Luther Burbank’s Spineless Cactus Experiment
Congress has granted authority to the secretary of the interior to patent twelve sections of the semiarid lands of the West to Luther Burbank for the purpose of demonstrating that the spineless cactus can be grown there successfully. He is to have the use of the land for these experiments for five years; and if at the end of that time he is successful, the privilege is granted him of buying the land at the regular price at which the government sells such lands to settlers. The land is useless now; and if Mr. Burbank can demonstrate that it is valuable for cactus growing, he will be regarded as having done a great and valuable work.