The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1905-03-14
A BIG CACTUS FARM.
ONE IN ARIZONA THAT SUPPLIES
WORLDS GARDENS.
Many Varieties Grown Are Exceed
ingly Useful-Some Queer Spe-
cimens-Paying En-
terprise.

A mile south OF Phoenix, close to thu
usually dry channel Of Salt river, is one
Of the oldest farms In America. 1t Is
planted to nothing but cactus, OF every
form found within Arizona. Each kind
Is cultivated under the same conditions
prevailing upon it's native heath, to as
great an extent as is possible, reports
the Los Angeles Times, and most of
hem thrive well under the hot skies OF
southern Arizona, cared for by experts
The main owner of the farm is DR.. r.
q. Kunz, a college-bred German scien-
list who has taken up the study of cacti
and their cousins as his life work.
physician, he has particularly studied
the plants for the possibility of secur-
ing products valuable in medicine. And
he unitarian side has appealed TO him
in other ways and he knows the plants
wherefrom come good fruit, those that
bear good water for the thirsty desert
traveller and those useful to the archi-
lecture Of the aboriginal householder.
Arizona has become the source of
supply for cactus for most of the botan-
cal gardens OF the world, and this de-
nand for plants has increased till lu-
srative industry has arisen from what
would seem to the uninitiated, one Of the
most unpromisiag floral fields Of the
world
The most prominent Of the cacu of
The garden is the saguaro Its large
white flowers cover the end of every
branch in April and May, followed by
greenish yellow fruit, which when it
bursts dlscloses a scarlet pulp filled
with black seeds. This is very nutri-
ious.
Another species of far greater use, il
not attraction, is cereus thurberi or
pitaya Of this natives, which was named
after the late DR.. George Thurber, ed
tor of the American Agriculturist of
New York. Its northern limit Is Ito
miles from Phoenix in a southwesterly
direction. and extends into Sonora
southwark. The flower is white. noe
.urnal and smaller than that of the
;aguaro
The fruit Of this species is of delicious
,aste and for months is the support of
ribes of Indians, who then feast upon
/. The pulp is also dried for future
Use and strip, as well as an intoxi-
eating liquor, is made from the fresh
Fruit. The Yaquis. Papagoes and Pimas
largely subsist on the fruit of this cae-
JUS. The stems Of this cactus grow
rom six to twenty feet high
Perhaps the queerest cactus of all
America is cereus greggii of Arizona.
1nown to Me2icans as lara matraca.
Unlike any other cectus it has a very
srge tuber in place Of fibrous roots, and
i resembles o great sugar beet below
the surface, weighing from two to four
zen pounds. The stems are not more
han two to four feet high, as thick as
| finger and covered with very short
pines. The tuber is medicinal, used ex-
ernally In Mexico. 1t is the Arizona
light-blooming cereus. fragrant, the
lower white and large as saucer.
Engelmann's hedgehog cereus, known
as echinocerus engelmanni, grows in
clumps Of from two to twenty Joints
having very large brownish white
;pines, from one to one and a half feet
IN height. It's brilliant rose-colored
lowers, very fragrant, appear in April,
and by the latter part of May are fol-
owed by a crimson edible berry Of the
size and favor Of large strawberry.
"Opintia" is the prlcsly pear family.
If which we have many specimens of
Sarious colors. The at-jointed bear in
some cases fine fruit. while the round
'ranched, often twisted like rope.
lave woody fruit unfit for food. These
are met with on the desert, tableland
md mountains. But most of these are
seen together cultivated on the cactus
farm near Phoenix.