Arizona republican., 1905-03-31
ARIzONA's CACTUS WEALTH
A Despised Family Whose Secrets Are
 OrUncOunted Treasure.

region, or what good purpose may eventually be served by many things
 now considered worse than valueless, even in the way. Ono of these re-
 sources is the cactus plant in it's num- berless varieties. It is pretty well known that some use has been made of it but to what extent it has already become a revenue producer is known only to a few, while it's possibilities have been scarcely given attention. Thus far the most money has been made out of cacti by shipping speei
 mems to the various botanical gardens of the world. and it was the learning of an incident of this sort yesterday that prompts the present article. Mir. George Hochderffer of Flagstaff, lieu tenant colonel of the first regiment N. c. A., was in Phoenix yesterday and told a reporter for The Republican that for the last three weeks he had been camped with Mrs. Hochderffer in the vicinity of Comeback mountain, preparing cacti for shipment to the Franz De Ladt gardens near Antwerp. Belgium. The information prompted questions that were answered in a very interesting way by Col. Hoch- derffer. He said that for the last four years he had made the shipment of cacti a regular business, had devoted great deal of time to the study of the cacti family. had made it remun- erative, and from a scientific stand point took a great deal of interest in the work
 Col. Hochderffer was at first in part nership with Dr. PurDus who since they separated has spent most of his time in Mexico. Both of them trav- eIed all. over Arizona and Mexico in search of rare varieties. Dr. Purpus has a brother who is in charge of the botanical gardens at Darmstadt and to whom he has sent many shipments of cacti. Arizona is better represent ed in the cactus display in those gar dens, than is any other country In the world. Colonel Hochderffer sent the exhibit last year that took the prize at the Dusseldorf Botanical exhibition. This year he expects to ship about 2. 900 cactus plants of one kind or an other. Most of them are of the small CT varieties which are almost innum- erable and there are dozens of plants in one crate but of the number about 200 are the giant sahuara, though only comparatively large sized specimens are sent bv reason of their great weight and the expense of handling and shipping them, and the great pre- caution necessary for packing them so they will not be injured in the journey. A cactus plant is one of the hardest things in the world to kill in it's own country but it is at the same time one of the easiest things to bruise. Of the 200 specimens of the giant cactus ship ped six of them are eight feet tall, the rest much smaller Eleven feet is pretty near the limit for practical shipment unless one cares nothing for expense. It is surprising what a ra- tio of increase in weight. accompanies every added foot of height to a giant cactus. An eight foot cactus will weigh approximately 400 pounds and an elevon foot cactus twice as much. Every foot above that increases pro- portionately. A crate weighing any thing over a thousand pounds is rath- CT awkward for handling and to pre- serve the spines the plants have to be shipped in straw padded crates. Some time ago mention was made in these columns of Dr. R. F. Kunze who has also made many shipments of cac- ii to Europe and with great success. 1t seems now that there are al least three extensive cactus shippers oper- ating in this section and there may be more. The total of their shipments bring some money into circulation in "a year. MT. Hochderffer says that the freight to Europe on a single giant cactus is approximately $75 for the large ones Take into account what the shipper must receive for his time, trouble and care and for his i1nowl- edge of what to ship and one can see easily that Europe alone is spending a nice sum of money annually for Ari- zona cactus. And beside this the cas- tern home market is becoming one of considerable importance. There are many eastern gardens now that boast of cactus collections and the number is increasing rapidly. The number of those supplying the market of course increases in the same ratio and there are many private shipments no doubt that little is heard about.
 But the value of the cactus as a mere fad or for the perfection of botan- ical collections is onl-- one phase of it's usefulness in the world or it's inn portance to Arizona. A great deal of scientific research is being directed to- ward the cactus family and with pleas ing results. The achievements of Lu- ther Burbank in producing a spineless cactus that will make good feed for cattle is now a matter of general infor- nation. It is to be presumed that this plant will grow in sections where grass will not, or at least will not at certain seasons. It may have possibilities as range plant. At any rate that is be- ing claimed for !t. Col Hochderffer was asked concerning the spineless cactus and said he had heard of it but did not know what varieties MT Bur bank had experimented with. He pre- sumed though t was that family gen. orally called the prickly pear. Col. Hochderffer says that he knows that variety to be good food for cattle, only for the thorns and the same might be said Of other varieties. But the plant has possibilities also for usefulness as a food plant for man. Of one variety the Mexicans secure the juice that is boiled and treated until it becomes candy and is sold on the street cor