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springtime, and in the far south and particularly in the far southwest
are several varieties of cactus which attain great size. The frequenter
of the desert soon correlates its flora with its other scenic elements
and finds all rich and beautiful.

In southwestern Arizona and along the southern border of California this
strange flora finds its fullest expression. Here one enters a new
fairy-land, a region of stinging bushes and upstanding monsters lifting
ungainly arms to heaven. In 1914, to conserve one of the many rich
tracts of desert flora, President Wilson created the Papago Saguaro
National Monument a few miles east of Phoenix, Arizona. Its two thousand
and fifty acres include fine examples of innumerable desert species in
fullest development.

Among these the cholla is at once one of the most fascinating and the
most exasperating. It belongs to the prickly pear family, but there
resemblance ceases. It is a stocky bush two or three feet high covered
with balls of flattened powerful sharp-pointed needles which will
penetrate even a heavy shoe. In November these fall, strewing the ground
with spiny indestructible weapons. There are many varieties of chollas
and all are decorative. The tree cholla grows from seven to ten feet in
height, a splendid showy feature of the desert slopes, and the home,
fortress, and sure defense for all the birds who can find nest-room
behind its bristling breastwork.

The Cereus thurberi, the pipe-organ, or candelabrum cactus, as it is
variously called, grows in thick straight columns often clumped closely
together, a picturesque and beautiful creation. Groups range from a few
inches to many feet in height. One clump of twenty-two stems has been
reported, the largest stem of which was twenty feet high and twenty-two
inches in diameter.

Another of picturesque appeal is the bisnaga or barrel cactus, of which
there are many species of many sizes. Like all cacti, it absorbs water
during the brief wet season and stores it for future use. A specimen the
size of a flour-barrel can be made to yield a couple of gallons of
sweetish but refreshing water, whereby many a life has been saved in the
sandy wastes.

But the desert's chief exhibit is the giant saguaro, the Cereus
giganteus, from which the reservation got its name. This stately cactus
rises in a splendid green column, accordion-plaited and decorated with
star-like clusters of spines upon the edges of the plaits. The larger
specim