The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1909-01-14

ton Of his discovery in the Salton Sea
district Of California there are now
1900 of these growing. f~ourishing
plants. AS a result of his long and
patient labors he has produced sew
eral varieties, which, reproducing
from the leaves broken of and thrust
into the ground, will yield through
succeeding generations a limitless
supply of food and fodder.
Interesting facts concerning the new
cactus announced from the California
home Of the plant-life magician in.
clude the following:
The thornless cactus plant three
years old is six feet high. six feet in
circumference and weighs 500 pounds.
An acre of ground planted with it will
yield 200 tons Of forage and from ten
t twenty tons of fruit, which work.
ers for Mr.. Burbank pronounce more
delicious than oranges. peaches, ap.
Piles OF pears.
Four tons Of cactus fodder equal in
food value one ton of alfalfa, and the
conclusion from this is that an acre
of land will produce four times as
much cactus as alfalfa, twelve and
one-half tons Of alfalfa to the acre
being considered an excellent crop.
The cactus plant is of further value
because it can be grown on land that
will not produce alfalfa. Mr.. Burbank
estimated that 5000, 900, 900 acres of
unproductive soil throughout the
world may be utilized to yield the new
plant.
great commercial and economic value.
The fruit may be canned, picked, pre-
served, made into syrups, or find a
ready market in the fresh state, and
the leaves of the plant may be eaten
by man, boiled as green's. fried like
an egg plant or eaten as a salad. Mr..
Burbank and his aids have eaten the
products of the plant in every style
and know that they are good.
For human beings the product of
the cactus is said to have more food
value than any other vegetable, con-
tanning more of the mineral and salts
iron, potassium, maganese, cal
cium, m%agnesia, and soda-that are
upbuilders of the nerve cells.
The thornless cactus will be ready
for the market in the spring of 1909,
when there will be a half a million of
the plants fo%urishing. Some idea of
their present value may be gained
from the knowledge that Mr.. Burbank
sold five leaves for seed to an Austral.
ian company for $4,000 with the pro.
ceeds from which he built a new bun
galow at Santa Rosa.
The wonderful plant has been de.
veloped with great secrecy, but now
Mr.. Burbank is ready for the world to
know all about it and to await ex
pectantly for the proof of the cactus
pudding in the eating thereof.
For many years Mr.. Burbank has
been considered by horticulturists the
first of the worlds many eXperimenters
for the Improvement of fruits and
vegetables. He is not and does not
claim to be a %botanist; his work is
intensely practical and he resembles
Thomas A. Edison in the respect thai
he applies rather than creates theor
les.
Born in a little Massachusetts town
In 1S49, he spent his boyhOod on a
farm and early began his attempt to
change plant life. The first result OF
his studies and labors was the well
known Burbank potato, a great i'm
provement over the potatoes in cult
walton at the time it was originated
With special education, in the AGA
demic sense, for his work. he was
forced into outdoor life by his delicate
health and devoted his whole time tt
experimenting. In 1875, when he was
26 years old, he realized the advan
tage of the California climate for his
work and removed there. The most
famous of his productions is pelhaps
the stoneless prune.
He also has originated several varie.
ties of plums that are great improve.
ments. Apples, peaches, nuts, Der
ries, and trees, grasses, grains and
flowers all have been the subject OF
his Investigations toward greater use
for mankind, and all have been i'm
proved or experiments with them are
in progress that promises Improvement
soon.
Mr.. Burbank's work was carried or
for years at his own expense, but OF
late he has received $4,000 a year
from the Carnegie fund. He is unmar
ried, lives quietly ON his little place
in Santa Rosa, and seldom leaves il
except for the delivery of lectures al