828 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUK15 



wonderful thing in giving to the world a 

 spineless cactus, I have been waiting to see 

 how it turned out. The common wild cactus 

 grows in our Florida home. It produces 

 beautiful blossoms, right out in the street 

 fronting our gate; and in the garden it is 

 sometimes a weed that has to be dug up. Tt 

 is a queer sort of plant, something like 

 mushrooms, inasmuch as it will come up and 

 grow vigorously where you do not want it 

 and did not expect it, and then, again, it 

 Avill not grow at all, where you do want it 

 to gTow. When we were down on the island 

 at Osprey I found a cactus plant so loaded 

 with fruit out in the woods that I gathered 

 a little pailful, and found them very nice 

 eating. Of course we had to take them on 

 a fork and carefully peel them off with a 

 knife, being particular to get otf all the 

 spines. Well, in view of the above you may 

 imagine with what enthusiasm I read the 

 following, which I clipped from a circular: 



It takes root within four to six weeks after plant- 

 ing. The plants increa.se tenfold during the first 

 year, and during the succeeding years from twenty- 

 fold upward. In fact, there is practically an imme- 

 diate return on the investment. 



It is the most easily cared-for plant known to 

 agriculture. It requires no irrigation, very little 

 cultivation, and it thrives in the poorest soil. 



An acre of alfalfa will produce only enough food 

 to support one cow, while an acre of spineless cactus 

 will feed eight cows. In other words, it has eight 

 times the feeding value in quantity and quality of 

 alfalfa. 



On poor soil, 180,230 pounds of cactus to the 

 acre has been yielded, or ninety tons of the richest 

 kind of forage. Cactus produces nearly double as 

 much feed the third and succeeding years as it does 

 the second season of planting. 



The leaves or " slabs " are used with extreme 

 success as food for all kinds of stock, including poul- 

 try. 



Besides the above, there were some very 

 nice photos of cactus-plantations, and under 

 one of the pictures of a single plant it reads 

 like this: 



This plant is fourteen months old. Eleven slabs 

 have been cut and sold, fourteen remain — showing 

 twenty-five slabs for one — produced in this period. 



In regard to what they have to sell, the 

 figures are as follows : 



PRICES. 



1 to 10 slabs, 60c each; 10 to 100 slabs, 50c 

 each. Spineless Cactus, Inc. 



San Antonio, Tex., Gunter Bldg. 



So far as I can remember, the prices 

 above are about the same that they were ten 

 years ago. From the Florida Grower I 

 gather that there are several places in Flor- 

 ida where they have the real Burbank cac- 

 tus; but I think that, as yet, they have not 

 much of a stock, and the prices are very 

 much as given above. In order to test the 

 matter for myself, I made up my mind I 

 would send for four or five slabs and give 

 them a test in my Florida home; but be- 



fore doing so I concluded I would submit 

 the matter to my good friend Reasoner, of 

 the Royal Palm Nurseries. Below is his 

 reply : 



Mr. Root: — We have several kinds of spineless 

 cactus, all of them descended from Opuntia ficus- 

 indica (see page 15 of our catalog), the parent spine- 

 less kind from which Mr. Burbank raised seedlings, 

 etc. We sent him original plants about 26 years ago. 

 These hybrids we have are Government hybrids, and 

 you can get slabs of them when you return, without 

 expense. I do not think much of these for either 

 forage or fruit for Florida. Para grass beats the 

 cactus certainly 1000 per cent for stock food, growing 

 anywhere in Florida on either wet or dry soils. The 

 cactus fruit is insipid, not to be compared with dozens 

 of fine fruits already produced in abundance here. 

 The only way I ever saw this fruit put up in pala- 

 table form was stewed with a bit of lemon, and sugar. 



For arid conditions in Texas and other warm parts 

 of the Western States it may be an excellent thing, 

 as the soils there are largely too dry to produce 

 grass or ordinary forms of forage. This cactus grows 

 in unprotected places around Southern Florida, and 

 we have never yet seen any of it eaten by cattle or 

 hogs. They would have to be educated. Mr. Hall, 

 or, rather, Mr. W. B. Collins and Mr. W. B. Thomp- 

 son, have large specimens of it here near us. 



Oneco, Fla., Aug. 27. E. N. Reasoner. 



The above reminds me that right in the 

 neighborhood of the Reasoner Brothers' 

 nurseries there is a cactus plant growing in 

 a dooryard, as high as my head. It has not 

 a sign of a spine on it — perfectly smooth. 

 The owner informed me it was taken from 

 the woods. Now, the Burbank cactus may 

 be superior to this; but if one acre of cac- 

 tus will produce eight times as much food 

 as alfalfa, and is easy to grow, why did not 

 our experiment stations discover it years 

 ago, and give it to the world? I am in- 

 formed the Department of Agriculture has 

 already put out a bulletin on cacti, but I 

 have not yet seen it. The circular mentioned 

 above seems to indicate that it can be grown 

 almost anywhere. In fact, T l'>';kc(l *i(' 

 circular all over to see if there is any refer- 

 ence in regard to its power to withstand 

 frost. Along with the printed matter came 

 the following: 



The cuttings consist of leaves called slabs. These 

 weigh from two to twelve pounds. It is always best 

 to plant a whole slab. While those that are divided 

 will sometimes grow fairly well, it is not economy to 

 divide them. 



The only cost to spineless cactus is the cost of 

 plants and planting — no cultivating, irrigating, nor 

 thorn-burning required. Spineless cactus is aleo a 

 fine feed for poultry, and a great egg-producer. 



Here's a letter that came with the above : 



Mr. A. I. Root. — Spineless cactus is producing at 

 the rate of 200 tons to the acre on cut-over pine land 

 near Mobile, Ala. We anticipate opening an office 

 in Florida, and should be pleased to receive your or- 

 der for any amount you might wish. 



Spineless Cactus, Inc., 



Mobile, Ala., Aug. 21. S. T. Davis. 



After the above was put in type we found 

 the following in the Florida Grower: 



