The people of California are rejoicing over the achievements of Mr. Burbank, the illustrious citizen of this State who has wrought such wonderful transformations in the vegetable kingdom. It is estimated that the changes which he has already effected in the structure, tissue, and habits of many plants and trees will eventually add millions of dollars annually to the value of these products. The transformation of the potato plant, whereby it will not only increase its product, but furthermore will bear its fruit on the vine, instead of in the earth, is one of hundreds of marvels but perhaps the one of most curious interest to the people of the Pacific Coast is the change effected in the cactus plant.
Nearly a million square miles of American desert are incapable of sustaining animal life because there is no rainfall to co-operate with the soil. The sage-brush and the cactus, the prolific offspring of this dry and desolate expanse, have never afforded sustenance to man or beast. Within a short time Mr. Burbank has not only transformed the fruit of the cactus so that it will be satisfying and nutritious, but he has also eliminated from the body of the plant the sharp spines which have heretofore rendered access to the fruit well-nigh impossible. Remembering that he is the first and only person in the world who has done these things, I ask you to consider this question: "Why did no one ever do them before?" The one answer and the one reason is that no one ever knew enough likewise it may be said that for thousands of years none of the wise men ever knew enough to have a sewing machine, a railway, or a telephone.
Mr. Burbank's discoveries have come to the world as a surprise. They have not only supplanted the old theories, and revolutionized methods and practices, but what is most significant is the fact that they are largely contrary to the books, contrary to the schools, contrary to the professors of horticulture and the theories of florists, and contrary to what have been called the laws of nature and the fixity of material things. He has changed tissue, structure, form, color, habit, size, and function, and has dominated many kinds of objectionable and offensive conditions and objects.
