Next in importance to the mescal comes the yucca. There are several varieties, but the palm yucca is the most common, and under favorable conditions attains to the proportions of a tree. Fine specimens of yucca grow on the Mojave desert in California that are large and numerous enough to form a straggling forest. The tree consists of a light, spongy wood that grows as a single stem or divides into two or more branches. Each branch is crowned by a tuft of long, pointed leaves that grow in concentric circles. As the new leaves unfold on top the old leaves are crowded down and hang in loose folds about the stem like a flounced skirt. When dry the leaves burn readily, and are sometimes used for light and heat by lost or belated travelers. White threads of a finer fiber are detached from the margins of the leaves that are blown by the wind into a fluffy fleece, in which the little birds love to nest. A grove of yucca trees presents a grotesque appearance. If indistinctly viewed in the hazy distance they are easily mistaken for the plumed topknots of a band of prowling Apaches, particularly if the imagination is active with the fear of an Indian outbreak. The wood of the yucca tree has a commercial value. It is cut into thin sheets by machinery which are used for surgeon's splints, hygienic insoles, tree protectors and calendars. As a splint it answers an admirable purpose, being both light and strong and capable of being molded into any shape desired after it has been immersed in hot water. Its pulp, also, makes an excellent paper. Another variety of yucca is the amole, or soap plant. Owing to the peculiar shape of its leaves it is also called Spanish bayonet. Its root is saponaceous, and is pounded into a pulp and used instead of soap by the natives. It grows a bunch of large white flowers, and matures an edible fruit that resembles the banana. The Indians call it oosa, and eat it, either raw or roasted in hot ashes. 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.