i9o: 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



19 



NOTES OF TRAVEL. 



The Celebrated Tree Cacti of Arizona; the Cactus 



as a Honey=plant; the Growing of Alfalfa Hay; 



how it is Stacked Up. 



BY E. R. ROOT, 



In our last issue I spoke of the fact that 

 Mr. W. L. Chambers, the "big little bee- 

 keeper," had come after me with his little 

 trotter and light bugg^y, both of which had 

 been purchased with the proceeds of honey 

 sales. We had planned to drive to Phcjenix, 

 and in doing so we had to pass by a cactus 

 forest, perhaps the most remarkable in the 

 world, on the main road leading from Tempe 

 to Phoiuix. As we 

 came up alongside of 

 these magnificent 

 specimens of tree 

 cacti, monarchs of 

 their kind, I could not 

 help thinking of my 

 old boyhood days at 

 school when I was 

 studying geo.-^^raphy, 

 how I used to look at 

 the pictures of these 

 giant cacti, or what 

 seeined to ine to be 

 very funny trees then, 

 and whether or not 

 I should ever see the 

 real thing. I asked 

 Mr. Chambers to 

 drive up near some 

 of them while I with 

 my little pocket ko- 

 dak would take in a 

 more permanent re- 

 minder of them, and 

 here are some of the 

 "shots." 



Fig. 1 is a good 

 specimen of the giant 

 tree cacti, and the 

 aforesaid horse and 

 buggy. Something of 

 an idea of its size 

 may be gathered by 

 the height of the ve- 

 hicle close beside it. 

 As nearly as I can 

 figure from a com- 

 parison of heights, 

 this specimen is about 



FIG. 1. 



40 



feet high. On 

 the top of these cacti (see Figs. 1 and 2) will 

 be seen small objects. They are nothing 

 more nor less than beautiful blossoms that 

 yield copiously a rich thick nectar. Quite 

 a little swarm of bees will hover around 

 them," for all a bee has to do is to dip down 

 into one of the great big cups, and drink 

 and drink to its fill. Then it flutters off, 

 scarcel.y able to fly, while the others are 

 gorging themselves only to go back home in 

 a lazy uncertain flight. 



* They were thick around them when the photos 

 were taken; hut on account of tlieir small size, of 

 course thev do not show. 



In Figs. 1 and 2 it will be seen that the 

 bark c^r outer coating has been broken away. 

 A closer view shows a ragged cork-like cell- 

 tilar substance in the center. In front of 

 the magnificent specimen in Fig. 2 stands 

 Mr. Chambers. If we figure that he is 5 

 feet 7 inches, then this cactus is somewhere 

 abotit 30 feet high, and the two smaller ones 

 are abotit 18. Again, comparing the famil- 

 iar object — a man — with the cactus we find 

 that the latter specimen in Fig. 2 is about 

 18 inches through. Others that I saw were 

 abotit 20 inches. 



In Fig. 3 we have a general view of the 

 whole forest of tree cacti. Over in the dis- 

 tance will be seen the motintains near which 

 orange-growing, I was told, was possible. 

 The broad expanse 

 of country shown in 

 this general view is 

 a perfect desert. 

 Nothing will thrive 

 there but these cacti; 

 a peculiar kind of 

 thistle, or what seem- 

 ed to be such to me, 

 and the ever present 

 sage brush; and yet, 

 on the other side of 

 the road were beauti- 

 ful market gardens 

 and fields of alfalfa. 

 Why this difference? 

 you ask. The one can 

 be irrigated, and the 

 other can not ; and I 

 hope it never can, be- 

 cause this desert has 

 some attraction just 

 as nattire left it, and 

 inan should not be al- 

 lowed to desecrate it. 

 As I was going out 

 over the barren side 

 I was particularly 

 catttioned by Mr. 

 Chambers about run- 

 ning across a rattle- 

 snake or a "gilamon- 

 ster." I took the 

 hint, walking care- 

 ftillj-, and keeping a 

 respectable distance 

 from any of the sage 

 brushes under which 

 these reptiles wotild 

 strike." Everj^ now 

 be the mound of ^i 

 h 



A GIANT TREE CACTUS, AS FOUNIJ 

 IX ARIZONA. 



be likely to coil and 

 and then there would 



prairie-dog. If we kept still long enou 

 these little animals would come out and ut- 

 ter their protest in a series of vigorotis little 

 barks. Once in a while a genuine jack-rab- 

 bit would start up and speed across the 

 sandy waste, and such ornerj'^-looking 

 things! Stich legs iind such ears! — so long 

 and ungainlj' that the animals were origi- 

 nally named "jackass" rabbit, subsequent- 

 ly shortened to "jack-rabbit." So large is 

 the animal as a whole that the first time I 

 saw one as it sped through the bushes I 

 concluded it must be either a small deer 



