32(3 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [May 3, 1920.- 



of tlie difficulty. No one, I suppose, would contemplate the toleration in 

 Australia of the weed if any method, sound economically, could be found for- 

 its destruction. 



Select Bibliography. 



The following pamphlets bear on prickly pear as a forage plant : — 



189-1. " Projet d'Enqucte sur le Cactus, considere comme plante four- 

 ragere." {Revue Tunisienne.) By Paul Bourde. 



1896. "Plan of an enquiry into the merits of Prickly Pear as a forage- 

 plant." AyricidturaL Gozetle^ October, 1896, p. 651. A translation 

 by J. H. Maiden of the preceding, 



1905. " The Prickly Pear and other Cacti as food for Stock." Bulletin 

 No. 74, Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

 By David Griffiths. 



1906. ''Feeding Prickly Pear to Stock in Texas." Bulletin No. 91,. 

 Bureau of Animal Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture. By 

 David Griffiths. 



1906. " Prickly Pear and other Cacti as food for Stock (2)." Bulletin 

 No. 60, New Mexico College of Agriculture, kc. By David 

 Griffiths and R. F. Hare. 



1907. "Summary of Recent Investigations of the Value of Cacti as 

 Stock Food." One of the '' Miscellaneous Pape)'s " comprised in 

 Bulletin No. 102, Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture By David Griffiths and R. F. Hare. 



1908. "The Prickly Pear as a Farm Crop." Bulletin No. 124, Bureau 

 of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture. By David 

 Griffiths. 



1915. "Yields of Native Prickly Pear in Southern Texas." Bulletin 

 No. 208 of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. By David Griffiths, 



Burning off the Spines and Spinules. 



For particulars, with two illustrations, see U.S. Bulletin No. 74 (1905). 

 These are reproduced at Plate XI of the Queensland ArfricttUnral Journal 

 for August. 1908. 



(1) Singeing with Brush. — This is the natural and primitixe method, where 

 ^crub and timber are burnt, and by means of the fire thus created the spines, 

 &c., are burnt off the pear. A pear-fork is used for handling the mass. 

 Obviously this method depends on the care and skill of the operator. I have 

 no doubt, liowev(;r, that this method will always be in use more or less 

 where fuel is plentiful. 



In the Sydney Daily Telegraph of 1st August, 1913, is shown a small 

 furnace l)urning pear at Riversleigh, Pallamallawa, New South Wales. The 

 apparatus is cylindrical, hand-propelled, and mounted on wheels. The- 

 cylindrical furnace has a revolving fan at tlie back to create a draught, and. 

 the fuel is wood. A tongue 0|f flame is projected on to the clump of pear. 



