Hollinger Corp.
pH 8.5
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114
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: uther.
jyurbanks
pineless
actus
Season
1914
Luthe
Burbank
Company
S ole Distributer
General Offices: Burbank Bldg., Market and Beale Sts.
San Francisco, California
THIS BOOK COPYRIGHTED 1914, BY THE LUTHER BURBANK CO.
BURBANK CACTUS BOOK
SEASON 1914
PUBLISHED BY
The Luther Burbank Company
SPINELESS CACTUS : SEEDS : PLANTS : TREES
Sole Distributer of the Burbank Horticultural Productions
SUCCESSOR TO
LUTHER BURBANK
GENERAL OFFICES
SECOND FLOOR BURBANK BUILDING
MARKET AND BEALE STREETS
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U. S. A.
STORE AND SALESROOMS
301-303-305 Market STREET, SAN FRANCISCO
EXHIBIT AND STEREOPTICON HALL
BuRBANK BuILDING, SAN FRANCISCO
LOS ANGELES OFFICE
402 VAN Nuys BUILDING
EXPERIMENT FAarMs, SANTA Rosa. CALIFORNIA
Not Open to the Public
PROVING GROUNDS, SEBASTOPOL, CALIFORNIA
Not Open to the Public
DEMONSTRATION STATION
MEEK ORCHARDS, Haywarp, CALIFORNIA
Open to the Public
NURSERIES LOCATED IN
SoNoMA CoUNTY AND ALAMEDA CouNtTY, CALIFORNIA
SEED FARMS, SANTA CLARA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
SPINELESS Cactus NuRSERIES, SANTA ROSA AND LIVERMORE VALLEY
WAREHOUSE AND DISTRIBUTING POINT, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
Address all Communications to the General Offices at
SAN PRANCISCO: CALIFORNEX
Cable Address “*BurBANK,” San Francisco
Western Union Code. A. B. C. Code, 5th Edition
“°° IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
On account of the constant addition of new varieties, the nursery and
seed stock of The Luther Burbank Company is now the largest and most
complete in the West and one of the very largest in America. The Spineless
Cactus stock is the only complete and by far the largest in existence. The
reasons for this are the unusual facilities for plant propagation, the extensive
experiment and proving grounds, the seed farms and nurseries in various
sections of the State and a highly specialized organization.
The Luther Burbank Company is the sole distributer of the Burbank
Horticultural Productions, and from no other source can one be positively
assured of obtaining genuine Burbank creations. Luther Burbank is now
freed from all encroachments upon his time and energies which the introduc-
tion of his productions entailed and now devotes his entire efforts to the
creation of new forms of plant life and improvement of old.
Each day brings Luther Burbank new honors and a steadily increasing
admiration, not only for what he has done, but for the new things he is ac-
complishing in plant production. His original creations are no longer confined
to his own proving grounds or an immediate environment. Through The
Luther Burbank Company, the world at large now procures the latest mate-
rializations of Burbank’s distinguishing genius.
Many hundreds of these productions, absolutely new to mankind
and more ‘useful and valuable than those now known, are already
complete and await introduction.
To give each purchaser a guarantee of receiving original Burbank crea-
tions, this corporation has originated a trade-mark, a facsimile of which will
be seen on the front cover of this catalog. The name “Burbank” has been so
indiscriminately and fraudulently used by unscrupulous dealers that it has
been in danger of losing, in a measure, its true significance. Each package of
seed and each plant sent out from this company has this trade-mark on it.
All fraudulent users of the same will be vigorously prosecuted and any infor-
mation that will give knowledge of its misuse will be welcome. This trade-
mark is your protection. It is a guarantee.
The requests for additional cactus which we have been receiving from
growers in all sections of the country are the best evidence of the constantly
increasing desire for genuine Burbank Spineless Cactus. This demand is not
based on sentiment. It exists because planting Burbank Spineless Cactus
means assured profits.
Owing to the phenomenally heavy demand the past season, the available
supply of genuine Luther Burbank Spineless Cactus has been greatly dimin-
ished, with the result that one must secure his wants at as early a date as
possible to avoid the possibility of disappointment.
THE LUTHER BURBANK COMPANY.
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
, ‘The Luther Burbank Company &
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
A Message from Luther Burbank
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 exclusively the business of selling the
various new forms of plant life which I have evolved or which I may here-
after create. This corporation is the sole distributer 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 Company. To give each purchaser a
guarantee of receiving original Burbank productions, this corporation has
originated a trade-mark. The name “Burbank” has been so indiscriminately
and fraudulently used that it has been in danger of losing in a measure its
true significance. Every package of seed and every plant sent out from this
corporation will have this trade-mark on it for your protection. All fraud-
ulent uses of the same will be vigorously prosecuted and any information
that will give knowledge of its misuse will be welcome.
(Signed)
November 1, 1912.
The Luther Burbank Comp
San Francisco, Cal. U.S.A.
any Ds 4
LUTHER BURBANK
The Man and His Work
Who Luther Burbank is and what he
has done has been told in a myriad of
books, publications and periodicals of
every sort.
Of him Dr. L. H. Bailey, Professor of
Botany in Cornell University, says: “It
is an honor to California that Luther Bur-
bank is its citizen. He is all that he has
ever been said to be and more.”
David Starr Jordan, chancellor of
Leland Stanford Junior University, Cali-
fornia, says: “Luther Burbank is the
greatest originator of new and valuable
forms of plant life of this or any other
age.”
Hugo De Vries of Amsterdam, Holland,
probably the leading botanist of the
world, says: “In all Europe there is no
one who can even compare with Luther
Burbank. He is a unique great genius.”
Theodore Roosevelt says: “Mr. Bur-
bank is a man who does things that are
of much benefit to mankind.”
Professor E. J. Wickson, for many
years Dean of the Department of Agricul-
ture of the University of California, says:
“No other man has given to horticulture
so many valuable things as has Luther
Burbank.”
Luther Burbank was born in Massa-
chusetts in 1849. From his early youth,
he had always been interested in the study
of nature, particularly of plant life, and
prior to his coming to California in 1875,
he developed the potato which bears his
name.
Establishing himself at Santa Rosa, he
then began his systematic development of
new types of fruits, flowers and vegeta-
bles. His methods include breeding from
selected individuals of a species which
show unusual qualities, the inter-breed-
ing of different types within a species, or
“crossing,” the inter-breeding of different
species, or hybridization, and the develop-
ment of “mutations” or types which orig-
inated from new conditions and causes
4
often unknown, but which remain con-
stant. Of these methods Mr. Burbank
says: “Hybridization, followed by selec-
tion is the shortest plan by which valid
new species can be produced.” But mere-
ly to set down the method of the man is
little encouragement to either the layman
or the expert; for Burbank’s genius lies in
the distinguishing ability to perceive the
valuable points, often latent in a plant,
which it is desirable to develop.
Among his greatest achievements is
the perfecting of the Burbank Spineless
Cactus. After experiments covering six-
teen years, this type was perfected. It is
palatable and eagerly sought by cattle,
hogs and poultry and in it will perhaps be
the solution of many of the great feeding
problems of the world. We _ herewith
enumerate a few of the many other crea-
tions that have been the basis of his well-
merited fame:
THE PHENOMENAL BERRY, in-
troduced in 1893 and now a favorite on the
Pacific Coast, a cross between the Cali-
fornia dewberry and the Cuthbert rasp-
berry.
THE HIMALAYA BERRY, origin-
ated 15 years ago at Santa Rosa, by selec-
tions from seeds brought from the Him-
alaya Mountains. This plant bears four
times more fruit per plant by weight than
any other berry. The delicious flavor of
this berry and its wonderful keeping qual-
ities make it the most profitable for ship-
ping.
THE PATAGONIA STRAWBERRY
with its distinct flavor, which connois-
seurs have pronounced superb.
THE PLUMCOT, an absolutely new
fruit, unlike any other fruit ever grown
on earth before. It has as its base a wild
American plum, Japanese plum, and an
apricot. This work was originally com-
menced by experimentation in the cross-
ing of the plum and the almond, but the
«@ ‘The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
plum-apricot promising more satisfactory
results, the first experiments were dis-
continued. There are a great number of
varieties of this new fruit—sometimes the
flesh is yellow, sometimes pink, and some-
times crimson. It has pits sometimes like
the apricots and sometimes like the plum.
The fruit is highly colored and the flavor
is indescribable, being as unique as it is
delicious.
Luther Burbank has accomplished more
in the development of new and in the
improvement of old varieties of plums
than all others combined. Ninety-five per
cent of all new plums introduced the past
twenty-five years that have become stan-
dard are Burbank productions, although
five times as many were introduced from
other sources. This record speaks vol-
umes for the genius of Luther Burbank.
THE STONELESS PLUM: For many
years there was growing in France a tiny
plum with only the suggestion of a pit.
By breeding this plum with others in or-
der to increase its size, beauty and flavor,
a satisfactory plum has been produced,
through which one may cut in any direc-
tion with a knife. The pit has disap-
peared, although there still remains a soft
inner core, which is found in the interior
of every pit, and which resembles in this
plum the seed of an apple, but softer.
THE BURBANK PLUM, introduced
20 years ago and now more generally
known and more widely known than any
other plum of any name or kind. AI-
though better plums have since been pro-
duced by Mr. Burbank, they have not yet
supplanted this old well-known favorite.
THE SANTA ROSA PLUM: It re-
ceived the gold medal at the Lewis and
Clark Exposition.
THE BURBANK CHERRY: The
earliest of all large cherries; were bought
in 1908 at auction for $15 per 10-pound
box in the Eastern States and later at
$7.50 per 10-pound box in carload lots.
The next year (1909) they were sold in
Philadelphia for $31 per 10-pound box.
This cherry is not only the best of all
early cherries, but will hold its own
among cherries of any season.
THE PINEAPPLE QUINCE: Intro-
duced in 1899 and acknowledged to be of
unequaled quality, having a distinct pine-
apple flavor.
THE OPULENT PEACH is widely
recognized as the best in quality hereto-
fore produced.
WALNUTS: Mr. Burbank produced a
walnut with a shell like paper, which
could be readily crushed in the hand; but
it was found that the shell was so thin
that the nuts were totally destroyed by
the birds, and Mr. Burbank was obliged
to retrace his steps and increase the shell
of his walnut before he could place it on
the market. Mr. Burbank has also taken
the tannin out of the walnut meat, the
tannin being a coloring matter in the wal-
nut which has a disagreeable flavor.
Among the most useful of Mr. Burbank’s
experiments in walnuts are the production
of the Royal and Paradox varieties. These
are rapid growing walnuts and are very
valuable commercially for timber pur-
poses. They attain a great size, individ-
ual specimens growing 70 to 80 feet in
height and 2 to 3 feet in diameter in 16
years. The wood is of good quality and
can be used for the finest finishing pur-
poses, and consequently commands a
large price in the lumber market. They
are disease resistant. An important fea-
ture is the furnishing of superior stock
for top grafting, by which method a grove
of English walnuts is hurried several
years in arriving at maturity on account
of the very rapid growth.
THE BURBANK POTATO: The
Burbank potato, the first great production
of Mr. Burbank, was produced in Massa-
chusetts in 1873, and, though it received
little attention at first, it is to-day grown
each season by the millions of bushels
and is more and more supplanting all the
other varieties of potato. If he had never
done anything but produce this potato, he
would be entitled to the profound grati-
tude of his countrymen. Although Mr.
Burbank has achieved so much with his
potato, he has perfected new and superior
varieties, some of which are ready to be
placed on the market.
THE CRIMSON WINTER RHU-
BARB: This rhubarb was rejected by all
growers at first because of its new and
unique qualities, and was wholly unap-
5
? The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. U.S.A.
preciated, but to-day in warm climates it
is generally recognized as the rhubarb
par excellence, and it has rightly been
named the “mortgage lifter.” Fortunes
have been made in growing it in Califor-
nia and Florida.
THE GIANT RHUBARB: The last of
all Mr. Burbank’s rhubarbs just intro-
duced, and which it is predicted will excel
the original crimson winter rhubarb 400
per cent. It will outyield any other rhu-
barb known at least 3 to 1.
MUSKMELON: He has a variety of
muskmelon which ripens late in the season
and is somewhat larger than the ordinary
muskmelon, and if picked when ripe will
keep like the Hubbard squash—all winter.
The flavor of this melon, which is named
the “‘Christmas Cassaba Melon,” is not
at all unlike that of the original musk-
melon and is delicious.
Mr. Burbank has also improved corn,
tomatoes, melons, and other vegetables
almost too numerous to mention.
FLOWERS
THE SHASTA DAISY: This perhaps
is the most widely known of Mr. Bur-
bank’s flower creations, and is a cross be-
tween the wild field daisy and the Japa-
nese and English daisy. The flowers are
from 5 to 7 inches in diameter. There are
distinct varieties of these daisies, fluted
and double and single. Because of their
great beauty, their hardihood, and their
long flowering season, these flowers seem
destined to take the place of the chrysan-
themum in the public favor.
THE GIANT AMARYLLIS: Mr.
Burbank took the original Amaryllis, with
its flower about 4 inches in diameter, and
after 30 years of selection and hybridiza-
tion has produced a flower averaging from
8 to 10 inches in diameter, sometimes
reaching the marvelous growth of 12
inches. In creating a flower as large as
this it is necessary to create a plant stocky
enough and with a stem sufficiently strong
to hold as large a blossom. These flowers
range from light scarlet, pale pink, glis-
6
tening crimson and deep fiery scarlet to
snow white flaked with crimson.
THE BURBANK ROSE received the
gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition as
the best bedding rose.
THE TARRYTOWN CANNA was
awarded the gold medal at the Panama-
American Exposition as the best and
freest flowering canna in existence. It is
to-day a standard and generally acknowl-
edged worthy of the award made.
THE CRIMSON ESCHSCHOLTZIA:
Mr. Burbank has taken the golden Cali-
fornia poppy, and by selection has pro-
duced a crimson poppy of marvelous
beauty, blooming throughout a long sea-
son. Perhaps no other single achieve-
ment of Mr. Burbank’s illustrates his
marvelous powers of perception more than
the production of this flower. Taking a
California poppy, which has the slightest
suggestion of crimson, Mr. Burbank, by
patient and long-continued selection, has
produced and fixed this beautiful crimson
poppy. Every season myriads of these
may be seen growing around his home.
THE SHIRLEY POPPY: Mr. Bur-
bank has done an immense amount of
work with the Shirley poppy, looking par-
ticularly to producing delicate colors and
shades and well-shaped, cuplike flowers,
particularly those having crinkly edges.
Anyone in cold words cannot describe the
gorgeousness or delicacy, as the case may
be, of these beautiful poppies. One of
the prettiest of all the Shirley poppies is
one with a white center; not a glistening
white nor a dead white, but a white sub-
dued with an undertone of some other
almost concealed color, with a fringing of
pink, which fades away into the white
center. Some of these flowers have petals ©
so delicate as to be almost transparent.
The greatest novelty among these poppies
is one of pure blue, secured by a long se-
ries of selections.
Luther Burbank’s achievements can
hardly be judged by their practical use-
fulness alone, although pretty nearly
everything he has done has in one way
or another a strong utility side. His re-
searches, the data furnished for the study
of influences of heredity and environment
and the actual production of new species
are of inestimable value to the science of
biology and the establishment of the truth
of the theory of evolution. In 1904 the
Carnegie Institute in recognition of his
services granted him an allowance of
$10,000 annually for ten years to aid his
experimental work, but this sum in no
way met the necessities of his unusual
experimentation. With the establishment
of THE LUTHER BURBANK COM-
PANY of San Francisco several years
ago, the sole distributer of the original
Luther Burbank horticultural produc-
tions, the great work of Luther Burbank
progresses every day undeterred by the
trifling or the larger mental disturbances
that made it impossible for Burbank to
give all his time to the complete unfolding
of his genius.
The Public May Now Participate in
Luther Burbank’s Genius
Through the offices and activities of
The Luther Burbank Company a general
distribution of the original productions of
Luther Burbank is made possible and the
entire world may now enjoy the results of
his genius and his forty odd years of scien-
tific and practical horticultural work.
Of Luther Burbank’s distinguished past
accomplishments in horticulture the world
knows much. His work to-day is of an
even import. Removed as he is at present
from the distracting influences that form-
erly encroached upon his creative work,
he now devotes his time exclusively to
origination. The burden of finding ave-
nues of distribution for his productions
and the details connected with the same
have been lifted from his shoulders. To
enable the general public to participate in
and enjoy Burbank’s extraordinary hor-
ticultural creations is the function of The
Luther Burbank Company.
The process of obtaining sufficient seed
from an original Burbank production is
an interesting one. Thousands and thou-
sands of plants are grown, thousands and
thousands of plants eliminated and dis-
carded. On the Experiment Farms will be
found plants that are tagged and labeled
with what are to the public unintelligible
signs and symbols, but to Luther Burbank
these markings tell a story of exquisite
care and experimentation. It is the story
of results and when the signs read right,
the one plant out of the many thousands
shows that a new variety has been created.
The few ounces of seed that result or
the few feet of grafting wood, as the case
may be, are then taken by The Luther
Burbank Company and propagated in suf-
ficient quantities for introduction through-
out the world at the lowest possible cost.
Thousands of dollars are expended to pro-
duce a single creation. Up to date this
kind of work represents an outlay of a
quarter of a million of dollars. If only a
few of a kind were introduced, the price
would be prohibitive, yet the real value
of every original Burbank production is
represented by all that goes before in its
history. Only because of the magnitude
of the propagational work of The Luther
Burbank Company is it possible to pro-
duce these novelties in such quantities as
to bring original Luther Burbank crea-
tions within the reach of all. Naturally,
years must elapse before sufficient quan-
tities of seeds of certain varieties can be
obtained for general distribution. During
all that time the true reproductive and
germinating qualities of the seeds or
plants are determined, so that there can
7
be no question as to their quality when
finally offered to the public.
When he withdrew from all other en-
deavor than creational work, making The
Luther Burbank Company of San Fran-
cisco the sole distributer of his produc-
tions, he did so with the certainty that
mankind in general would receive the ben-
efits of all that he had accomplished. It
was his great ambition to give the man
and woman who owned or rented a modest
cottage and also the practical grower the
opportunity to grow his new orchard and
field varieties, the utility of which the
world has and is proving day by day.
The Luther Burbank Com
San Francisco, Cal.
pany we.
How to Secure Burbank Productions
1. By ordering from the catalogs of
The Luther Burbank Company, the sole
distributer of original Burbank horticul-
tural productions. The 1914 Burbank
Seed Book, the Burbank 1914 Nursery
catalog, and the Burbank Spineless Cac-
tus Book tell of many wonderful new and
valuable horticultural productions for the
first time available to mankind. These
may be obtained without cost by address-
ing The Luther Burbank Company, 304
Burbank Building, San Francisco, Cali-
fornia, Urs. A.
A WARNING
During the past season many purchas-
ers of cactus have been imposed upon by
various unscrupulous and wholly un-
reliable individuals and “corporations”
through the sale of half-wild, worthless
cactus, misrepresented as “genuine Bur-
bank cactus.” This is both an injury to
the buyer, who is thus defrauded and an
injustice to Luther Burbank.
To combat this evil a trade-mark seal,
a facsimile of which appears on the cover
of this book, is on each package of plants
distributed by The Luther Burbank Com-
pany, THE SOLE AUTHORIZED DIS-
TRIBUTER of Luther Burbank Horti-
cultural Productions, as a guarantee that
you are obtaining genuine Luther Bur-
bank Productions. Look for this seal.
It is your protection against fraud and
misrepresentation.
THE LUTHER BURBANK COMPA-
NY HAS NO AGENTS OR LOCAL
REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE
SALE OF SPINELESS CACTUS.
You must deal directly with this Com-
pany if you desire to be assured of obtain-
ing genuine Burbank Cactus. All pur-
chases are acknowledged directly from
the General Offices of the Company in
San Francisco.
'The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
The Spineless Cactus
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 my employ, and a thou-
sand other similar sehemes; and by out-
rageous misrepresentations or the change
or addition of a word or two from the cor-
rect descriptions, deceiving purchasers,
even when a genuine product of real
value may happen to be offered.
Wise planters produce 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
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 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 smooth, rapidly-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 evaporation
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, 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
10
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
size from that of a small peanut to the
size of a very large banana and in colors
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-
mais, 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 agriculturalist and
horticulturalist 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
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 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
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 thornless than their so-called
thornless parents with greatly increased
size and quality of leaves (raquettes or
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco Cal. USA.
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
The Wild Thorny Cactus
11
EN
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 ten-
dency 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
in all civilized countries, and are generally
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.
12
Y The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. U.S.A.
And now during the past few years
the United States Department of Agri-
culture has dispatched agents to ll
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
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 Ist, an average of 4712 pounds
per plant or one-fourth acre, yielding at
the distance planted (2% x 5 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
z
;
Bouse ahd
Bhe FHhis i
oi
:
“The Luther Burbank
San Francisco, Cal. US.
Ctersecegggeceer 7 LLRENEEE CPERIECIST ET er eer treater eee
SEES LAL ESSE Seay ee ai : at RieAneee UM Gat
A.
above in a very warm climate with one or
two light irrigations each season.
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
ry ed “Tut. ¥ *
TYTYYY TTY
Te
Py may a tiahti Bi
ps ?
The Spineless Cactus
13
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.
The small, hard, wild thorny cactus has
been a common every-day 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 govern-
ments of many countries are taking meas-
ures to secure a stock of the improved
Burbank Opuntias to avoid if possible the
too common occurrence of famines, for the
Opuntias can remain uncultivated and un-
disturbed year after year, constantly in-
creasing in size and weight until needed;
then each acre will preserve the lives of a
hundred 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.
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 Burbank Cactus 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,
*The wild cactus is prepared by boiling or
steaming in Australia in times of drought, but
even though great loss of stock is sometimes re-
ported when thus prepared, some are saved from
otherwise certain starvation.
14
‘The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
have been and will continue to be the
source of irreparable loss to stock raisers.
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.
_ Professor J. P. Leotsakos says in regard to
the cactus: “The old, somewhat thorny fruit-
ing cactus is, in my native country, one of the
principal foods for both opulence and poverty
during three months of the year when it is
abundant. These péar fruits are delicious, ex-
ceedingly nutritious and healthful. I would
rather, by far, have half a dozen of them for
breakfast than the best beefsteak or any other
food. The fruit of these perfected cacti is the
best fruit food for man or beast, and Mr. Bur-
bank 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 astound-
ing crop of fruit as I saw on Burbank’s new
varieties of truly spineless cactus at Santa
Rosa, California.”
Professor J. P. Leotsakos’is a graduate of
the Royal Classical College of Athens and a
teleiofoitos of the law department of the Uni-
versity of Athens, and belongs to one of the
best-known families of contemporary Greece.
His father was the commander of the revolu-
tionary army that brought about the deposi-
tion of King Otho in 1862, afterwards an aide-
de-camp to the present King George, and final-
ly Senator from Lakonia in the Greek Parlia-
ment at Athens.—D. N. Botassi, Consul-
General of Greece.
“To Luther Burbank has been granted the
knowledge, supreme beyond other men, of the
susceptibility of plants to vary under the in-
fluence of new environments, delicate manipu-
lation and intelligent direction.” — Scientific
American.
Feeding Wild Thorny Cactus to Sheep in Times of Drought.
alty, Due to the Thorns—But Many Sheep Were Saved.
Results of Feeding Wild Thorny Cactus in
Various Parts
The results of feeding wild, thorny cac-
tus in various parts of the world are here
given for the purpose of showing that the
wild thorny cactus, after the mechanical
removal of the thorns, is an excellent
forage, though greatly inferior to the Bur-
bank Forage Cacti. As a commercial pos-
sibility, however, wild thorny cactus is
unprofitable to cultivate on account of the
slow growth and the expense attached to
the necessary removal of the thorns.
For hundreds, probably thousands, of
years, the great, rapid-growing, desert
thorny cactus has furnished food for stock
and fruit for men, especially in Southern
Europe, Northern Africa, Australia and
the United States.
The whole plant furnishes nutr*tious
food in abundance, yet great pain and
often death was the penalty for using
it. In addition to the slabs, which fur-
nish the forage, the fruit produced many
Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
Often Death Was the Pen-
of the World
tons to the acre, is very valuable as a stock
food, owing to the high percentage of
sugar.
The slabs of the wild cactus are cov-
ered with a mass of stout thorns, often
from one to two inches in length, and as
sharp as needles.
Frequently, in times of drought, the
hunger-driven livestock endeavored to
reach the rich succulent slabs, so jealously
guarded by the thorns, and as a result
would often be seen with blood dripping
from their mouths.
Stockmen and herders, for hundreds of
years, have availed themselves of this
source of food supply, and it is frequently
a common sight to see men gathering
from the desert the slabs, which are to be
fed to cattle, sheep and hogs.
The custom has been to burn or singe
the thorns or spines from the slabs before
feeding to the ste-k. The process of singe-
ing was necessai:ily a slow and expensive
15
“The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
one, and this expense, coupled to imper-
fect results in ridding the slabs of all the
thorns, was the only obstacle to a greater
use, for otherwise the forage properties
of the wild, thorny cactus are excellent
and most satisfactory to the stockmen.
A sort of gasoline blow-torch has been
used with considerable success, particular-
ly in the southwestern portion of the
United States and in Australia. Boiling,
as well as singeing by other methods, has
been resorted to and with such success
than many thousands of cattle and sheep
have been saved from certain starvation
during droughts.
However, no method has been wholly
satisfactory, as it seems to be utterly im-
possible to get rid of all the thorns and
do it on an economical commercial scale.
In North Africa, according to M. A.
Johanne, in the Journal D’Agriculture
Tropicale (Paris), the thorny cactus is
considered a forage plant of great im-
portance in the feeding of stock. The wild
cactus has been taken under cultivation,
and plantations have been cultivated for
a period as long as fifty years, and the
plants are still vigorous and productive.
By adding a very small quantity of
chopped straw to the slabs, excellent re-
sults are had in feeding beef cattle, milch
cows, goats, etc.
From Hawaii the manager of one of
the largest ranches writes:
Haleakala Ranch,
AC. Tels,
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 about seven hundred hogs. The
cattle only get water when it rains; this 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
Using the Gasoline Torch to Singe the Thorns from the Wild Thorny Cactus so the Cactus
Could Be Fed to Live Stock—An Expensive Process, but Practiced by Many
on Account of the Food Value of the Cactus
16
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
Collecting Wild Thorny Cactus, to be Used as Cattle Feed
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 tast-
ed in San Francisco or New Zealand.
The hogs, with the exception of a light daily
ration of corn, fed to keep them tame, live ex-
clusively on the young leaves and fruit, which
are fed to them by herders, and thrive wonder-
fully. L. Von Tempsky,
Manager Haleakala Ranch Co.
In Texas, William St. Clair, a successful
cattleman, who has for years been using
the wild, thorny cactus for cattle food,
writes:
“We find it very poor policy to put the
slightest limit on the’ amount our cows get.
The more they can eat, the better they thrive,
and the more milk they give. There is noth-
ing that sets them back more than a shortage
of cactus. If we happen to be short of milk,
the cause is almost invariably traced to the
lack of cactus.”
H. W. Giddens of the Giddens Stock
Farm, Texas, says:
“Cactus produces a good, rich, grass-colored
butter, without any odor or flavors. We feed
in the field, and simply singe the spines.”
Actual feeding tests with a large num-
ber of stock have been held where the
chief food for the stock consisted of wild
cactus. It was found that under adverse
conditions the gain in weight was very
satisfactory and the cattle thrived exceed-
ingly well. The cattle were handled in
the same manner as the ordinary stock,
and were shipped into the Eastern market,
where they brought the highest prices.
Innumerable instances might be cited
in addition to the foregoing which show
the satisfactory results of feeding the
wild, thorny cactus, aside from the dis-
advantage occasioned by thorns.
17
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
Luther Burbank Among His Spineless Cactus Plants at Santa Rosa
ey ee
The Results of Luther Burbank’s Work
on the Thorny Cactus
Mr. Burbank early perceived the tre-
mendous possibilities of a cactus without
thorns developed to a commercial state
and set about the task of producing
such a cactus. He has more than accom-
plished the aims he had in mind when
seventeen or eighteen years ago he first
conceived the idea of developing the
wild, thorny cactus into a satisfactory and
easily handled forage. The Burbank
Forage Cactus, considered in all its possi-
bilities, is destined to become one of the
world’s most important stock foods.
The economic effect of Mr. Burbank’s
achievement in taking the _half-wild,
thorny cactus and turning it into a re-
markable commercial forage plant cannot
18
be overestimated. In summing up briefly
what Mr. Burbank has accomplished may
be stated:
First. The feeding of the wild, thorny
cactus in itself is beyond the experimental
stage, such cactus having been extensive-
ly utilized for hundreds of years in the
various parts of the world as a forage, for
all classes of livestock. But one thing
prevented its utilization on a wider scale,
namely, the thickly set thorns which were
very dangerous and which inflicted injury
to any animal that fed on cactus from
which they had not been removed.
Second. Mr. Burbank has removed
this obstacle. He has produced rapid
growing cactus free from the mass of long
hard annoying thorns which prevented its
extended commercial use as a forage.
Third. He has also increased the food
value of the cactus very materially.
Fourth. He has also developed enor-
mously the productivity of the cactus.
Fifth. Mr. Burbank has increased the
yield of fruit very greatly, and has de-
veloped the sugar content.
These results are all achieved without
special conditions of culture, care or at-
tention.
The remarkable ability of the Burbank
Cactus to thrive with very little mois-
ture is one which makes millions of acres
of heretofore unprofitable land available
for the production of very profitable
crops of cactus forage. On these lands
alfalfa and hay could not produce a crop.
The value of land is fixed by its pro-
ductivity. This means, in other words,
that the result obtained in the supporting
or feeding of livestock from a given acre
of land establishes the value of that acre.
The Burbank Forage Cactus, growing un-
der favorable conditions, will produce
enough forage per acre without irrigation
to support the year around more livestock
than any other forage generally grown,
including alfalfa.
As the surrounding conditions become
more favorable, the productivity of the
cactus is increased. In other words, cac-
tus is a crop that is adapted to both cheap
land and high-priced land. The better
“That the millions of acres of desert land
overgrown with cactus may be made a source
of large revenue, seems almost incredible, but
stranger things have happened. Unless Bur-
bank be badly mistaken, the spineless cactus is
destined to become one of the most useful of
plants, furnishing abundance of food for man
and beast in regions which have been regarded
as too sterile and desolate for any form of
stock raising or farming. And the profitable
conversion of the common form of the plant
into alcohol seems even better assured.”—‘‘The
Sacramento (Cal.) Bee.”
“The production of these new spineless fruit-
ing cacti is, in my opinion, as important to the
world as the discovery of a new continent.”—
Judge S. F. L., San Jose, Cal.
The Luther Burbank Comp
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
any me
the soil and general conditions, the greater
the yield.
It has many advantages over other
crops, the chief one being that it is a green
succulent forage for livestock THE
YEAR ROUND. In other words, it is a
natural silage, as it can be gathered in the
green state at any season of the year. It
does not have to be harvested at anv par-
ticular season, and if immediate use is not
contemplated, the cactus will continue to
grow if left in the field. There is no need
of harvesting and storing as would be the
case with any other forage crop.
Spineless Cactus is something which is
new, and on account of this there are very
few who have had extended experience in
handling or caring for the cactus, there-
fore it is inadvisable to accept the advice
of those pretending to be informed, but
whose knowledge is limited. Those who
plant cactus are urged to read carefully
the instructions covering the culture and
the handling of the cactus as set forth in
this book, which have been prepared un-
der the general direction of Mr. Burbank,
who is the creator and only recognized
authority on the Burbank Forage Cac-
tus. Cactus is not like any other plant,
therefore it cannot be handled like the
average plant or as the judgment might
dictate. The care and culture of cactus,
while very different from the ordinary
plants, yet is so simple that one follow-
ing directions should have little difficulty
in obtaining satisfactory results.
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
cactus. The British Government is considering
the feasibility of introducing Mr. Burbank’s
hybrid plant in the Sahara Desert, with a view
of eventually forcing the most unprolific dis-
trict in the world to support life.—‘Register-
Leader,’”’ Des Moines, Iowa.
THAT SPINELESS CACTUS IS A SUC-
CESS HAS BEEN PROVEN AT YUMA.
“The growing of spineless cactus is no long-
er a desert dream, or the figment of the imag-
ination. This desert wonder is being grown in
the desert lands adjacent to Yuma and some
surprisingly good results are being obtained.”
—‘‘Times,” Bouse, Ariz.
19
“The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
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Map of Globe, Where 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 Florida. In a
general way, this is the part of the United
States best adapted for cactus culture.
Maps of the Globe with cross lines in-
dicating the northern and southern limits
for the successful cultivation of the new
Burbank Cactus plants for fruit and for-
“Burbank’s thornless cactus is certainly prov-
ing itself to be the modern vegetable marvel.
Nothing like it has ever been produced before.
Its vitality surpasses the limit of belief, for
nothing in the vegetable world has ever shown
such wonderful resistant capacity, such repro-
ductive powers, such exuberance of growth.”—
“Standard,” Eureka, Cal.
“On one of our experimental farms, in this
State. we have some of Mr. Burbank’s thorn-
less cactus growing side by side with the best
varieties of the government’s thornless cactus,
distributed last spring.
20
age; 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 rate of increase on the part of the
poorest of the Burbank cactus as compared
to the best of the government cactus is about:
fifteen to one.” — “Enterprise,” Silver City,.
New Mexico.
“While I have long been impressed with
your work, I am now overwhelmed with the
vast amount of good which you have been able:
to accomplish. I respect your work above all
that has ever been done for horticulture.”—.
Professor. Wm. B. Alwood, Virginia College
and Experiment Station.
¢ The Luther Burbank ¢ Company
San Francisco, Cal.USA._
The Spineless Cactus for Forage
For all Livestock Including Poultry
The leaves or slabs of Ene _ Spineless
cactus are uwsed for fond “sr ai et
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.”
A Single Burbank Cactus Plant
21
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
A Single One-Year-Old Plant, Showing the Remarkable Productivity of the Burbank Cactus—
Forty-four New Slabs Produced from One Original Cutting as the
Result of One Year’s Growth.
“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
dairymen 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
cotton-seed meal per day or its equiva-
lent; while some of the best beef cattle
have been fattened on the same rations,
and sheep, hogs and calves are being pre-
“Tn all Europe there is no one who can even
compare with Luther Burbank. The time will
come when he will be as well known and as
highly cherished in California as he now is
among the scientific men of Europe. He isa
unique, great genius.”"—Hugo De Vries, of
Amsterdam, Holland, the leading botanist of
Europe.
22
pared for the market on an exclusive cac-
tus diet.” ’
“Some of the best herds in Southern
Texas have thrived on a _ continuous
roughage ration of prickly pears (cactus)
and have kept in the best of condition,
with a rather heavy concentrated ration
of cottonseed meal and rice bran.” “In
one instance a herd of 80 to 100 cows had
no other roughage for nearly two years.
No inconvenience was apparent and the
milk flow was good.”
“The man who always does most says the
least. Your good works will bless humanity
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. Department of Agri-
culture, Washington, D. C.
‘The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. U.S.A.
Showing the Remarkably Heavy Yield of Burbank Cactus—Field Scene at Santa Rosa
The Annual Yield
In the summer of 1906 in the coast cli-
mate of Sonoma County, California, on
the black heavy adobe, a soil thought
wholly unsuitable for cactus, there was
produced the first year six months from
single rooted leaves an average of
forty-seven and one-half pounds per plant,
yielding at the distance planted, at the
rate of 180,230 pounds or over ninety tons
of forage per acre.
The Burbank Cactus will produce
nearly double as much feed the third and
succeeding years as they do the second
season of planting.
Of course, it would not be expected
that there would be more than one-fourth
of the above yield on desert soil without
irrigation. Still there could be expected
almost twice as much, as mentioned
above, where the climate is warm and
where there are one or two light irriga-
tions each season.
ZS
by 7 TITTLE ails
: ICRU ee
FEEDING HOGS BURBANK FORAGE CACTUS
These Hogs Gained Three-quarters of a Pound Each per Day—The Result of the Feeding
Is Shown by the Following Affidavit
RESULT OF FEEDING CACTUS TO EIGHT HOGS, AT SANTA
ROSA, UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE SANTA
ROSA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
May 30, 1913, to June 22, 1913
AFFIDAVIT
This test was conducted near Santa Rosa, California under the
general supervision of representatives of the Santa Rosa Chamber
of Commerce.
There were eight pigs in all, divided into two pens. These pigs
were of no special breed, being common stock taken from hill pas-
ture, where their main foods were green grasses, roots and what-
ever is usually found by pastured hogs, the hogs being more or
less wild. The test would have shown better results had thor-
oughbred hogs been chosen.
Pigs ranged from 35 to 80 pounds in weight. In one pen cactus
was fed exclusively, and in the other cactus with a very small
24
The Luther Burbank Comp
an Francisco, Cal. USA.
amount of rolled barley and bran. The cactus used was taken trom
Mr. Burbank’s experimental farm, being old stock which had been
discarded. From the first, the pigs ate cactus readily. In the be-
ginning it was thought necessary to supply all the water the pigs
would drink, but it became apparent that very little water was
necessary, and was almost entirely discontinued, with more bene-
ficial results. From 20 to 30 pounds of cactus were fed each day to
each pen. The pigs ate up all that was offered them, care being
taken not to feed too much. Enough cactus was cut from the field
to last several days, and was cut up in small portions by running
it through a slicer just before feeding time.
NET INCREASE IN WEIGHTS OF HOGS
Pen No. 1
May 30, 1913 June 22, 1913 Net Gain
4 hogs 195! pounds 257 pounds 61! pounds
Pen No. 2
4 hogs 274! pounds 331 pounds 56!/, pounds
Total 470 pounds 588 pounds 118 pounds
Twenty-two days’ net gain for eight hogs was 118 pounds.
The net gain per hog for 22 days was 14 2-3 pounds, an aver-
age of two-thirds pound per day.
Condition of pigs good, and in every way showed proof that
cactus makes an excellent and satisfactory green fodder, the cactus
supplying a good succulent ration for growing hogs.
During tests of pigs, a thoroughbred Berkshire sow, with four
suckling pigs, was put upon a diet of cactus and rolled barley.
Through lack of a proper supply of milk this sow had lost several
of her litter, and the remaining four were in poor condition. The
sow responded quickly to the cactus feed, giving a decided increase
in flow of milk, the result of which was shown in the rapid growth
and good condition of the suckling pigs. The small pigs soon learned
to like cactus and ate it greedily.
The foregoing statements and facts are true to the best of my
knowledge and belief.
JOHN RINNER, President,
Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce.
EDWARD H. BROWN, Secretary,
Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce.
Subscribed in my presence, this 22nd day of June, 1913.
(Seal) CHARLES M. KELLOGG,
Notary Public, in and for Sonoma County, California.
3 ‘e % ‘the Luther Burbank Company ¥
- San Francisco, Cal. U.S.A.
A Demonstration of the Superiority of Burbank
Cactus as a Feed for Cows and Hogs
Result of Feeding Burbank Spineless Cactus at the Certified
Dairy, Owned by H. R. Timm, at Dixon, California
Aftinanit
As Feed for Dairy Cows
Milk Cactus
Lbs. Lbs.
September 2, 1912 37 10
September 3, 1912 36 22
September 4, 1912 3414 38
September 5, 1912 371% 67
September 6, 1912 42 75
September 7, 1912 44 75
September 8, 1912 45 72
September 9, 1912 47 76
September 10, 1912 46 74
September 11, 1912 451% 76
The above is the result of a test in the
feeding of Burbank Spineless Cactus to a
dairy cow, made at the H. R. Timm Dairy,
Dixon, Cal. The test was made during a
period of ten days to find out the real
value of cactus as a milk-producing food.
As the dairy herd was being fed on the
best kind of green alfalfa and alfalfa hay,
it would hardly be expected that a cow
would increase in milk when cactus was
substituted for the green feed. On Sep-
tember 2, the cow was taken from the herd
and placed on a ration of cactus and bar-
ley, and a light feed of alfalfa hay. With-
in four or five days she ate it without any
grain and soon reached a gain of ten
pounds of milk daily.
As Feed for Hogs
On September 13, 1912, two ‘three
months’ old pigs, weighing together 190
pounds, were given a feed of Burbank
Spineless Cactus.
The slabs in the beginning were fed to
26
the pigs whole and were torn to pieces
and greedily eaten by them.
On the evening of September 21 the
pigs weighed together 210 pounds, show-
ing a net gain of ten pounds each over a
period of eight days. During this period
they received in addition to the cactus
possibly five pounds of alfalfa, but noth-
ing else.
The physical condition of the pigs at
the end of the test was excellent, being
the same as when pastured on alfalfa.
I consider it a splendid substitute for
green alfalfa when fed with a small
amount of alfalfa hay. And I consider it
doubly valuable as a cow food on account
of the fact that it can be harvested and
fed during the winter months when there
is no other green feed. H.R. TIMM.
State of California,
County of Solano—ss.
H. R. Timm, being first duly sworn, de-
poses and says: I have read the attached
statement of facts and know the contents
thereof, and desire to state that the same
are true to my own knowledge, informa-
tion and belief.
H. R. TIMM.
Subscribed to and sworn to before me
this 3rd day of December, 1912.
WINFIELD R. MADDEN,
Notary Public in and for Solano
County, California.
NOTE: Mr. Timm is the president of
the First National Bank of Dixon and the
owner of one of the largest and best
known certified dairies in the West.
‘The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
Blooded Dairy Cows Feeding on Burbank Forage Cactus.
Cows from this Herd on a Bur-
bank Cactus Ration Increased Their Milk Flow Ten Pounds per Day Over
a Green Alfalfa Ration.
(See Affidavit Opposite.)
Some Comments by Our Customers
San Diego.
The Luther Burbank Company.
I secured some of your famous spineless cac-
tus and planted them about August 1, 1912, and
will say they have done well. I also secured
later one of the fruiting kind and planted same
about September 1, 1912. Up to the present
time has thrown out a phenomenal growth be-
tween 30 and 40 leaves. Some of the latter are
now traveling fast between the one and two-
foot mark in length, and if it keeps on I expect
to see it grow clear over the top of my
bungalow. ADS Ll
Angleton, Texas.
Last year we secured a small shipment of
your spineless cactus, most of the cuttings,
altho set out quite late in the season and having
had an extra amount of wet weather to con-
tend with, have done well. A number of the
plants have from twelve to sixteen new leaves
or slabs. (Gy 15 abe
Sonora, Mexico.
The Luther Burbank Company.
We have your spineless cactus here. They
are in the third year. Some of them seven feet
high and are doing fine. aes
El Ranch Del Oro.
The Luther Burbank Company.
We have one (cactus) plant here and it cer-
tainly has grown tremendously this summer.
It is fully equal to the picture you sent. The
big fat leaves, taken off occasionally, have given
us lots of smaller plants.
I have some land near C——, where I figure
to plant in another year. Ke Be Ne
The Luther Burbank Company.
. Thank you for your courtesy in the mat-
ter. It is a pleasure to deal with a company
which lives up to its promises.
Very sincerely yours,
lal, Ib Se
The slabs I bought from you in May, 1912,
and sent to Porto Rico are doing wonderfully
well since they, after a year there, were trans-
ferred to the Government grounds in Mayaguez.
(Signed) J. D. Sulsona,
40 East 42d Street,
New York.
a7,
"The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. U.S.A.
Of Easy Culture and Rapid Growth
Burbank’s Spineless Cactus 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
seed; just the same laws hold true with
the improved Opuntias, but fortunately
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
often attend to rooting without further
attention, whether planted right end up,
bottom up, sideways or not at all.
Best results are secured by planting the
lower half of the cuttings below the sur-
face of well-prepared, dry, warm soil.
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, especially during the
earlier periods of growth. Larger yields
Comparative Value
There is not any particular price for
cactus forage, simply because there is not
any for sale. And yet the question is
often asked, What is it worth? The best
answer that we can give is that Burbank
Forage Cactus will produce enough feed
Is man also to redeem the desert for civiliza-
tion? The French will test Burbank’s spineless
cactus on Sahara and the desert islands of
Mayotte, off Madagascar, and the English and
Germans will try its virtues in their South
African possessions. Burbank’s creation is de-
clared to be palatable not only to cattle, but to
28
of finer fruit and more and tenderer pads
are the result of proper treatment.
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 dif-
ferent from spines as blossoms are from
leaves.
Spineless Cactus, especially fruiting,
may, under certain conditions, bear
spicules, which are simply small, fragile
and easily detached spines, in varying
number but not enough to interfere with
their being fed to cattle without previous
preparation. Plants may under cultiva-
tion produce a few spines of no particular
consequence.
The leaves of these new cactus should
be shrunken slightly or wilted at least
before planting (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.
of Cactus Forage
per acre, without irrigation, to support
more livestock than any forage generally
grown, with or without irrigation. As
cattle always follow feed, there should be
an ever-present market for cactus forage
wherever it is grown.
man, and it thrives on areas that are hopelessly
arid, provided there be plenty of heat and
light.
It would be an almost crowning achievement
if, by his genius, man, after these thousands of
years, were able to announce the doom of the
desert.—‘‘Journal,” Portland, Ore.
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
The Burbank Forage Cactus Supplies all the
Water the Animals Need
There is the further consideration that
the cactus supplies the animal with al-
most all the water it needs.
In Hawaii and Mexico, cattle have been
known to subsist for six months on a
cactus diet without a drop of water.
The following letter from Robt. Hind
tells of his 20 years’ experience in feed-
ing cactus without water:
Puuwaawaa Ranch,
Hawaii, May 17, 1913.
The Luther Burbank Company,
San Francisco, Calif.
Gentlemen: I am very happy to conform to
your request for a statement from me regard-
ing my experience with the feeding of the wild
thorny cactus upon my ranches in the Island of
Hawaii, during the past twenty years.
First of all, I wish to emphasize that all my
cactus-feeding experience has been with the
wild thorny cactus, the old-fashioned spiny va-
riety, and not with the Spineless Cactus. This
variety thrives on my ranches on the poorest
soils. I am told that it is a native Hawaiian
plant, or was introduced there very many years
ago. The only difference between this cactus
and the Burbank Spineless Cactus is the ab-
sence of the spines on the latter.
Cattle on my ranch have been fed on the
thorny cactus for as long a period as fifteen
years, and have thrived on such feeding. I have
had to depend upon my cactus patches almost
entirely for stock feed during the dry seasons,
and I have found it to be unexcelled for this
purpose. The very best results are obtained
when cactus is mixed with a small quantity of
dry feed, such as dry grasses, old hay, etc., but
this is not absolutely necessary. While using
my cactus chiefly as a reserve for the major
portion of my herd, I find even when I have
a fair amount of other feed I could add spiny
cactus to it, and the cattle did better than if
they had other feed without the cactus. I do
not raise any other form of green food.
Perhaps the most peculiar and significant fact
concerning cactus as stock food is that it sup-
plies all the water the animals need. Horses
and live stock on my ranch, fed with spiny
cactus, thrive wonderfully without anv water
whatever. I have good fat cattle that have
never seen water and do not know how to drink
it when offered to them. I have other cattle
which I have imported from the United States,
and which have not tasted a drop of water since
being fed on the cactus. They have lived for
years without water, and are at fat as any
grass-fed cattle in the United States. They
make just as good beef as you can get in any
restaurant. As a matter of fact. some of my
ranges are absolutely devoid of springs and
water, yet the cattle go year after year thor-
oughly content with the cactus food, from which
they receive sufficient water to supply all their
physical needs.
My hogs always thrive better on a cactus
feed than when they are fed on dry feed with
water. The general physical condition of the
stock is most excellent. Some of my cattle feed
on the cactus the year round, the number being
governed by the available supply. But not only
is the cactus a much sought after food by the
hogs and cattle. I have about 1000 turkeys
which subsist chiefly on cactus slabs and the
fruit which the cactus bears in considerable
quantities. These turkeys do not get a drop
of water.
I have lost quite a few head of cattle, due
to the spines, but the number is not very great
in comparison to the number of cattle that feed
upon it.
I find that cactus is a splendid milk producer.
There is something in the cactus that seems to
help the flow of milk. What it is I do not
know, but I do know that it has a positive
beneficial effect, other than the mere food value.
My own experience with the spiny cactus led
me to investigate the Burbank Spineless Cactus,
and it is my opinion that the Burbank Spineless
Cactus is very much superior. I planted some
three years ago a number of plants of the
Spineless Cactus obtained from Mr. Burbank,
and they have thrived remarkably well, but I
have preferred to conserve these plants for
future use, and to extend my acreage. As you
know, I have just purchased a very large quan-
tity of the Burbank Spineless Cactus, and I look
to this to furnish me with the means of prac-
tically doubling the amount of livestock on my
ranges and to furnish them with a forage which
is unexcelled. Another advantage in the cactus
forage is that you do not have to harvest at
any particular season, and if you so desire the
growth may accumulate year after year until
actually needed.
I should much prefer to feed cactus every
day in the year, allowing the cattle to have all
they care to eat, but, as I said before, my great
concern is that my supply is limited. I con-
sider cactus one of the very best forages for
semi-arid or dry countries.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) ROBT. HIND.
Note.—Mr. Robert Hind is one of the largest
and most successful ranchers in the Hawaiian
Islands, controlling over 50.000 acres of land.
He has been engaged in raising livestock for
over twenty years and has several thousand
head of cattle, several thousand sheep and hogs
and a large number of horses. He is progres-
sive and believes in blooded stock and has from
time to time imported the finest types of Here-
fords and Polled Angus cattle.
29
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
Burbank Cactus Leaf and Fruit
The New Burbank Cactus for Fruit
The old thorny varieties of the fruiting
cactus are too well known to need de-
scription. The fruits are the principal
food for millions of people during three
or four months each year. The fruits of
the Burbank Fruiting Cactus are greatly
superior to the old kinds, and can be
raised for one-tenth the cost of producing
other fruits.
The fresh fruit of these improved varie-
ties is unique in form and color, exceed-
ingly handsome, unusually wholesome
(the large amount of vegetable salts they
contain being regarded as very beneficial),
and far superior to the banana in flavor.
There is never a failure in the crop, which
can be shipped as safely as the other de-
ciduous fruits. The fruit can be gathered
and stored like apples, and some kinds
will keep in excellent condition from four
to five months. Samples packed in or-
dinary packing boxes without ice, were
shipped to Chicago, New York, Boston,
and Washington and kept in perfect con-
dition.
Most delicious jams, jellies, syrups, etc.,
in enormous quantities, at a nomincal cost,
30
are made from the fruits alone or in com-
bination with other fruits, besides various
foods and confections, such as Tuna
honey (Miel de Tuna), Tuna butter
(Melcocha), and Tuna cheese (Queso).
Opuntias have been used (even the
thorny ones), for making confectionery
by the Mexicans and others for a long
time. Some of the finest candies of Mex-
ico are candied cacti of various forms.
The juice from the fruits of the crimson
varieties is used for coloring ices, jelly
and confectionery; no more _ beautiful
colors can be imagined.
For the old fruiting, Cpuntias or Prickly
Pears, eighteen thousand pounds of fruit
per acre is found to be a common crop,
while on good soils the Burbank fruiting
varieties have produced at the rate of
more than twice as much. The fruits dif-
fer in various ways, like apples, plums or
peaches. By analysis, they are found to
contain from six to fourteen per cent
sugar, besides a small amount of protein
and fat, also aromas and flavors. Some
contain more of these, some less; all de-
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
Burbank Cactus in Fruit—Showing the Enormous Yield of Fruit rich in Sugar
sirable qualities are greatly increased by
scientific breeding and selection for this
purpose, as with the apple, peach, sugar
beet, and other fruits, grains, and
vegetables.
Some of the earlier varieties ripen in
June and July, the later ones in August,
September, October and November and
through the winter. Most of them com-
mence bearing about the third year from
cuttings.
“Mr. Burbank’s greatness, and the magni-
tude of the value of his achievements are
recognized the world over by men best cap-
able’’of understanding and appreciating both
the man and his work.”—Congressman E. A.
Hayes.
The general practice to prepare the fruit
for use is by brushing with a whisk broom
or rubbing with a coarse cloth, then cut-
ting a thin slice from each end through
the skin, then slitting from end to end
when the skin may be readily removed,
leaving the solid, sweet flesh ready for
use; another way is to slice through the
center of the fruit from end to end and
remove the flesh with a spoon.
It is said by David Starr Jordan, Chancellor
of Leland Stanford Junior University, Cali-
fornia, that:
“Luther Burbank is the greatest originator
of new and valuable forms of plant life of this
or any other age.”
31
The Luther Burbank Com
San Francisco, Cal. US.
pany
A.
The Kind of Climate and Land Needed
for Cactus Culture
Climate
Cactus will not thrive where the
ground freezes over an inch in depth or
where the temperature stands as low as
fifteen degrees above zero for any great
period. Heat is not of serious conse-
quence.
About six to eight inches of rainfall
are required for the best cactus culture,
although cactus will do well on three to
five inches per season.
It is not necessary that the rainfall
Newly Planted Cuttings Showing the New Growth—Fifteen New Slabs on One
should be regular. The precipitation of
rain can be once in four years or even as
infrequent as once in ten years.
The Kind of Land
Cactus plants do not necessarily re-
quire rich land. The climatic conditions
are more important than the soil.
The land need not be what is generally
denominated fruit or agricultural land.
Cactus will stand as much white alkali
as any plant which grows.
Plant
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. U.S.A.
How to Grow the Burbank Cactus
FULL CULTURAL DIRECTIONS
What to Plant—Cuttings or Seeds
Cactus should always be raised from
cuttings, never under any circumstances
from seed.
Where to Plant
These new Burbank cacti can be plant-
ed in any part of the earth where the ther-
mometer does not go lower than 15 de-
grees above zero and where the rainfall
is not over 40 or 60 inches, or less than
3 to 4 inches. In localities where the rain-
fall is continuous and heavy the cactus
sometimes suffers from decay of the
leaves. It is not in any way particular
as to soil, growing in any soil in which
any other plant will grow if it is not
too wet. Good agricultural land, like
corn land or vineyard land, is especially
good, and will, of course, produce a larger
crop than poorer land. Temperature and
moisture are the two important matters to
look after; soil is of little consequence
compared with these.
When to Plant
Cactus should never be planted, trans-
planted or moved during sayy. winter
weather, which is just the time to plant
nearly all other trees and plants. If
planted at this season they very promptly
decay, especially if it happens to be cold
at the same time that it is damp. The
two together are death to the cactus when
moved at such seasons and under such
conditions. The best months for planting
are the warm dry months extending in
Central California from April to Novem-
ber. The actual seasonal conditions gov-
ern always. Planting after November is
satisfactory when there is little rainfall,
and much sunshine and the land is dry.
How to Plant
The cuttings consist of slabs, sometimes
called leaves. These weight from two to
five pounds, according to variety. It is
always best to plant a whole slab. While
those that are divided will sometimes
grow fairly well, it is not economy to
divide them. Better results are always
obtained by planting whole slabs. As be-
fore stated, this must be done during the
warm months. Every slab, if properly
planted, will root in from four to six
weeks, ats surely and without
CACTUS ERA
“The cactus era is just opening. Ten or
twenty years hence many well-informed men
believe the cactus will have supplanted and dis-
placed 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 Burbank
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 literature.
“Imagine, if you please, a man collecting the
cacti of the world, selecting from all of these
varieties the best, then growing millions of
seedlings, crossing and recrossing them, select-
ing and reselecting, and, finally, after sixteen
INEVITABLE
years triumphantly evolving from this patient,
laborious process and from millions of discard-
ed 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 cactus. Sometimes out
of 100,000 seedlings he destroyed 99,999. The
remaining individual he watched and tended
as carefully as a mother her nursing babe. Pa-
tience, infinite patience, had to be added to
the Burbank genius, the truly Spineless Cactus.
“Of those anxious ones who have endeavored
to detract from the merit of this, the greatest
of the Burbank triumphs, we will say nothing.
The Burbank Thornless Cactus speaks for it-
self. It will, by its wonder-working accom-
plishments. best answer all critics, whether ma-
licious or ignorant.”—Ex.
oo
Ww
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
This Shows the Remarkable Productivity of the Burbank Spineless Cactus—Beginning the
Second Season
fail, if properly treated. Unlike ll
other plants, it is best that the cuttings
should be wilted a little, though in hot
weather they will grow without wilting.
They can be wilted in any ordinary warm
climate if placed flat on the ground here
the sun does not strike them from 11 to
2, or any little shade which protects them
from the burning, fiery heat of the mid-
day sun. When the parts that have been
cut in removing from the old plant have
become dry and seared over, they may be
planted at once, one-third under the
ground and two-thirds above, either
straight up or slanting at any angle. This
is absolutely all that is necessary in plant-
ing cactus. If the cuttings happen to
be a little bruised in shipping, the bruis-
ed places should be cut away and during
the summer time will heal over at once.
In the winter time such bruised places
will promptly decay.
34
Preparing the Ground
Very ordinary kind of soil will do for the
cactus, though as with all other plants, the
better it is the better they will grow. The
ground should be plowed and harrowed
and allowed to become quite dry on the
surface before the cuttings are planted.
In planting the cutting, it is well to dig
out all moist earth with a trowel or spade,
and to have dry dirt around the lower part
of the cuttings, as they root much quicker
in dry dirt than in moist, strange as it may
appear. Many failures of cactus cuttings
have been caused by planting in too damp
soil, or irrigating too soon after they are
planted. In planting for forage, it is well
to make double rows three feet apart, and
these double rows should be about ten
or twelve feet apart and in these double
rows the cactus should be planted alter-
nately, as in this way they help to hold
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
SHOWING METHOD OF PLANTING CACTUS
Double Rows—Twelve Feet Apart, With Cuttings Spaced in Three-Foot Squares in the
Double Rows—By this Method a Wagon Will Reach Four Single Rows
in Gathering the Cactus for Feed
each other up better and have more room
to grow, especially while young. Cactus
may be planted on hillsides in very hot
climates on the north sides. They thrive
best on the south sides in cold climates.
The cactus is especially valuable as an
adjunct to alfalfa, as it will grow on ordi-
nary land with a very small amount of
water, where alfalfa would be sure to die
out. Under such conditions, the cactus
will thrive where alfalfa cannot be grown.
Nothing can be superior to the cactus for
this purpose, as it improves year by year.
Cactus should never be planted in the
shade or wet land. In some cases, where
there is an extreme cold spell of weather
the tips of the leaves will sometimes
freeze. When thus frozen all the de-
cayed parts should be cut away as soon
as possible, and as soon as a sunny day
comes the plants will heal over and no fur-
ther damage will be done, while if the de-
cayed portions are left on the plants a part
or the whole plant may sooner or later be
involved with the decay.
Cost of Setting Out Spineless Cactus
In Europe cactus has been set out by
hand labor, and the cost is estimated to
be about $5.00 per acre.
One man can set out 1000 slabs a day
in ground previously well prepared. Ina
country where traction engines can be
used and large tracts set out, the cost
should not exceed $5.00 per acre.
Cultivation
Cultivation during the first season or
two is of advantage to cactus, especially
on dry ground. Irrigation is sometimes
permissible after they get a good start, but
not until they are well rooted. Cactus will
thrive with one-tenth the water which al-
falfa requires.
When to Harvest
One of the principal features of the
cactus is that they can be allowed to grow
year after year until needed in a dry sea-
35
“The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
HARVESTING CACTUS
The Crop Has Been Cut from Plants in Foreground, Which Will Immediately Start a New
Growth, Crop after Crop thus Being Produced Indefinitely from the Original Plant
son, or in case of a shortage of feed, then
can be harvested by the wholesale. On
good land more tons of it can be obtained
per acre than on fire to ten acres of other
forage. In harvesting for ordinary, reg-
ular feeding, it is well to cut off the top
and side leaves with a long knife, hatchet
or other tool, and feed to the stock as
needed. It may be fed at any season of
the year without regard to season—sum-
mer or winter, spring or fall.
Yield
The first season, if cuttings are set out
early in the season, say June, each should
make five to ten or fifteen new cuttings.
The second season twice as many as that,
36
and the third season three times as many.
The cuttings may be replanted as soon as
they are hard and thoroughly ripened.
How to Feed to Live Stock
Cattle or any kind of horned stock are
especially fond of the cactus, but as with
all other new feeds, some refuse at first,
but soon learn to eat it greedily. It is
best fed to them either whole, or better
still, the slabs may be rapidly run through
a cutter and a little bran or sprinkling of
meal will induce those animals to eat
it that do not at first understand it. Poul-
try are also fond of it and will seat it at
once, if it is sprinkled as for stock, and
afterwards greedily for green feed. Hogs
invariably like it when used to it. It is
particularly valuable for growing animals
and or milch cows, as it increases the
quantity and improves the flavor of milk
at once. But cactus, like almost all other
food, requires other food with it. It is
quite succulent and moist, and some dry
alfalfa or other hay is excellent, or a little
oil meal, bran or even dry weeds. It has
the same effect on cattle or growing ani-
mals as green feed of any kind, but does
not bloat animals like alfalfa.
Harvest
There is no occasion to harvest the cac-
tus before hand, because it is always in
good condition. There is no occasion for
storing it, because it is always good from
January lst to December 31st.
Like all other crops that are worth cul-
tivating, it should be fenced. No crop
worth growing can be grown _ other-
wise. If it is good, animals soon find
it out, as they will every other crop
that is raised for them. They should never
be turned loose in the cactus patch; no
one would turn stock into a beet or pump-
kin patch, as they would injure the plants.
They would also injure cactus plants, for
they would greedily eat their tops, stems,
roots and branches.
“Burbank’s thornless cactus is now being
cultivated at Kiamuki, and plants are being
taken from there and sent to the other islands.
This new form of cactus is growing well and
there are hopes that it will grow rapidly on
the other islands, especially in the cattle dis-
tricts.
“As a food product the cactus appeals to
cattle as one of the most attractive foods
found in the pasture lands. Even the thorny
cactus is eaten by them.”—‘Commercial Ad-
vertiser,” Honolulu, T. H.
The Luther Burbank Company > Xe
San Francisco Cal.USA.
Fruiting Cactus
Fruiting cactus is planted just the same
as forage cactus, except that it should be
planted a little wider apart, as they grow
to an enormous size and live to a great
age, and it is well to keep them pruned
low. They will spread so that if planted
three feet apart in the narrow rows and
twelve feet apart in the wide rows they
can be harvested most conveniently. The
fruit is at its best during September, Oc-
tober and November, though some va-
rieties continue to bear throughout the
winter and spring, in fact, throughout the
entire year.
How to Prepare and Eat the Fruit
Do not handle with the bare hands.
Take each fruit on a fork and with a sharp
knife cut off both ends, and, still holding
the fruit by the fork, cut through the peel
avoiding the little bundle of bristles; then
with the knife push the peel from the oval-
shaped mass of pulp within. Cactus fruit
is very wholesome and nourishing and can
be eaten in great quantities with benefit.
The seeds are to be swallowed as with to-
matoes. The fruit is much more delic-
ious when cold.
“That the Chamber of Commerce of the city
of San Diego does most heartily endorse the
efforts to spread the new Burbank fodder,
thornless cactus, throughout the Southwest,
thereby rendering highly productive vast areas
of arid and semi-arid lands, and thus still
further demonstrating the agricultural import-
ance of this section of the country.”—Resolu-
tion adopted by San Diego Chamber of Com-
merce.
37
The Luther Burbank Company
San Francisco, Cal. U.S.A.
House of Repxesentatives, United States.
Part of Cong. Record.
LUTHER BURBANK AND HIS WORK
From the Speech of
Hon. Everis A. Hayes
of California
In the House of Representatives.
SPINELESS CACTUS
No more important thing has recently oc-
cured in agriculture than the successful produc-
tion of the rapid-growing, edible spineless cac-
tus by Luther Burbank. After sixteen years of
expensive and costly experimentation he has
produced a new and most valuable cattle food
for the world. For many years it has been
the custom in Africa as well as in those parts
of America where it abounds, to feed to cat-
tle certain varieties of the prickly pear cac-
tus after the spines have been burned off. This
burning, of course, greatly increases the cost
of fodder. The food value of this spiny cactus
for stock has been known by cattlemen, who
have grown and used it for some years.
Mr. William Sinclair, a successful cattle-
grower of Texas, writes: “We find it very poor
policy to put the slightest limit on the amount
of cactus our cows get. The more they can
eat the better they thrive and the more milk
they give. There is nothing that sets them
back more than a shortage of cactus. If we
happen to be short of milk the cause is almost
invariably traced to the shortage of cactus.”
The great desirability of the rapid growing
and edible spineless cactus for cattle food has
been recognized all over the world.
Of all stock food, the Burbank improved
spineless cactus is by far the most prolific.
Alexandria, Egypt, April 23, 1908.
“Please be kind enough to send us offer for
one or more varieties of plants and the amount
of money we will have to send to you for post-
ing a lot of leaves to Egypt.
“His Highness, the Khedive, is keenly inter-
ested in the question of your Opuntias and will
be glad to see a success of our future experi-
ments.”—Charles Chevalier de Blumencron.
SAMPLES OF VARIOUS COMMENTS ON
THE WORK.
“Mr. Burbank’s first publication on economic
cacti serves to set at rest many groundless sup-
positions as to the character of the work he
has had under way for years on these plants.
Some persons, forgetting that Mr. Burbank
has made up to now no official announcement
38
It is adapted to almost any soil where the
temperature does not go below 18 degrees
above zero, and it will stand a great amount
of heat.
Cactus is the only fodder that furnishes
green, succulent feed all the year.
Another source of great value in the Bur-
bank improved spineless cactus is its fruit. It
is a fall and winter fruit of attractive colors—
crimson, scarlet, yellow, white and variegated.
It is a sure bearer; a good packer and shipper;
very healthful, and of a flavor which many
prefer to that of bananas or figs. It contains 8
per cent to 16 per cent of sugar; is a great fat-
tener for hogs and cattle. Poultry also is ex-
tremely fond of it.
These make fine jellies, jams and glacé fruits,
and can be used for coloring ices, jellies, con-
fectionery, and so forth.
In an experimental way, from the Burbank
improved spineless cactus, paper pulp and
wood alcohol have been produced. But the
greatest value of Burbank improved spineless
cactus will be that it will make highly pro-
ductive and valuable vast tracts of land now
barren because of insufficient rainfall, not only
in Southern California and Arizona, the natu-
ral home of the cactus, but also in South Amer-
ica, Australia, India, Egypt and elsewhere.
For example, are large tracts of land prac-
tically bare and worth but $10 to $15 per acre.
The annual rainfall is about five or six inches
—making the land semi-arid. On this soil,
without irrigation, is produced enough, with a
few pounds of chopped straw, bran or other
roughage, to keep four cows per acre all the
year. This same land, when so situated that
it can be irrigated and planted to alfalfa, keeps
about one cow per acre annually and is now
selling for $200 per acre. In other words, Bur-
bank improved spineless cactus will give $15-
an-acre land a greater earning power than al-
falfa on $200-an-acre land.
of his work, jumped to the conclusion that he
had merely hit upon one of the common near-
ly spineless forms of Opuntia Ficus Indica.
Others more dishonest have been offering for
sale so-called ‘Burbank Thornless Cactus,’ de-
spite the fact that not a single plant or seed of
Mr. Burbank’s new creations has left his
grounds up to a few weeks ago.
“Mr. Burbank was perfectly well aware at
the inception of his work on the opuntias that
there were many forms nearly thornless, and
he has even brought to light one kind, grown
in many countries, that has neither spines nor
spicules. It is not of much value, however, as
it is a rather small plant and not hardy. The
new forms are much more rapid growers and
are also more hardy.”—Dr. Walter T. Swingle,
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington
DC:
The Luther Burbank Company ¥,
San Francisco, Cal. USA. 3
Special Information
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-
ings, exaggerations or misstatements such
as heretofore have been carelessly, igno-
rantly or wilfully 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 thousands 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 cactus yields big, luscious slabs,
weighing from one to seven pounds each,
which can be cut at any time, summer
or winter. There is no particular harvest
season, therefore, no necessity to harvest
and store.
The selection of ordinary Opuntia cut-
tings is of some importance. Those who
have grown them on the shores of the
Mediterranean for hundreds of years al-
ways select “bearing wood” if fruit is the
object, and the least thorny and bristly
leaves if a plantation is to be produced for
forage; even some of the partially spiny
ones may be made less so by careful se-
lection of cuttings, but this labor is wholly
useless since the new Burbank varieties
are offered.
When alfalfa was generally introduced
about twenty years ago, many wiseacres
declared it was “no feed for milch cows.”
Many declared alfalfa would bloat cattle
to a dangerous degree and was wholly un-
safe to feed. In some of the Eastern States
alfalfa is now being introduced and is en-
countering considerable prejudice, strange
as it may seem. Agricultural colleges are
sending lecturers abroad for the purpose
of educating farmers in the use of alfalfa.
Yet to-day the value of land planted to
alfalfa alone in California represents many .
millions of dollars.
It has been proved that the poorest of
the Burbank spineless cactus varieties
are so far superior to any of the old half
thorny ones that no comparison with
them can fairly be made.
39
The
Luther Burbank Company ‘ Py 4
San Francisco, Cal. USA.
Our New San Francisco Headquarters
With the establishment of new headquarters at Market and Beale Streets,
San Francisco, The Luther Burbank Company enters the general seed and
nursery field with every improved facility for meeting the general demand
in these two lines.
The ground floor of their new building in San Francisco is devoted to
the salesrooms, a continuous exhibit of original Luther Burbank creations and
the most complete lines of spineless cactus, seed and nursery productions in
the West. The executive offices are located on the second floor.
Owing to the increased interest in original Burbank creations, a constantly
changing Burbank horticultural exhibit is maintained in the new headquarters.
As the fruiting or blossoming periods arrive, specimens are brought from the
Company’s various proving grounds, nurseries and seed farms and attractively
displayed in the store. On account of the extensive window space on both
Market and Beale Streets and the unique interior arrangement, this store is
one of the great horticultural attractions in the United States. In reality it is
a continuous Burbank exposition. As an adjunct of this exhibition, a new
feature has been introduced—the Stereopticon Hall, where are shown Burbank
novelties by direct color photographs in connection with stereopticon
projections.
A service department is also installed, at the head of which are men of
wide experience in practical horticulture. Their advice, which is given gratui-
tously, extends to every phase of the growing of fruits and flowers, as well as
the difficult problems in landscape gardening.
None the less instructive is the display of original Luther Burbank Spine-
less Cactus. A visit to this store by anyone interested in practical horticulture
or floriculture cannot help but prove of great interest and practical value.
The comfort and convenience of all visitors has been provided for in every
way, especially out-of-town visitors, by the installation of a reception bureau.
You are cordially invited to visit us in our new business home.
40
How to Order
Wherever it is possible to do so, use the order blank.
Fill out all the information that the blank spaces call for.
Be sure to write your name plainly. Give postoffice where you
receive your mail, including county name. State plainly the town
or point where you receive your freight.
Give the name of the railroad or express company from which
you receive your freight. State whether to ship by freight or express.
In the absence of specified instructions, we shall use our judgment.
Usually orders will be shipped by freight unless otherwise speci-
fied. An exception to this rule will be where the package is small,
when it may be shipped by express. No shipments are made by mail.
You will be notified of shipment. Allow a sufficient length of
time for the package to arrive, and then if it does not arrive notify
the railroad or express company, showing the bill of lading. Also
notify us by mail and we will send a tracer after it.
We are not responsible in any manner after we have delivered
the shipment in proper condition to the carrier, We will do all in
our power, however, to straighten out any difficulty. All claims for
defective or damaged goods must be made immediately upon receipt
of same.
Nothing will be sent C. O. D.
All remittances must be either postal orders, bank drafts or cer-
tified checks, properly made out to this company.
No agent or representative of The Luther Burbank Co. has
authority to make special terms or to vary the printed conditions or
statements as contained in this or other catalogs or publications
issued by this company. All special conditions or arrangements
must be taken up with and confirmed by the officers of the com-
pany at the general offices only, in San Francisco.
We do not warrant in any way, express or implied, the con-
tents, or the description, quality, productiveness, or any other mat-
ter of any seeds, bulbs, plants or trees sold by us and we will not in
any way be responsible for the crop. If the purchaser does not
accept these goods on above terms, no sale is made thereof, and
he must return them at once, and money will be refunded.*
The Luther Burbank Company
GENERAL OFFICES
Burbank Building, Market and Beale Streets
San Francisco, California
*Standard form of guarantee adopted by leading seedsmen and nurserymen
of the United States.
LIBRA
HAiHiDtiiii ©
0 020 950 182 §
Ce ee ere ey
A WARNING
ANY new trees, plants and seeds are grossly misrepresented by a few
M dealers who trade on the reputation of reliable firms, often doing a thriving
business by selling trees and plants in localities where they very well know that
they cannot thrive; this and the substitution of inferior or wholly worthless trees
or plants under the name and reputation of good ones has been, and is now
being carried on persistently and systematically by several parties who victimize
those who deal with them by trading on the reputations of reliable firms and
good trees and plants.
An especially cruel form of this is the persistent pushing of the Spineless
Cactus, Crimson Winter Rhubarb, and other tender plants for cold climates, which
cannot live where the ground freezes an inch in depth.
It should be the duty and privilege of every good citizen to aid in exposing
and routing all who are obtaining money under these false pretenses.
Having been in business almost forty years, millions of trees and plants
raised in my establishment are now bearing fruit, not only in the Western United
States, but everywhere on earth where the sun shines and trees can be grown.
Does this forty years’ record of just dealing mean anything, and is it surprising
that such a reputation should be worth trading on? Counterfeit coins are not
counterfcited—it is the genuine ones that are misrepresented.
Trade Registered ht *
Mark “i oN
This seal is on each package of genuine Burbank plants hi nals ibn RY
oh
or seeds and it is your protection. Look for it.
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