Boondoggling With Cactus.

AUGUST, 1936 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 9 Boondoggling With Cactus

STRANGE, thorn-covered plants that grow on Arizona's theoretically barren desert furnish raw material for novelties that are increasingly in demand. These plants are the cacti, especially the cholla and sahuaro.

Dried wood of cactus plants is very light but strong and durable. Indians discovered its value in building centuries ago. The white man makes some items of furniture from it, but in the main his products are such novelties as picture frames, footstools, ash trays, lamps, vases, jewel boxes. Polished or in nacural state they are highly attractive, especially to tourists who find them ideal souvenirs.

Cholla (pronounced Cho-yah), commonly called the jumping cactus, beause its abundant needle-sized thorns lo actually seem to "jump" at one, furnshes most of the wood used in Arizona's actus industry.

Dried trunks and branches of the Cholla are light cylinders perforated with many holes in a haphazard design suggesting cheese. Each hole is where a cluster of spines once grew. Average height of the growing cholla is about six feet, although some plants may be 20 feet high and have a diameter of 24 inches at the base. The plants are ong-lived, some healthy specimens seen coday having been here when Columbus first sailed.

The sahuaro (sah-WAH-ro) on which blooms the official Arizona state lower, grows with expanding flutes or ibs, and these ribs a sort of cylindrical skeleton for the spongy trunk are the ight but strong poles used in the manuacture of novelties.

A third plant commonly used is the ocoillo (o-ko-TEE-yo) or desert candle, horny and fantastic beauty often miscalled a cactus. Iron wood, extremely hard and heavy, takes a beautiful polish showing grain in rare designs, and is extensively used in novelty manufacturing. So is mesquite to a lesser extent; but four of every five novelties purchased will be of cholla.

Cholla wood must be seasoned five years or more in a standing position before it is ready for use. Workmen can do nothing with the wood if it contains the least bit of moisture. That lying on the ground cannot be used since it

Knick Knacks from Desert Plants

probably will be decayed or eaten by ants. The supply of this wood is not particularly limited, but workmen often must go considerable distances into the desert to get a supply without faults. One Phoenix manufacturer travels 70 miles each season for his supply.

Arizona copper and glass designs are worked in with cactus wood, giving an artistic effect. Most of the curios manufactured are finished in their natural colors. This is done by sanding and buffing the surface, either by hand or by a specially designed machine. Shellac is added as the first coat of the finish. It acts as a filler to make the surface smooth, as well as a base for varnish or wax to be added later. Where shaded colors are desired they can be obtained by staining before the shellac is applied.

One of the oldest and most remarkable examples of this cactus wood industry is a large table now owned by Mrs. Alice B. Hewins. It is made of sahuaro and (Continued on Page 21)