Show A A A A A A a A U S b TROOPS MAY USE CACTUS FOR WATER in the pursuit of villa and his bindics through the arid regions of northern mexico the united states troops traversed sed a region whose only vegetation is the barbed and forbidding cactus to any but i t cowboy or a trained plainsman of the southwest inhabitants themselves of the cactus cachu belt this plant seemingly has no more value than the verlest weed but it may well mell be that it may prove of great value to the troops in the absence of water NN ater fodder or even food for human beings in the punitive expedition there are many cow punchers of the cactus belt serving as scouts and in the cowboy and the indian of the south west the lowly cactus has its greatest admirer for they know what a game struggle for life this plant has to make against an desert soil alven their ponies and cattle and the poor beasts of the desert know of these uses of the cactus for water and fodder says the new york herald there are some thousand varieties of this mon vegetable family not counting the va nedies of the agave or century plant incorrectly included by many in northern mexico the va of the bucca palm and all other forms of vegetation known to the and region have the same faculty of sucking up from the soil every drop of the all too little moisture in it and storing it up in their tough and leathery lea leaves es and roots of the many varieties perhaps the most remark able Is that member of tl ti e family known to those schooled in desert craft as the water barrel this plant is shaped somewhat like a beer keg and is about the same size through all the 3 sears ears of its growth it has been sopping up what moisture the famished earth contained and retaining it it Is the sole reliance rel lince of desert dwellers in time of drought and the troops far from water mater holes and with wa ter scarce may set et be obliged to drink from it the water barrel is tapped topped by slicing off the top with ith a anord s ard or machete and pounding the pulp until the water contained in it wells up into A 1 1 the saucer thus formed the pulp itself itsel fis Is pure and the water mater stored in it Is likewise pure and refreshing not all the water ater bearing cacti are as gracious to famishing man however as the w water ater barrel for most of them have protected themselves against the maraud ings of those who would drink and live by ing a bitter taste to the water mater they con tain the peyote especially which abounds in he plains and deserts of arizona has a t trick rick of discouraging depredations upon it for I 1 its ts plump and juicy pulp secretes a bitter and poisonous juice in the last dozen years scientists have interested themselves in the study of the cactus tor for its bill ties as food folder to ider and economic by products dr leon E ae landone foremost in the study of this desert plant several years ago conducted extensive experiments in los angeles to ascertain the value of the cactus as an article of food for human beings in an effort to prove e his conten tion thit it contains food properties sufficient to enable a man to work 18 hours a day he and his two secre foi fol two weeks lived on i i dally daily diet of the leaves and fruit of the cactus the former being bened green or tried fried ind the latter either raw or cooked while the cactus squad sur the experience and professer to have en joyed their novel diet it Is a fact that the cactus ne nev s er has hag attained the popularity of a filet mignon in the whole vegetable kingdom probably there Is not another plant family having so many dif dlf of form as the cacti for it Is pos sible to find anong them species that crawl and creep like vines ines other than stand erect in a single unbending stalk like a green living monument of the desert deser 7 till hll others other that are rooted to the spot v ith their I 1 iguest growth close to the ground and beirle beirl ns almost no resemblance to usual forms of vegetation vegetation and others othen again that branch out in thick ine inz branches |