Arizona's Desert Carpet

THE Southwestern Desert Region awakes to life in early March. 'Tis a sun-drenched land, soaked by weeks of rains. On the tops of the distant mountains the snow lies deep; potential irrigation water for the hot, dry months of Summer.

In March the desert is carpeted with Alfilaria ("Filaree"); that wonderful forage plant that first came to us, tangled in the wool of sheep imported into California from far-away Chile. "Chile Clover" it is often called. Its lovely pink, star-like blossoms make brilliant splashes on the green background. The Desert Geranium, too, grows apace and rivals the "Filaree" as feed for hungry cattle and sheep.seemingly beckon the traveler to their embrace.

Equally interesting on the desert is the tall, columnar Giant Cactus (Carnegeia gigantea). The Mexicans call it Saguaro (Sah-war-row). It loves the rocky sterile hillsides rather than the smooth desert. The rougher and rockier the slope, the better the Saguaro enjoys life. A ride by moonlight through a forest of them gives one a creepy sensation, with the many odd shapes and long crooked arms that

Awakening to Life in Ear ly March, Southwest Is Cloaked in Lush Desert Flowers

In a month or two, the tall tips will bear lovely clusters of waxy-white poppy-like flowers. Swarms of bees will visit them, sucking up the sweet sirupy honey. A month more, and the yellow fruit about as large as, and shaped like, a hen's egg, furnishes the Indians with food and drink. The fruits are sun-dried or boiled down into a thick, almost sickeningly-sweet syrup, for winter use. They also contain many large black seeds, which are ground and eaten by the Indians as mush, or even made into bread. The birds, rabbits, and other small rodents such as kangaroo rats, feast greedily on this fruit when it falls to the ground.

A majority of the older trunks carry near their tops, one or more holes bored by woodpeckers and flickers into the huge body of the plant, for nests. There the birds find a home safe from every enemy, human or animal. Often a desert owl gazes solemnly and sleepily from one of the holes preempted by his owlship for personal use.

These Saguaros grow very tall, often 25 or 30 feet high, and attain great age, from two to three hundred years. Being about 90 per cent water, a large one will often weigh almost a ton. The writer learned something of their character and weight, when he superintended the shipment of a carload of Giant Cacti for an Arizona exhibit at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. The flower of this Cactus is now the state flower of Arizona.

The Biznaga or Barrel Cactus Still another interesting desert resident is the so-called Barrel or Biznaga Cactus (Echinocactus Wislizenii). It is perhaps more-commonly known as the Fish Hook Cactus, from the way each two-inch-long needle or barb, with which it is plentifully endowed, curls over at the end like a large, exceedingly-sharp fish hook. In height it seldom exceeds five feet.

In the early days the novice on the Southern Arizona Desert was always told two things of interest about this plant. One; that it almost invariably leans slightly to the South, thus making a fairly reliable compass; the other and more important, that by cutting off the first five or six inches of its top, the traveler would find in its soft interior a mass of fibrous material, which when pounded down with a stick or even one's fist, soon develops a quart or so of rather sweet, insipid-tasting, but very cool water. Many a thirsty traveler on the desert has secured a good drink in this manner. From the inside lining of this Cactus is made the so-called cactus candy, sold in Arizona towns as a home product.

The Opuntias There are several varieties of the Opuntia, known to the Mexicans as Cholla (pronounced Cho-ya), all of which are almost to be classed as deadly weapons, because of their sharp spines and easily-detached joints which fairly jump at man or beast coming near him.

The White-Cholla (Optunia fulgida) grows like a small tree and bears lovely rose-colored blooms. The fruit grows in long strings, and unlike most fruits does not often drop when ripe, but hangs to the branches for long periods.

These Cacti are veritable places of refuge for many plants which, protected from grazing animals, grow in peace and safety under the Chollas. The hungry range cows learn to drop to their knees and reach under the overhanging dangers of the Cholla, to feed on the grasses growing below. The least touch of a horn on the stem brings a shower of dislodged joints over the unfortunate animal, many of which attach themselves to its hide until they carry a regular crown of thorns. When this happens, they have learned to thresh through the The desert lands of Arizona are in flower this month. On the oposite page, No. 1, the Barrel Cactus; No. 2, blossom of the Prickly Pear; No. 3, Ocatillo bloom; No. 4, the blossom of the Buckhorn; No. 5, Devil's Pin-Cushion in bloom; No. 6, silhouette of a blooming Palo Verde; No. 7, blossom of the Saguaro, state flower of Arizona; No. 8, the Buckhorn and a cluster of blossoms; No. 9. Cholla; No. 10, Hedge Hog cactus blossom; No. 11, the blossom of the Barrel Cactus: No. 12, Creosote Bush (miscalled "Greasewood") in bloom; No. 13, blossom of the Ironwood tree.