235 
PARK AND CEMETERY . 
VALUE OF THE HARDY CACTI FOR PARKS 
DPUNTIA VULGARIS. 
Prickly Pear, or Indian Fig; 18 years old 
The Opuntias are the hardiest of all 
cacti. Opuntia vulgaris, the type, is 
commonly known as “prickly pear” and 
“Indian fig.” The homeliest of its class, 
it is 3^et one of the most available plants 
in existence; its clumsy, flat, paddle- 
shaped leaves resist drought and en- 
dure cold. 
Botanists class it with the mosses, 
lichens and small cryptogamous plants 
that defy extremes of heat and cold, 
growing in sterile regions beyond the 
bounds of growth of any other vegeta- 
tion. The opuntia is common to Eu- 
rope and North and South America. 
It flourishes on alkaline soils, upon 
mountain tops, on hot, dry sandy desert 
lands, and even in the lava of Mts. Etna 
and Vesuvius maintains its foothold. 
Bayard Taylor describes “the prickly 
pear, showing its yellow flowers and red 
figs during the brief summer of Spitz- 
bergen.” 
There are places, times and ways for 
which the hardy opuntias are not sur- 
passed. They are of various forms, 
some of great beauty and all are hardy. 
There are more wild than cultivated 
opuntias. The prickly pear grows wild 
in all parts of the United States, and 
serves several economic purposes. Cat- 
tle men, on the plains out West, burn 
the spines off, and feed the juicy leaves 
to stock. Defensive hedges are made of 
it; no donkey, ox or horse will attempt 
to cross a prickly pear barricade. 
The way the prickly pear increases 
size and height is by the formation of 
thick little leaves, almost without stems, 
on the edges of the large leaves. First 
the flower, which is deep amber then 
the fruit, bright red, and at last, the 
By Mrs. G. T. Drennan, 
spiny leaf. Sometimes the growth is to 
one side, then another, and straight up, 
giving to plants of several year’s growth, 
a curious tumbled together appearance. 
The spines of the type are numerous, 
very fine and penetrating. Great care 
is necessary in propagating and caring 
for the plants, on account of the spines. 
A small or a large leaf or joint can be 
clipped off wuth shears, picked up with 
the shears and dropped in a dry place, 
where it is wanted for a bed or an 
isolated plant. It should be left to dry 
and callous for several days. Then it 
may be planted. Just lay a shovel of 
wet, sandy soil over the calloused end 
and let it alone. A prickly pear was 
never knowm to die. No matter how 
long nor how severe the winter, nor 
how dry and hot the summer, it will 
survive. Two years from the cutting, 
and the plant will have assumed the 
appearance of several in one group. 
Isolated plants never seem otherwise 
than several together, this way and 
that, reveling in clumsy growth. 
Opuntia tessellata is a round stemmed 
plant, which by a curious freak of na- 
tural growth produces true flat, opun- 
tia leaves on the terminals of the 
branches. These flat leaves are numer- 
ous and like little fans. The body of 
Opuntia tessellata is about two inches 
through, at its thickest, and is covered 
with shining golden spines fully two 
inches long. It is found in abundance 
on both the Mohave and Colorado des- 
erts. 
It has proven perfectly hardy where 
the thermometer falls below zero ; and 
revels in burning sun. 
ECHINOCACTUS POSELGERIANUS. 
Mexican Rose Cactus. 
The “Grizzly Bear” cactus is a flat- 
leaved opuntia, discovered in California, 
about ten years ago. Its striking pecul- 
iarity is that the borders and both flat 
sides of the thick leaves are covered 
with white spines, long and fine like 
the hairs of a grizzly bear. The flow- 
ers are primrose yellow. 
Echinocactus in large variety come 
next the opuntias in hardy constitution. 
E. McDowellii is not only one of the 
most hardy, but one of the most curious, 
comely and interesting. Globular in 
form, it is thickly beset with silver 
spines, and in the sun, shines like a 
new silver dollar. The flowers are 
large, flaring bowl-shape, of bright pink 
with a deep red stripe down each petal. 
Echinocactus trollieti is a lovely egg- 
shaped, symmetrical plant. The color is 
rich green, shining through the red 
and grey spines. The blossoms are choc- 
olate brown and egg-yellow, very showy. 
Every cactus here enumerated is a 
fine bloomer ; all of them are hardy — 
but a word to the wise. Where snow 
blankets the soil for months, plants will 
stand the winters farther North and 
prove more enduring than where sub- 
jected to alternate freezing and thaw- 
ing. Hot sunshine, if it is in winter, 
has a tendency to scald plants, suddenly 
thawed from frozen condition. Hardy 
cacti for parks are probably in no dan- 
ger whatever from exposure to cold, 
except under the above fluctuations ; the 
same cause sometimes upheaves plants, 
to their detriment. In both instances 
a covering for shade from the direct 
rays of the sun for a few hours a day, 
and a covering of fresh loam, say, a 
