MAR 25 1895 



117 



CACTI AT HOME 



There is a charm for 

 the most of mankind 

 or womankind in those 

 acts which tend to dis- 

 sipate the mysteries of 

 the unknown. It was 

 with something of this 

 feeling that the writer 

 followed a couple of In- 

 dians, out of a quaint 

 old Mexican town, past 

 ancient Spanish water 

 ways, through narrow 

 lanes bordered with 

 vine-covered walls and 

 mango trees, into a part 

 of the world that might 

 well represent an orien- 

 tal land. Rare tropical 

 beauty rested on the 

 world around us; brill- 

 iant and fragrant flow- 

 ers grew about us; and a restful feeling seemed to fill the air — to 

 judge from the languid motions of my companions. 



We followed an illy defined trail around a steep hillside, un- 

 der oak trees festooned with Spanish moss, air plants, and other 

 vegetable growths of epiphytic habits. Resurrection plants, in 

 ' dried balls so familiar in florists' shops, but larger, and impress- 

 ing one with greater possibilities, grew on the rocky slopes above 

 us. High, overhanging precipices, covered with vegetable pro- 

 ductions new to me, furnished a foothold for Mamillaria spinosis- 

 sima — a cactus so completely enveloped with fulvous, hair-like 

 spines as to resemble a dormant bat. Some of the plants were as 

 nearly inaccessible as could be imagined, hanging, pendant from 

 the cliff in a most tantalizing fashion, and many had ihus grown 

 for a foot or more — specimens that would make a cactus- fancier 

 turn green with envy to see in a collection not bis own. 



