94 CACTI. 



remed\' this want on his property near Beriin in 1786. 

 And it was he who, under the patronage of Frederic 

 WiUiam the Third, started the first real beet-sugar manu- 

 factur\- at Cunern in Silesia in 1801. Other manufacturies 

 then followed in Prussia and France., where Delessert 

 was chiefl^' instrumental in perfecting the process of 

 manufacture. But on the removal of the Continental 

 restrictions most of these beet-sugar factories both in 

 Germany and France failed again, and the new impulse 

 and eventual prosperit\- of the industr\' date from 

 about 1820. 



The Palazzo Orengo is surrounded b^' fantastic forms 

 of vegetation ; pillar-like Opuntias, candelabrum-like 

 Euphorbias resembling Cacti, Yuccas and Fourcro\-as, 

 Aloes and Agaves. These rigid plants raise their stems 

 defiantly above the rest, or, when growing close to the 

 ground, force their neighbours aside with their huge ro- 

 settes of leaves. Agave Sahiu'ana has leaves which 

 attain a length of over two yards. Numerous other 

 Agaves send up from the middle of their rosettes 

 flowering stems resembling a gigantic Asparagus. The 

 Fourcroyas produce in the course of a few weeks an 

 incredible number of greenish- white flowers on their 

 scapes which are a \'ard high. On a wall east of the 

 house grows a small Opuntia (O. iunicata) armed with 

 long, white spines. These are enveloped in a delicate 

 sheath to which the\' owe their colour. The\' protect the 

 plant effectively from the attacks ot animals. And this 

 protection is very necessary in the parched districts of 

 Mexico which these plants inhabit, and where animals 



