242 



The National Geographic Magazine 



three colors ; an address on ' ' The Pan- 

 ama Canal," by Admiral C. M. Chester, 

 Superintendent of the Naval Observa- 

 tory ; an address on "The Evolution of 

 Russian Government," by Dr Edwin A. 

 Grosvenor, Professor of International 

 Law in Amherst College ; an address on 

 "The Commercial Prize of the Orient," 

 by Hon. O. P. Austin, Chief of the 

 Bureau of Statistics. 



A series of illustrated papers on some 

 of the principal geographic features of 

 the United States: "The Big Horn 

 Region of Wyoming," by N. H. Darton; 

 "The Bad Lands," " The Yosemite, " 

 "The Great Plains," etc. 



UTILIZING THE DESERT 



ANEW method of making the desert 

 useful, which may perhaps give 

 value to millions of acres now worthless, 

 has been suggested by Mr W. P. Spill- 

 man, Agrostologist of the Department 

 of Agriculture. 



In certain parts of Texas ranchmen 



have been accustomed when forage has 

 failed because of drought to cut down 

 the prickly pear and feed it to cattle. 

 They remove the thorns by singeing the 

 plants in a fire or with a plumber's gaso- 

 line torch or cut the cacti to pieces with 

 a machine. The cactus makes an ex- 

 cellent food, and in some sections of 

 southern Texas the stock industry is 

 almost entirely dependent on it during 

 portions of the year. Cacti grow scat- 

 teringly in many parts of the dry region, 

 but outside of southern Texas they are 

 found only in limited areas in sufficient 

 abundance to be used as forage. Now 

 Mr Spillman suggests that varieties of 

 cacti might be planted in those parts of 

 the United States where they now grow 

 scatteringly, and thus possibly utilize 

 areas in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, 

 California, Kansas, Idaho, Montana, 

 Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and even as 

 far north as Nebraska, which are now 

 of little value. 



The Department of Agriculture has 



From David Griffiths, Department of Agriculture 



One of the Common Prickly Pears of Texas in Full Fruit 



