The new agricultural-horticultural opuntias : plant creations for arid regions /

Abstract

The Opiintias. having once been thnrnless, there is no reason wliy tliey should not sometime again revert to a state of partial thornlessness and this is exactly what they do. In the Hawaiian Islands a partially thornless Opuntia is sometimes found, always growing, however, in places absolutely inaccessible to browsing animals. In California, Mexico. Colorado. Xew Mexico and Texas small patches of half thornless ones are sometimes found almost always in inaccessible crevices among rocks. And on some of the South Sea Isands where vegetation is abundant and browsing animals few, the Opuntias having no use for thorns have either reverted back to thornlessness or often the thorns have become hair-like, diminished and perfectly harmless. Some twelve years ago, while testing the availibility of a great number of proposed forage plants from the various arid regions of the world with a A'iew to the improvement of the most promising, I was greatly impressed with the apparent possibilities in this line among the Opuntias which from their well known hardiness, remarkable vigor and rapidity of gro\\i;h, easy multiplication and universal adaptability to conditions of drought, flood, heat, cold, rich or arid soil, place them as a class far ahead of all other members of the great cactus family, both as forage plants and for their most attractive, wholesome and delicious fruits, which are produced abundantly and without fail each season. These fruits which are borne on the different species and varieties, va;*y in size from that of a small peanut to the size of a large banana and in colors of crimson, scarlet, yellow and white, and have more various attractive flavors than are usually found in most other fruits except perhaps the apple and the pear, the product of a single plant being often from 50 to 200 pounds per annum, some bearing one crop, others two or more each season like the figs, the first or main crop ripening as the second comes into bloom on the same plants. The Opuntias, from root to tip, are practically all food and drink and are greatly relished bv all herbivorous animals from a canary bird to an elephant and for this very reason have to be on the defensive and perhaps nowhere in the whole vegetable kingdom have such elaborate preparations been made; the punishment inflicted is immediate, the pain severe and lasting, often ending in death, so that all living things have learned to avoid the Opuntias as they do rattlesnakes, and notwithstanding their most delicious and nourishing fruit produced unfailingly in greatest abundance have not been systematicalhimproved by the Agriculturist and Horticulturist as their merits so well deserve. Bv mv collectors and others I secured the best Opuntias from all sections of Mexico, from Central and South America, from North and South Africa. Austraha, Japan, Hawaiian and the South Sea Islands. The United States Agricultural Department at^A'ashington7 through my friend, ]\Ir. David G. Fairchild, also secured eight kinds of partially thornless ones for me from Sicily, Italy, Fra...

A Vast Array of Beauty: The Accomplishments of the Father of American Ornamental Breeding, Luther Burbank

“…Cacti were a major focus of Burbank, specifically the improvement of prickly pears, which he saw as the ideal solution for crop-poor marginal agricultural land in the arid regions of the world. Burbank was introduced to spineless Opuntia sometime after arriving in California, where spineless forms of the Indian fig (O. ficus-indica), like 'Marin', had already been introduced and cultivated (Burbank, 1907;Griffiths, 1912Griffiths, , 1928. ''Spineless'' is a relative term, referring to the true spines (modified leaves) and the minute glochids (''spikules'' or modified, barbed hairs) born in areoles (modified axillary buds) in Opuntia (Fig.…”

“…The cultivation of Opuntia and several other genera of cactus by indigenous peoples in the Americas predated the arrival of the Spanish, where it was grown for both its edible fruit (tuna) and pads (nopales) as well as for other economic uses, like the important cochineal dye industry (Benson, 1982;Russell and Felker, 1987). By the end of the 19th century, prickly pear cultivation for agronomic and industrial use was established in most of the arid regions of the world, including the Mediterranean, northern and southern Africa, India, and Australia (Burbank, 1907;Griffiths, 1912Griffiths, , 1928Russell and Felker, 1987). The use of prickly pear as a forage crop began with the introduction of cattle to the New World by the Spanish to their territories in Mexico and the southwestern United States where Opuntia and their relatives are native.…”

“…In general, the native prickly pears were prepared for foraging by removal of the main spines, either through singeing with brush fires or special ''pear-burners,'' then chopped with machetes for direct foraging or through special ''pear handling machinery'' for fodder production (Griffiths, 1905). Here Burbank saw an opportunity to apply his breeding prowess toward generating a new race of ''spineless'' Opuntia that required no pre-processing to remove spines and yielded more tonnage in pads and fruit per acre with greater adaptability (Burbank, 1907). For example, 'Melrose' (Table 1) was one cultivar Burbank released that after less than 4 years from transplanting was estimated to produce 1 t fresh weight/day (Fig.…”

“…Smith), 'Skelley' (Sicily, 1895: from E.R. Skelley), and the aforementioned 'Marin' (may have been introduced as 'Marine' by Don Francisco de Paula Marin, 1791; Table 1) (Burbank, 1907). Burbank augmented his collection with those of the USDA's PI program, which beginning in 1898, started to collect both fruiting and forage types from around the world.…”

“…Unfortunately for stakeholders and ranchers, the USDA reports were too late to prevent the spineless cacti bubble. Beginning in 1905, speculation on the financial windfall resulting from development of another new agricultural crop for California and the rest of the world began with John Rutland's (Australia) purchase of one 'Santa Rosa' pad for a $1000 (Burbank, 1907). He paid less for 'Chico', 'California', 'Fresno', and 'Sonoma' (Table 1) and purchased the privilege of selling these in the southern hemisphere.…”