Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1921-08-04

One of the most curious and interesting of the
caCti is the 'mesca button" or "peyote" which
is a strong stimuant and allays all hunger and
thirst and fatigue for the time being. The Tara
humare Indians and Huicholes of Mexico make
a cult of the "peyOte," going on long pilgrmages
in search Of it and employing it both incidentally
and regiouSly a for all bodily ills and
a powerful aid to abstinence.
In certain parts of Mexico, Sicily and else
where the natives live almost entirely on fresh
cactus fruits when they are in season. They
grow them in gardens and orchards and often
gather them at dawn when they are coolest al
though their temperature is always below that
of the surrounding air They are also used in
salads preserves, picked with lemons, dried, fer
mented as a beverage made into syrup called
"tuna honey" thin paste called "mecocha," or
thick paste similar to guava jelly. Even the
seeds are sometimes dried and saved to use when
the fruits gone
The Barbados gooseberry, used for tarts and
sauces in the West Indies, is appleshaped and
decorated with small leaves or bracts The plant
Pereskia aculeata, is a struggling shrub with
slender branches recurved pricllcs, glossy-green
leaves and clusters Of pale-yellOw flowers.
The prckly pears tunas, are abundant and
much used They are pear-shaped or globular
weighing from an ounce to a pound; red yellow
or purple in color; and usually sweet, though
sometimes acid in flavor. The skin contains clus-
tiers of tiny spicules, or glochidia, which very
irritating if taken into the mouth that care is
required in peeng them. They sometimes
called Indian figs or Barbary figs because Of the
numerous small seeds which they contain. Sew
eral species of Opuntia are cultivated for their
fruits as we'll as for their edible joints. The
flowers large, usually yellow or orange, rarely
red
Delicious fruits those of Cereus pitahaya
and its relatives. This species grows to the
height of go feet and It's trunk reaches two and
a half feet in diameter The fruit is gathered
at dawn with long reed sticks armed with sew
eral prOngs.
The fruits of Cereus giganteus handsome
cactus of the Southwest, are also much esteemed
either in the fresh state preserved They are
egg-shaped, two or three inches long, green on
the outside and crimson within. The strawberry
pear obtained from CereuS trianguarls, Is pear
shaped, bright-red, with slightly acid pulp max
ing it desirable in the fresh condition or as an
ingredient of the pepper pot of the West In
dies Excellent fruits are also produced by
LemareOcereus thurberi and certain other large
tree-cacti, and these "pitahayas" do not have the
annoying prickles found in the fruits Of Opuntia.
"Garambullas" are the small Currantlike fruits
of Myrtocactus They eaten fresh or dried
like raisins The melon cacti produce a number
of small edible fruits resembling tiny scarlet rad
shes or red peppers. The Mexican strawberry,
found on a species of hedgehog cactus, is salmon
colored two inches In length, and very sweet in
flavor. 1t gets its name from its numerous mi
mute seeds Tetezo figs, important to the natives
Of southern Puebla, the fruits of species of
Pachycereus.
Although many Of the wild Cact furnish valu-
able food for and beast, it must be adj
mitted that there is for improvement both
in the quantity and the quality of this food
have visited Mr.. Burbank's experimental grounds
in California and fully realize the difficulty of
his task in dealing with the cacti and the impor-
lance of his results. His problem to take a
vagrant forbiddng plant, and divest It Of its
thoms and priclles breed out its indlgestible
woody skeleton and improve the size and flavor
of its fruits.
The fruits of the Burbank creations are over
three inches long, usually yellow or red in color
and have navors all their own, resembling those
of peaches, melons, pineapples, etc.