登陆注册
4280300000021

第21章

A species of yucca called sotal, or saw-grass, grows plentifully in places, and is sometimes used as food for cattle when grass is scarce. In its natural state it is inaccessible to cattle because of its hard and thorny exterior. To make it available it is cut down and quartered with a hoe, when the hungry cattle eat it with avidity. Where the plant grows thickly one man can cut enough in one day to feed several hundred head of cattle.

There are several other varieties of yucca that possess no particular value, but all are handsome bloomers, and the mass of white flowers which unfold during the season of efflorescence adds much to the beauty of the landscape.

The prickly pear cactus, or Indian fig, of the genus Opuntia is a common as well as a numerous family. The soil and climate of the southwest from Texas to California seem to be just to its liking.

It grows rank and often forms dense thickets. The root is a tough wood from which, it is said, the best Mexican saddletrees are made.

The plant consists of an aggregation of thick, flat, oval leaves, which are joined together by narrow bands of woody fiber and covered with bundles of fine, sharp needles. Its pulp is nutritious and cattle like the young leaves, but will not eat them after they become old and hard unless driven to do so by the pangs of hunger. In Texas the plant is gathered in large quantities and ground into a fine pulp by machinery which is then mixed with cotton-seed meal and fed to cattle. The mixture makes a valuable fattening ration and is used for finishing beef steers for the market.

The cholla, or cane cactus, is also a species of Opuntia, but its stem or leaf is long and round instead of short and flat. It is thickly covered with long, fine, silvery-white needles that glisten in the sun. Its stem is hollow and filled with a white pith like the elder. After the prickly bark is stripped off the punk can be picked out through the fenestra with a penknife, which occupation affords pleasant pastime for a leisure hour.

When thus furbished up the unsightly club becomes an elegant walking stick.

The cholla is not a pleasant companion as all persons know who have had any experience with it. Its needles are not only very sharp, but also finely barbed, and they penetrate and cling fast like a burr the moment that they are touched. Cowboys profess to believe that the plant has some kind of sense as they say that it jumps and takes hold of its victim before it is touched. This action, however, is only true in the seeming, as its long transparent needles, being invisible, are touched before they are seen. When they catch hold of a moving object, be it horse or cowboy, an impulse is imparted to the plant that makes it seem to jump. It is an uncanny movement and is something more than an ocular illusion, as the victim is ready to testify.

These desert plants do not ordinarily furnish forage for live stock, but in a season of drought when other feed is scarce and cattle are starving they will risk having their mouths pricked by thorns in order to get something to eat and will browse on mescal, yucca and cactus and find some nourishment in the unusual diet, enough, at least, to keep them from dying. The plants mentioned are not nearly as plentiful now as they once were.

Because of the prolonged droughts that prevail in the range country and the overstocking of the range these plants are in danger of being exterminated and, if the conditions do not soon change, of becoming extinct.

The saguaro, or giant cactus, is one of nature's rare and curious productions. It is a large, round, fluted column that is from one to two feet thick and sometimes sixty feet high. The trunk is nearly of an even thickness from top to bottom but, if there is any difference, it is a trifle thicker in the middle. It usually stands alone as a single perpendicular column, but is also found bunched in groups. If it has any branches they are apt to start at right angles from about the middle of the tree and curve upward, paralleling the trunk, which form gives it the appearance of a mammoth candelabrum.

The single saguaro pillar bears a striking resemblance to a Corinthian column. As everything in art is an attempt to imitate something in nature, is it possible that Grecian architecture borrowed its notable pattern from the Gila valley?

Southern Arizona is the natural home and exclusive habitat of this most singular and interesting plant and is, perhaps, the only thing growing anywhere that could have suggested the design.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 像花儿一样开放(原创经典作品)

    像花儿一样开放(原创经典作品)

    善读精品美文,拾取久违的感动;体悟百味人生,感受成长的快乐。阅读其间,时而在惊险悬疑的案件中梀然而惊,时而为体察入微的真情潸然泪下,时而又涌动着想针砭时弊的激情……掩卷而思,人性的美丑,世事的善恶,人生际遇的变幻无常不禁让人感慨万千。
  • 医手遮天:千面皇妃

    医手遮天:千面皇妃

    1世纪金牌医生穿越成废柴嫡女,被亲爹和未婚夫扔进瘟疫村。既然世人骗我,欺我,害我!那她就:毒他,辱他,灭他。看她除瘟疫、治难疑、整恶亲,戏王爷,医手遮天,傲世天下!
  • 穿越之剑灵不靠谱

    穿越之剑灵不靠谱

    别人穿越都有个高大帅气的男主,她却被一个剑灵纠缠不清。别人的剑灵都威武霸气,再不济也是个小可爱,她却摊上个画风清奇的逗比。别人……沈冰瑶掀桌:不穿了,我要回现代!剑灵大人一脸委屈:夫人,你要抛弃我么,亲亲,人家可不依呀!
  • 穿越之失落者传说

    穿越之失落者传说

    穿越到了被遗弃的大陆,追寻最古老的秘密与传说。也许那里荒缪不堪,也许那里生机傲然,但有些充满着生机的星球,确实外表很美丽,很是盈盈动人的使人充满着无限的遐想。可是有多少人知道这其中的奥秘呢?
  • 青蝶(上)

    青蝶(上)

    染儿心神迷茫之际,一个淡淡的身影出现在她身后,接着一个隐秘如魅的声音在染儿耳边轻轻道:“染儿,想不想来做个游戏?一个很有趣,很好玩的游戏!”“砰”的一声,偏室的门再一次重重地关了起来。“墙里秋千墙外道,墙外行人,墙里佳人笑。笑渐不闻声渐悄,多情却被无情恼……”大厅中歌妓的唱腔轻轻传来,游过沉静于黑暗中的花园,送入到花园角落一座看似与世隔绝的小楼之上。小楼中有人轻轻地叹息,似是有满心的哀怨。
  • NPC观察日记

    NPC观察日记

    身为满级副本BOSS的风晚翠不堪寂寞,振臂高呼:“给我找点事儿做——!”叮!系统提示,左手养成指南,右手掌门法宝,发展壮大栖星宫的任务就交给你了。兼职做掌门是不错,但为什么门下弟子只有一个?徒儿的内测号很难得吧~,客服打电话来送的。那徒儿是因为很喜欢为师才加入的吧~为了赠品!智能NPC与新手玩家在新游戏里占山头扯大旗的欢乐故事。
  • 空岛

    空岛

    《空岛》,借用余秋雨先生在题记中写到的话说:“我用历史纪实的笔调,写了一部悬疑推理小说。”看似两种相聚甚远的表达,却向我们呈现了恰到好处的融合。
  • 我的救赎你的爱

    我的救赎你的爱

    初见孟观涛,我是被闺蜜跟丈夫联手背叛的“怨妇”,前夫的一脚,踢掉了我三年好不容易怀上的孩子。鲜血染红白裙,我挣扎求助,却只落得一纸离婚协议。产后大出血,婆婆跟丈夫却选择袖手旁观,坐等我死!他英雄一般的出现,不但从鬼门关把我拉了回来,还给我一顶“孟太太”的帽子!走投无路的我,只好选择成为他的太太,却没想到这男人娶我是别有用心!“婚前协议一,必须每天打理丈夫的饮食起居生活。”“没问题。”“二,必须每天打理好小主子的饮食起居生活,每天负责陪他们玩,保证小主子们心情愉快开心!”“额,你有孩子?”“小主子是我的狗跟猫!”
  • 二傻

    二傻

    当二傻的立功喜报由县武装部、县民政局的两个挺着板油肚的干部郑重其事地送到他家时,他父亲张三丰把那张立功喜报看了一遍又一遍,不相信地问了好几次,这真是我儿子二傻的喜报吗?武装部的干部说:“我们开头也不相信,因为……啊,这个……二傻,不,张冒同志的情况我们都了解,所以我们详细核实了,最后还给部队去了公函,部队回的公函说就是您儿子二傻……哦……张冒同志的,说他为了保护部队的财产,差点献出了年轻的生命。我们县上很重视,要我们亲自把立功喜报和政府的慰问品以及奖励的五百块钱送到你们家里来!”
  • 切尔诺贝利的回忆:核灾难口述史

    切尔诺贝利的回忆:核灾难口述史

    1986年4月26日,切尔诺贝利核电站的反应堆发生爆炸,邻近的白俄罗斯居民失去了一切一些人当场死亡,更多的人被撤离,被迫放弃一切家产成千上万亩土地被污染,成千上万的人因20吨高辐射核燃料泄漏而感染各种疾病著名记者阿列克谢耶维奇用三年时间采访了这场灾难中的幸存者:有第一批到达灾难现场的救援人员的妻子,有现场摄影师,有教师,有医生,有农夫,有当时的政府官员,有历史学家、科学家,被迫撤离的人,重新安置的人,还有妻子们和祖母们。