NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



not be moved at other seasons. No one who 

 is familiar with them would undertake to root 

 or transplant them during cold, damp weather 

 such as would be best for other plants and 

 trees. During June, July, August and Sep- 

 tember they will thrive under any treatment ; 

 the leaves, blossoms, buds, half-grown fruits 

 or any part of the plant will take root and 

 grow, even on the back of a cook-stove, in the 

 pocket of your winter overcoat or on your 

 writing-desk. The opuntias differ astonish- 

 ingly in hardiness. Some strains of the com- 

 mon prickly pear {Opuntia vulgaris) will grow 

 readily in Alaska, and several of the thorny 

 species will endure forty degrees below zero 

 without injury. The best agricultural and 

 horticultural varieties are not quite so hardy 

 as the fig, yet are still more so than the orange, 

 lemon, lime or common blue gum {Eucalyptus 

 globulus)." 



Mr. Burbank enumerates the various uses 

 of the new opuntias as follows : 



"The plants may be used for hedges or 

 fences as well as for ornament. The leaves are 

 a food for all kinds of stock, including poultry. 

 The fat young leaves (joints) make mpst ex- 



400 



