Aug. 2, 1920.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 557 



Chats about the Prickly Pear* 



No. 5. 



J. H. MAIDEN, I.S.O., F.R.S., F.L.S. 



(Govemiueut Botanist and Director, Botanic Gardens, Sydney.) 



Pear as Stock Food in the United States. 



Mexico and certain south-western portions of the United States are the 

 principal home of prickly pear, and infornaation has accumulated there 

 which we would do well to study carefully, with the view of applying the 

 lessons to Australian conditions. 



We may group the information (chiefly extracts from the works of 

 Dr. D. Griffiths and Mr. E. F. Hare) as follows :— 



A. General — 



1. Chemical analysis. 



2. A balanced ration of pear. 



B. Dairy Stock — 



1. Pear for milk production. 



2. Some dairj' rations that include pear. 



3. A pear-eating cow. 



C. Working Cattl(^- 



1. Pear for fattening and maintaining cattle. 



2. Pear as a ration for w^orking animals. 



3. Elfect of pear on stock. 



A. — General. 



Chemical Analysis. — A number of analyses will be found in the pamphlets 

 enumerated in the bibliography. Some notes by Mr. R. P. Hare, in 

 Bulletin No. 17, p. 91, New Mexico (without the analysis) may be quoted. 



It is the custom in some sections of this territory and Texas to burn the 

 spines off the flat-jointed Opuntias, known as " prickly pear " or " nopal," and 

 feed the singed stems to stock when other feed is scarce. In this investiga- 

 tion of the value of the common feeding stuffs it was thought advisable to 

 ascertain the feeding vahie of such material, as nearly as could be done 

 without feeding experiments, so specimens of this plant were collected and 

 analysed. The specimens obtained by an assistant (0. camm^chica) were the 

 first found, although not the commonest species in this locality, but it was 

 used in the lelief that the chemical analyses would give practically similar 

 results for the different species. Besides this there is no attempt to select 

 species when collecting the plants for feed, so the analysis of any one species 

 is probably as good as that of any other. 



An examination of the table of analyses will show a very large percentage 

 of water and ash, and a. very small percentage of organic matter of any kind. 

 If fed enough of such material stock will not starve immediately, and it 

 would do to tide over a short period of scarcity, but it is a poor feed under 

 any circumstances. 



