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Show PASSING OF THE CACTUS. Irrigation of the Plains of Arizona Fatal to the Plant. The bringing of water to the arid wastes of Arizona and the consequent evolution from desert to garden is causing the extinction of one of the strangest plants in the world, says the New York Sun. At a recent session of the territorial legislature, the cereus giganteus, the great cactus, better known as the saguara, and -peculiar to the soil of this territory, was made the official flower of Arizona. Not many years will elapse before a new choice will be necessary. When the first Franciscan Fathers journeyed north from Mexico into Arizona Ari-zona they carried back reports' of the great cactus which covered the plains of the new country, and told about its food value to the Indians. Now, as the art of the American has reclaimed, foot by foot, the former desert, and the magic water has made orange, peach and apricot orchards and great fields of alfalfa, the saguara has been driven out, and only in spots where water cannot be placed can the odd plant be found. On the rocky, gravelly mesas, the saguaras, the largest of the cactus family point their candelabrum-like arms straight toward the sky, not in- frequently attaining a height of sixty feet. The body of the saguara, sometimes some-times two feet in thickness, is composed com-posed of thin pieces of porous wood, arranged in the form of a Corinthian column, covered and held together by the outside fibre of a pale green. At some distance from the ground large branches put out, while the whole surface is covered with sharp, prickly thorns. A large, white, sometimes some-times purple blossom comes forth early in the spring and ripens into a pear-shaped fruit by the last of June. This fruit, the petahaya, tastes like a mixture of raspberry and fig, and is highly prized by both Indians and Mexicans. Part of the fruit is eaten while ripe, and the rest is dried in the enn ni- V.nilort Hnwn tn n iam. Until the advent of the missionaries to the Papago Indian tribe, some twenty twen-ty years ago, the gathering of the saguara sa-guara was the occasion of the greatest orgy of the year. From the fruit a highly intoxicating beverage was made. With this the Indians drank themselves into a state of frenzied intoxication. in-toxication. During the feasts a number num-ber .of the braves were frequently killed. The saguara is short-lived, although tradition has given it an age measured by centuries, and usually begins to decay at the base before attaining its growth. Moisture is fatal to it, and as soon as it receives a constant supply of water, decay is rapid. |
