CACTUS AND GEEASE-WOOD 



133 



waste of sand and rock, given a heat so intense 

 that under a summer sun the stones will blister 

 a bare foot like hot iron, given perhaps two or 

 three inches of rain in a twelvemonth ; and 

 what vegetation could one expect to find grow- 

 ing there ? Obviously, none at all. But 

 no ; Nature insists that something shall fight 

 heat and drouth even here, and so she designs 

 strange growths that live a starved life, and 

 bring forth after their kind with much labor. 

 Hardiest of the hardy are these plants and just 

 as fierce in their way as the wild cat. You can- 

 not touch them for the claw. They have no 

 idea of dying without a struggle. You will 

 find every one of them admirably fitted to en- 

 dure. They are marvellous engines of resist- 

 ance. 



The first thing that all these plants have to 

 fight against is heat, drouth, and the evaporation 

 of what little moisture they may have. And 

 here Nature has equipped them with ingenuity 

 and cunning. Not all are designed alike, to be 

 sure, but each after its kind is good. There 

 are the cacti, for example, that will grow where 

 everything else perishes. Why ? For one rea- 

 son because they have geometrical forms that 

 prevent loss from evaporation by contracting a 



heatfmA 

 drouth. 



Prevention 

 of eoapara- 

 tion. 



