The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-11-19

get it thornless. Then next was to get
one which would produce a great
weight of forage to the acre. That
has been very well accomplished.
have a cactus set out three feet apart
one way by six the other, that viii
produce 200 tons of food per acre.
Twenty tons per acre is good crop
for beets, carrots, turnips, cabbage
and almost anything cultivated in the
soil. Some of the older cactus will
produce about 100 tons. Cactus is not
as nutritious as beets, but there is more
water in it. BY analysis some cactus
produce 2.5 per cent. starch, while 9TH
ers produce $40 of one per cent. so
you can see there is a great individual
ity in the nutritious quality of cactus
as well as productiveness. Now my
object is to combine this great pro-
ductiveness with great nutrition, and
then my opinion is that the cactus will
be the most important plant that there
lis today for arid regions. / have taken
the wild Colorado cactus, planted them
in a small bed and given them no
water, planted four or five OF my i'm
proved cactus in the same bed, ana
the improved cactus starved them al
most to death. In the same treatment
they will grow three or four feet in
height and be in perfect vigor ana
often weigh two to seven pounds each,
while the wild Colorado cactus, which
you would think was as hardy as any
thing possible, would be drying up for
the want of moisture. That can be
seen on my place today. The ability
of the improved cactus ito root deeper,
from their greater individual growth,
gives them the opportunity TO strike
deeper and take the moisture up. while
the common wild cactus cannot reach
it. so it starves to death. Now, every
animal that eats vegetation of any
kind is very fond of cactus and for
that reason it has thoT1s. otherwise
il would be out of existence. or ii
would have taken some other means
to protect itself. All the cactus, as far
as I know. which do not already have
thorns, have a very bitter juice and it
is not suitable for food for any animal
Those which have the worst thorns are
the most nutritious and the most use
full. The cactus produces very good
beef and very good milk and is used
in the Hawaiian Islands and North
delegate asked Burbank if he had a
secret of developing plant life ana II
the secret would die with him. Bur
bank replied that he has no secret and
that he is always ready to assist
others.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER THE 9TH
FORESTRY, AGRICULTURE AND
IRRIGATION DAY.
| The official program was carried out
the entire session being devoted to tnf
| able and interesting addresses as fol
/ lows:
| Forestry and Railroads
| The Relation of Range Products Z
! the Water Supply,
| Leasing of the Public Grazing LANDS
| State Forestry and Forestry ADMIN
istration.
! Relation of Forestry and Irrigation
The Bureau OF Plant Industry
Federal Aid and Control OF 1rriga
| ton and Drainage,
I Irrigation and Sugar Beet culture
| The evening session was very IN
| teresting lecture on California ana IL
| resources. illustrated by spIenoiC
stereopticon views of California scenes
and attractions by the California Pro
motion Committee
! On Friday, September the 9Th. Lane
and Irrigation laws held sway ms
addresses continued full of interest ane
were as follows:
THE Public Land Laws" by j. N
Carey of wyoming, author of the Care!
/ Act
| J. NJ Carey was the president o. m
Fifth and Sixth National Irrigation
/ Congress. held in Lincoln, Nebraska
! in July. 1897. and in Cheyenne In Sept
1898. and has accomplished much To-
. the cause of irrigation in the ART
West.
California Irrigation Laws D
Frank H. Short Of California one
the ablest attorneys on the suo9ee
Of water and water rights.
DR.. Elwood Mead read report 0