The Hawaiian gazette., 1907-09-17
THE WIZARD
AND CACTUS

4 SACRAMENTO. September S-LutheI
/ Burbank. the plant wizard, was per-
suSdsd 70 talk before the Irrigation
congress today, The wizard received
rapt attention and though his voice Is
unsoited to Ghe rostrum his words were
heard, the delegates maintaining com
plste silence, Burbank talked of the
cactus. which he says win reclaim the
/ deserts OF the world and furnish food
for man and beast. He said in part:
In my work have something over
Sooe species OF plants in training for
Improvement. but can only speak oi
one % them now. l will take cactus.
TALKS ON CACTUS.
You probably know that one-thira
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 found 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
/ sibly introduce. 1t was introduced.
probably. for an ornament. on account
OF the thorns. 1t has taken possession
OF Australia and South Africa II is
very destructive TO sheep districts.
Very often the thorns get into the eyes
Of the sheep and destroy their sight.
and il 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-
| be made upon them. and it struck me
that the cactus. IL the thorns could Be
| taken of. would be one OF the best. II
not the best. Of all the plants for desert
| culture. l found, by raising them by
seed. that ninety-nine out of a thou
sand would be thorny, but once in q
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 OF
seedlings. 1 produced one that was alb
solutely thornless.
CACTUS TO RECLAIM DESERT.
Now, as 1 wish 10 get cactus that
would produce great amount of nour-
/ fshment, of course my first object was
| TO get a thornless, then next was TO
get an individual which would pro-
| duce q great weight OF forage TO the
acre. That has been very well accom-
/ plished. 1 have 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 will produce about l69 tons
/ Cactus is not as nutritious as beet, but
there is more water in it. BY analysis
some cactus produces 2.5 per cent
starch. while others produce .5 per
cent, so you can see there is a great
/ individuality in the nutritious quality
of cactus as well as produetiveness-
My object is TO combine this great
| pruductiyeness 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-
! giors- 1 have not the least doubt OF
| that 1 have taken the wide Colorado
/ bed and gave ttem 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
! be in perfect vigor and often weigh
two to seven pounds each. while the
Colorado wild cactus, which you would
think was as hardy as anything possi-
bic. would be drying up for want Of
/ moisture
That can be seen on my place to-
| day. The ability OF the improved
cactus to root deeper. from their
! greater individual growth, gives them
the opportunity to strike deeper and
| take the moisture up, while the COM
mon wild cactus can not reach 1t, so
| IL staryes 70 death
! Every animal that eats vegetation
| Of any kird is very fond of the cactus,
| and for that very reason Ii has thorns.
I Otherwise it would have been either
! out OF existence or 1t would have tax
en- some other means to protect It
| self. All the cactus as far as 1 know
! which does not have thorns, has
very bitter Juice and is not suitable
| for food for any animal, and those
| which have the worst thorns are the
most nutritious and the most useful.
There are q great many uses to which
/ the cactus can be put"
| Mr.. Burbank here described how
COWS and other animals relished cac-
tus and when accustomed to 1t pre-
1 ferred it to any other class Of forage
plant Continuing he said:
Now the cactus produces very good
milk and Is used in the Hawaiian
Islands and North Africa for that pur-
| pose extensively. People, IL they only
knew what cactus was and knew what
| the varieties were. 1 am perfectly
| sure. would say it is the greatest thing
that has ever been produced for the
soil naturally. II has always been the
i recIafner OF the desert"
/ aT want to ask Mr.. Burbank, IL
II there a secret connection with your
/ production OF plant life. IL so. shall
that secret die with Mr. Burbank
asked a delegate.
IT never had a secret In my busi-
ness in my life, It il free and open to
anybody at any time I will state this,
I have SO many visitors, over 900 ey-
cry year, that 1 cannot spend more
than one Notwithstanding not that
with each"