ENVIRONMENT 83 



with regard to moisture and temperature — it 

 must be watched and cared for until it takes root 

 and is able to care for itself. The rose has evi- 

 dently not had as severe a struggle as the cactus. 



But the cactus, having developed itself under 

 the most discouraging conditions needs no such 

 care. Every one of the fifty or more wartlike 

 eyes on its every slab is competent to throw out 

 a root, a fruit, or another slab — whichever the 

 occasion seems to warrant. 



Lay a cactus slab on hard ground, unscratched 

 by a hoe, and the eyes of its under side will throw 

 long white roots downward, while the eyes on 

 the upper side await their opportunity, once the 

 slab is rooted, to throw other slabs and blossoms 

 upward. 



As the tiny buds grow from the eyes, it is 

 impossible by sight or microscopic examination 

 to determine which will be roots, which will be 

 fruits, or which will be other slabs. It is as 

 though the cactus, inured by hardship and pre- 

 pared for any emergency, waits imtil the very 

 last possible moment to settle upon the best- 

 suited means of reproduction — as though the 

 bud, having started, becomes a root if it finds 

 encouragement for roots, or a fruit if seed seems 

 desirable, or an upward slab if this can be sup- 

 ported. 



