196 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Mar. 2, 1920. 



These two works (particularly the latter) give a list of the fruits most 

 esteemed for eating. In some cases the botanical name is uncertain. Tuna 

 Camuesa {Opuntia Larreyi) is one of the best, and it is a member of the- 

 Opuntia Jicus-indica group (see one of my previous articles, p. 50, Gazette of 

 January, 1913). Dr. Griffiths says : " When the rind is removed, leaving^ 

 the pulp intact, the latter has a distinct orange cast. When broken opea 

 it is mottled yellow and red, but becomes deeper red with full maturity." 

 A coloured plate of Tuna Camuesa will be found facing page 56 of the 

 American Bulletin No. 64, already referred to. There is a less exhaustive 

 account of the use of the fruit as human food in Bulletin No. 78 of the 

 New Mexico Agricultural College (E. 0. Wootton, 1911). 



If my article on Opuntia jicus-indica in this Gazette (January, 1913) be 

 perused, it will be found that I give a good deal of information on edible 

 fruits of prickly pear (some of them almost non-prickly). The fruit of the 

 Velvety prickly pear (0. tomentosa) — see p. 1028 of my article of December, 

 1912^ — is also esteemed by some. I have known other naturalised species- 

 to have their fruits used for food in Australia; but these mentioned are the- 

 most important, and the ficus-indica is very much the more important. Yet it 

 is only on rare occasions that it is seen in the shops. In 1899 Mr. J. B. 

 Brown, of Windsor, told me that it was cultivated at South Kurrajong, and 

 that the fruit brought half-a-crown a dozen in the market. Some years, 

 ago, however, the late Mr. T. Jessep, M.L.A., a well-known fruit-broker, 

 told me that he had not seen it in the Sydney markets for many years. 

 Occasionally I have seen it in the windows of the King-street (Sydney) 

 shops, in common with other rare fruits, making a mute appeal to the con- 

 noisseur, but it could be supplied in great abundance if the public taste 

 (which it is very difficult to control or direct) set in for it. 



Speaking of prickly pear fruit in general. Dr. G. V. Perez, a well-known 

 physician, wrote to me in 1913 : " There is a prevalent belief in these islands- 

 (Canary Islands) on which the peasants lay great stress, and that is you 

 must not drink wine when partaking largely of prickly pear, because it 

 causes rectal obstruction ; I have so many cases brought before my notice 

 that I am inclined to think there is something in it. Our peasants, of course, 

 partake very largely of them." 



This statement may be compared with that quoted as Mexican experience- 

 in regard to 0. robusta. 



2.— Alcohol. 



In Mexico, calonche, an intoxicating drink similar in taste to hard cider,, 

 is made from the fruit of several species of Opuntia by pressing out tlie juice, 

 ])assing it through straw sieves, and heating it by fire or the sun, when it 

 soon begins to ferment. (See Havard, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, vol. xxiii, 

 p. 33, and " Drink Plants of the North American Indians " in Sargent's: 

 " Silva of North America," vol. xiv.) 



