Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-07-21
HE TALKS PRICKERS OFF
THISTLES IN THE FIELDS

You need not worry. I'll see that you
get all you need to cat and drink I'D
see that nobody hurts you
Now, as every body knows, the cactus
has thorns TO prevent 1t from being eaten
by animals. That is the protection nature
has given it. Burbank gradually won the
confidence of the cacruses he had planted
at Santa Rosa, and IL is an actual fact
that after he had lone so he went to
them and said: You don't need to grow
thorns any more. I'll look after you.
Haven't / fed You? Haven't / given you
| everything you wanted. Row, l won't let
any one eat you. So don'l bother TO grow
any thorns.
"The cactuses had confidence in him
and through the power Of suggestion they
( actually began TO grow without thorns.
Now. of course, this was not brought
about Immediately. II required several
years for Burbank TO win the confidence
of the cactus plants and | believe ii was
fuzzy IL years before the present type OF
thOrnIess cactus was produced. That IL Is
a reality no one can dispute. Already
they are being raised in large numbers by
the Thornfcss Cactus Farming company
at Indigo, Cal. and are being distributed
all over the southwest. once he had pro-
duced Il few plants without thorns and
'spinelesS~ succeeding generations were
safe.
The 3-year-oId thornless cactus plant
stands six feet high, is SIX feet IN circum-
ference and weighs 500 pounds. An acre
of such plants yields 200 tons for forage
each year and 10 70 % pounds OF delicious
fruit, which many people declare are bet
ter than oranges. -Four tons OF cactus
fodder is equivalent in feeding value to-
one ton Of alfalfa; thus 200 tons of Cac-
tus are equal TO 80 tons of alfalfa. Hence
it follows that one acre of land will pro
duCe as much fodder. actual feeding value.
in thornless cactus as four and a hait
acres Of alfalfa, for "a crop of l212 tons or
alfalfa TO the acre is exceptionally good,
AS the cactus can be Crown almost every
where. even in deserts. millions of acres
of arid land can De reclaimed and made
productive. Thus 1t viii be seen how pow
crful the value Of suggestion really IS.
IN the same way--by getting its conf
dence and talking TO it-Burbank pro-
duced the thornless thistle. In fact, I
heard him talk TO a thistle. In his low
softly modulated voice. he told the planr
ne would take care OF it and that il
didn't need thOrns TO protect 1t any more.
Well. hundreds Of thistIes are now grow
ing without thorns on his farm at Santa
Rosa.
NATURALLY. Burbank begins talking to a
very young plant, gaining it's confidence
by feeding L properly. A plant, like a
child. responds more readily 10 It's en-
in it's earliest days. The change
may not come in the first generation, or
even II the second. /" may not show at
all for many generations; but patience and
constant attention will finally reap the re-
ward.
when Burbank told me Of his methods
in, cuItivatin6 new forms pf plant life and
modifying others. | asked him why he had
not admitted it before. He replied that
- l.. l-l yIr,1 On In would I.,-N l,Et tla
financial backing of certain capitalists
and IN addition would have been scoffed at
by scientists all over the country. Bur
bank is an intensely practical man and
he works with practical scientists. How
ever he Is also a believer in the occult"