The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-27
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'B0YLEhASA
Sherman County Representa-
tive Would Supplant Alfalfa.
Experimenting With Thornless
Cactus ON His Ranch.
THEY NEED NO WATER.
Furnish an Unexcelled Proven.
der for Cattle.
Would Revofutionize Agricul.
ture In Western Kansas.
THEY NEED NO WATER.

Representative J. o. Boyle Of Good
lands sherman county. Kansas, Ii in
Topeka today on business connected
with local manufacturing concern in
which he has an interest having just
returned from California Mr.. Boyle
talked Of his plan to revolutionize the
beef industry OF Kansas and upset all
calculations On the output of agricuI-
tural products Of the state. He is con-
Quoting test or demonstration Of the
wonderful growth and productfveness
OF the Burbank thornless cactus on
his ranch in, Sherman county. Next
spring he expects to introduce the
thornless cactus In every county in the
west part OF the state and within a
couple OF years at the most he pre-
diets that the cactus era of stock food
will have made the alfalfa era a weak
and insignificant thing.
Luther Burbank, the seed king, as
Is well known, has at last succeeded in
crossing the thornless with the thorny
cactus and produced thornless plant
that has all the best and none of the
bad qualities Of either plant The leaf
OF the thorny cactus Is q rich and
luscious provender for cattle, but the
thorns make 1t impossible for them
to eat it, while the old time thornless
variety was of slow growth and had
iittic Oh no teuQeT IOOQ properties. no
Burbank thornless cactus plants grow
and multiply like Jonah's gourd. Fifty
plants set out in the spring will null
tiply into 1000 to $500 by fall. This
product will yield from Is to 100 tons
to the acre. where treated as an an
nual, will grow under the most ur cav-
orable conditions and requires but
very little water. 1t Is harvested in
the shape of great slabs weighing from
three to. ten pounds each. 1t is dried
out in the sunshine and laid away like
fodder. -a,eA
Mr.. Boyle had with him a specimen
Of the leaf or slab OF the thornless cac-
tus taken from one Of the original
cuttings from Mr.. Burbank's expert
ment farm. It bears out in every way
the claims Of its friends. It is shaped
like the ordinary cactus leaf. weighs
about Ave pounds, is thick with meat
close to the stem and only scars show
the places where the thorns have been
eliminated by grating and breeding
| Of the thorn1ess and thorny varieties.
an experiment farm on a big scale on
| the Pacific coast and propose to raise
| these thornless cactus plants for
seeds for the world. They will grow
| in arid countries where NO other form
| Of vegetation will grow at all. Accord
| ing to Mr. Boyle fhis cactus will pro-
\ duce the equivalent of 20 to so tons of
| alfalfa to the acre on the cheapest of
| lands and with very little or no water.
| 1t is declared also that the fruit that
| develops from the bloom on the plant
| is delicious and healthful for man as
well as beast SAT-
| If Mr.. Boyle succeeds in his demon
| stration of the growth and value of
| this thornless cactus in western Kan
sas to the point that meets his
expectations he will make the west
| err part of this state the most pros
| porous from an agricultural stand
/ point of any section in the entire
| country. The claims of those men
| behind this cactus movement as a
1 provender for cattle are as vivid as an
| Arabian Nights story. But regarded
| from the most serious and practical
! point of view this enterprise Is worthy
| of careful consideration and will
| bear watching by. every man who has
| arid or cheap land Luther Burbank
| has declared that he can make the
| growth Of cactus profitable on land
| worth $1,000 per acre, and 1t pro-
| duces with little cash outlay for water
| or cultivation, an enormous yield on
| the poorest of land under the most
| unfavorable climatic conditions For
| seeding purposes it is cut up and
| planted like potatoes. Each plant
| produces other plants, starting on the
ratio of three to one continuing on the
multiple system.
| Western Kansas farmers will no
doubt keep close watch on Mr.. Boyle's
Sherman county ranch this year. .,,s-
l