Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1909-09-22
THE spsNseses CACTUS.

DoO WIZ AoNo DSSu eagerly AWAY
Ing the advent OF the spineless cactus
VIII be interested to know that It Is
already with us. and that. too without
breeding or selecting. The United
States Bureau of Plant Industry, we
are told by David Griflths. in a re-
cent bulletin OF the Depa. tment of
Agriculture, has been studying the
matter since 1907; and has collected
and introduced about % spineless
species or varieties. 10 or Il OF which
are somewhat promising It is pre-
pairing to send out free for experiment
1000 70 5000 cuttings but only to
growers who dwell in the area where
The plant will live This ter
ritory Is comparatively restricted. 1t
must be borne in mind also, 80 are
reminded by The Plant World CTuc-
son, Ariz., ApriD, that a spineless cac-
tuS Will not necessarily remain spine
less. Unfayorable conditions, such as
alkaline soil, heat or drought may be
expected to develop the tiny spiDes
that most OF them possess Further.
gays the paper named above:
1t is essential TO remember that
these plants can not be put out ~
shift for themselves; they must be
EARNED like any other crop. tho. owing
To their resistance, they permit more
latitude in their treatment than most
other plants. The prickly-pear
plants, as they now exist, are adapted
TO region having considerable rain
fall, but too irregularly distributed for
ordinary crops. They are the camels
OF the vegetable world. They must
have water, but they can get along for
long periods without it. What is most
needed in the spineless prickly pears
to-day Is greater hardness. but this
quality can not be bred into them in
TWO or three years. 1t might be pos
sible, by careful breeding and 8elec
lion, in a decade or more to increase
the hardness of the rapid-growing
prickly pears, SO as to .... push the
limit OF their cultivation TO the north.
ward very materially. But this will
take much patient toll and many years
OF experimentation.
There are two ways of attacking
the problem. One may depend upon
selection alone. TO gain hardness by
this method one would be obliged to
discard the present spineless species
entirely and work with the hardy spiny
natives, for it can not be expected
thGt the spineless forms can be so i'm
proved within themselves as to with
stand 20 per cent more OF cold than
they do now. The other way is to
| hybridize the present spineless forms
with some hardy plant possessing "a
many desirable characters as possible.
THE slight variation that ocurs in
vegetative propagation renders this
method Of improvement practically
/ useless. The method Of Improvement
by seed-selection requires several gen
erations Of plants; but when it is re.
| membered that cacti can be grown
! from seed only with difficulty and thai
several years are required to grow
generation to the stage OF seed-pro-
duction, the magnitude OF the task
Of improving cacti is easily seen Ii
must be remembered that neither o.
the parents is really spineIess, ever
| the socalled 'spineless' one having
some spines and a strong tendency t.
revert TO a more spiny condition. /;
takes a long time TO breed the apines
off entirely, or even practically, but T.
| produce hardy rapid growing plan,
should not be so difficult, provided
ones conception of hardness is no.
TOO eXacting. The prediction is ven
tHred that if any Improvement is made
In che hardness OF rapid-growing var
/ ictics it will be through the spiny
! plants and not the spineless ones
Meanwhile the daily press is quite
/ busy with the spineless cactus. The
! writer quotes an advertisements OFFERING
/ plants for a dollar each, and some for
/ eign bOtanists, not being able to dis
| tuguish between American science
and American journalistic enterprise
are commenting unfayorably on the
I formor. In still more extrayagant
statement a "propagating company"
/ Is said TO have acquired possession OF
specimens of variety valued at
/ $1,000 EACH This is certainly. a.
President Lincoln would have said
interesting if true and we need not
/ b. surprised that the thousand-dollai
spincless IS called a "wonder-plant
lu The promoters description. The
Bureau OF Plant Industry is more
/ modest Says the writer OF the article
from which We have been quoting.
I'm the midst Of these trials we note
/ that another Of our foreign friends
tho q little dazed at the way We do
things, nevertheless concludes, after
turning it all over, that cacti are
worthy TO be taken into consideration
BY an botanists and botanical insu.
suites 1T us sincerely hope that e
period Of consideration is just before
u.s."