title: Create a D3 axis without tick labels
body: <p>How can I create a D3 <a href="https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/SVG-Axes" rel="noreferrer"><code>axis</code></a> that does not have any labels at its tick markers?</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/3048740" rel="noreferrer">Here's an example that shows what I'm after</a>, from Mike Bostock no less. There are several Axis objects rotated around the centre, and only the first one has tick labels.</p>
  
  <p>In this case, he's achieved the result using CSS to hide all but the first axis's labels:</p>
  
  <pre><code>.axis + .axis g text {
    display: none;
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However this still results in the creation of SVG <code>text</code> elements in the DOM. Is there a way to avoid their generation altogether?</p>