock Growers’ Journal: I read with much interest in your issue of the 30th ultimo the article on ‘‘Cactus Fed Beef.’’ On this ranch we have one paddock of twelve hundred acres covered very thickly with cactus or prickly pear; there is also a slight growth of Bermuda grass growing. In this paddock are pastured all the year round, four hundred head of cattle and 14 about seven hundred hogs. The cattle only get water when it rains, that is, during the months of December and January; the other ten months they subsist entirely and solely on the fruit and young leaves of the cactus which they help themselves to. It is a remarkable fact that during the dry months of the year we get more fat cattle per cent from that paddock than from any of the others. I consider cattle fed on cactus like these are, to have as fine flavored beef as any I have tasted in San Francisco or New Zea- land. L. VON TEMPSKY, Manager Haleakala Ranch Co. This Illustration Shows the Monterey (Forage) Variety at a Growth of Three Seasons. Evidences Lack of Cultivation. Edison on Burbank. ‘‘Tuther Burbank, the greatest origina- tor of new and valuable forms of plant life of this or any other age.’’—Dr. David Starr-Jordan, President Leland Stanford Jr. University. “‘Tt is an honor to California that Luth- er Burbank is its citizen. He is all that he has ever been said to be and more.’’— Dr. L. H. Bailey, Cornell University, N. Y. ‘‘He stands easily at the head of the world’s greatest experimentalists in plant life.’’—-W. Atlee Burpee, Philadelphia, Pa. ‘“‘Mr. Burbank is a man who does things that are of much benefit to mankind and we should do all in our power to help him.’’—Theodore Roosevelt. ‘*T look to great practical results from Burbank’s work among plants.’ ’—Thomas A. Edison. ‘‘No other man has given to horticul- ture so many valuable things as has Luther Burbank.’ ’—Prof. E. J. Wickson, Dean of Agriculture, University of California. ) “Supreme Beyond Other Men.” ‘‘To Luther Burbank has been granted the knowledge, supreme beyond other men, of the susceptibility of plants to vary un- der the influence of new environments, delicate manipulation, and intelligent di- rection.’’—‘ ‘Scientific American.’’ ‘‘The man who always does most says the least. Your good works will bless hu- manity long after you have said ‘Good Night.’ Your work is always a source of inspiration to me, and I am continuously wondering ‘What will he accomplish next?’’—Col. G. B. Brackett, Pomological Chief U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washing- ton, D. C. ‘