The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-09-16
The: WIZARD
AND CACTUS
Burbank Would Make
Green Pastures Out
of Deserts.

SACRAMENTO. September 5.-Luthe
Burbank, the plant wizard, was per
suaded to talk before the irrigation
| congress today. The wizard receive,
rapt attention and though his voice i
unsuited to the rostrum his words wer
heard, the delegates maintaining com
plete silence. Burbank talked of tn
cactus, which he says will reclaim tn
deserts of the world and furnish fooC
| for man and beast. He said in part:
I'm my work 1 have something owe
| 5000 species of plants in training fol
Improvement, but 1 can only speak o.
one of them now. I will take cactus
TALKS ON CACTUS.
You probably know that one-third
of the land surface of this whole earth
is practically desert. Nearly the whole
of Australia, except a narrow rim
around the coast, has been fouru1 to be
almost useless for any purpose except
sheep raising. The cactus which was
introduced into Australia and South
Africa was the worst they could pos
probably, for an ornament, on accoun!
of the thorns. 1t has taken possession
of Australia and South Africa. 1t is
very destructive to sheep districts
Very often the thorns get into the eyes
of the sheep and destroy their sight
and it costs more than the land is
worth where that cactus once gets hold
of the land.
Fifteen years ago I was examining
and studying forest plants for dry re-
gionE, to see what improvement could
be made upon them, and it struck me
that the cactus, if the thorns could be
taken off, would be one of the best, If
not the best, of all the plants for desert
culture found, by raising them by
seed, that ninety-nine out of thou
sand would be thorny, but once in a
while one would be found among thou
sands that would have less thorns than
even the parent. Taking that one and
raising thousands and thousands or
seedlings. I produced one that was abb
solutaly thornless.
cACTfs TO. RECLAIM DESERT.
rNoW as 1 wish to get cactus that
wouId produce great amount of nour-
ssfment, of course my first object was
to get "a thornless, then next was to
gef~ah efndikidual which would pro-
duce a great weight of forage-to the
acre That has been very well accom-
pIished. 1 have/a cactus, they are set
out three feet apart one way by six
the other, that will produce 200 tons
of food per acre. Now for beets. car
rots, turnips and cabbage and almost
anything cultivated in the soil, twenty
tons is a good crop. Some of the older
cactus viii produce about 100 tons
Cactus is not as nutritious as beet, but
there is more water in it. By analysis
some cactus produces Is per cent
starch, while others produce IS per
cent, so you can see there is great
individuality in the nutritious quality
of cactus as well as productiveness.
MY object is to combine this great
with great nutrition,
and then my opinion is that the cactus
will be the most important plant that
there is on earth today for arid re-
gions, I have not the least doubt OF
that. I have taken the wide Colorado
cactus, planted them thickly in small
bed and gave them no water, planted
four or five of my improved cactus in
the same bed and the improved cactus
starved the others almost to death.
..In the same treatment they will
grow three or four feet in height and
ne in perfect vigor and often weigh /
two to seven pounds each. while the
Colorado wild cactus, which you would |
.hink was as hardy as anything possi-
Die. would be drying up for want OF
moisture.
..That can be seen on my place to-
Law. The ability of the improved
cactus to root deeper, from their
greater Individual growth, gives them
he opportunity to strike deeper and
AXE the moisture up, while the COM
non wild cactus can not reach 1t, SO
t starves to death
Every animal that eats vegetation
f any kind is very fond of the cactus,
nd for that very reason 1t has thorns.
otherwise it would have been either
ut of existence or it would have TAX
n some other means to protect it
elf. All the cactus as far as / know
yhich does not have thorns, has
erv bitter Juice and is not suitable
Or food for any animal, and those
rhich have the worst thorns are the
,ost nutritious and the most userul
here are a great many uses to which
he cactus can be put.
Mr.. Burbank here described now
ovs and osher animals relished cac-
Is and when accustomed to it pre-
erred ii to any other class OF forage
liant. Continuing he said:
Now the cactus produces very good
,iIk and is used in the Hawaiian
stands and North Africa for that pur-
ose extensively. People. II they only i;
new what cactus was and knew what
ne varieties We're. I am perfectly Z
ure. would say 1T is the greatest thing
=. - o,,ar haen Droduced for the :