Whipple’s Cholla grows farther north than any other species of Cholla, and reaches three feet in height, composed of several stems that form a low compact clump. The joints are two to ten inches long, are a light green suffused with purple, and are covered with tubercles arranged in spirals. The tan spicules are very short, about an eighth of an inch long and appear in tufts. The two to five spines are a half-inch to an inch long, one of them longer than the others. The thorns have yellowish tips and light red-brown bodies covered with loose papery sheaths of a silvery sheen. The beautiful yellow flowers are very showy, about two inches long, appearing from April to June; the fruit is about two inches long with prominent tubercles. _Whipplei_ grows in northern Arizona, southern Utah, New Mexico, and western Colorado, and will be found in loamy, gravelly soils in oak, juniper, pine, and prairie-grass lands between altitudes of five and seven thousand feet. How to grow Transplant rooted plants at any season. Cuttings or joints may be planted in the spring in sandy or clay loam, and given enough water to keep the soil moderately moist. This Cholla endures weather twenty-five degrees below zero without, injury and hence may be grown in cactus gardens over a large part of our country both out of doors and in the house. It is an attractive cactus and well worth cultivation. CHAPTER VII A DESERT GRAVEYARD In the blue ending of a desert day with the sun in the setting and the somber shadows creeping over the desert hills and down into the lowlands and swales, we would if we could build a dream-city story of a ghostly desert village, spectral and silent and lonely with only the dismal howl of the coyote to punctuate our tale. Since we are on a trek into the forbidden land of thorns and spikes and spines, we have but to add the Song of the Desert and the setting of our story is complete.