The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-04-16
CACTUS CULTURE
As viewed By
-. c. c. RfDeRAvf

Extremes have met snent the Gull
ture Of spineless cactus in Florida
and l would ask the necessary space
in your valuable paper for this at
tempt to outline a happy medium.
And may be pardoned for assum-
ing to write with some small meas
ure Of authority. having grown the
Burbank variety for. three and q half
years in this State and on q scale
exceeding that Of any other man.
sses
Messrs. Optimism and PessimiSm
are much in evidence In this agita-
ton. The California enthusiast is
Of the former class. and evil follows
close on his heels, because be- AZ
sumes that Florida is as good q field
for cactus culture as his home state.
Motives are not now assailed, ein-
certify is assumed. Aeroplane Vac
counts Of immence tonnage per acre,
each year-fifteen hundred tons in
one instance-are narrated to the
astonished listners. And while not
saying, in SO many words, that this
may be expected in Florida, yet
such an impression is left. Here for
instance is a single leaf which in
founteen months, produced on hun
dred other leaves. Here are photo
graphs showing "one hundred tons
not bushels" of luscious fruit per
acre. One acre of cactus is alleged
to support twelve cows, quite a few
hogs, with chickens, goats, etc.,
thrown in good measure. These
astonishing figures. skillfully mani
pulated, are backed up by fervid ap-
peals to men and women to avail
themselves OF this bran new oppor-
tunity to make real easy money,
more money than at anything else.
Admitting these fabulous results to
have been attained in California, it
is mere gush and foolishly audacious
to assume the same for Florida, es-
pecialiy when not a half acre patcn,
three feet high, has been grown any
where in the State, and with such an
existing disparity between two
states. as regards moisture, general
fertility, etc. The above are eX-
IRENE estimates based on insufficient
data and originate too often. in the
brain of the exploiter. One news
paper admits to its pages the state
ment that Burbank's spineless cac-
tus shows a greater growth in
Florida than in California" and this
upon the experience OF one man who
has grown about seven leaves dur
ing four months. Burbank himself
has an acre OF cactus producing one
hundred tons each year, and on
ANY hot day in June" producing a
ton of green feed. Who will believe
can do better than this in Florida,
because my seven leaves, during four
months, have made remarkable
growth! Moreover. the spottiness
or variableness Of Florida soil cuts
no figure with many of these cactus
enthusiasts who promise their hun
dreds of tons per acre each year In
any old place, under any sort Of con
ditions. Indeed, the poorer the
soil the better the growth" etc. All
this is unwarrantably extreme. and
to be received with a good pinch OF
salt.
And, per contra, Mr.. Pessimist is
an unreliable leader or adviser.
Truly none is SO blind as those who
will not see. Can any good thing
come out of cactus?" Indicates their
attitude. For INTERPRETATIONS the
cattle in Mexico, southern Arizona
and Texas have been fed wild cac-
tus by thousands Of tons, the
spines first being burnt off.
Cattle dealers and dairymen in
galore testify dismterestedly and
make aflidavits to the effect that
pigs thrive and grow fat, cows in
crease by nearly forty per cent, their
milk flow, steers fatten satisfactor-
lily for the best markets, chickens,
turkeys, goats. sheep and other her.
bivorous kind, do we'll on cactus
diet, especially when supplemented
with small quantities of more con-
densed feed, yet these doubling
Thomases see nothing worth while
in cactus, and dog in the manger-
like, strive to discourage all efforts
to discover, by disinterested methods
If nature has indeed favored us with
another useful product.
II local effort to grow cactus