558 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Aug. 2, 1920. 



The first analysis of prickly pear in Australia that I can trace is '* The 

 Analysis of Prickly Pear — On the Occurrence of Arabin in the Prickly 

 Pear (Opnntia hrasiliensis) /' by W. M. Hamlet, Proc. Roy Soc. ]S[.S.W., 

 XXIII, 324-5, 1889. The species is probably 0. monocantha. 



Then we have " Analyses of Prickly-pear," by F. B. Guthrie, Agricultural 



Gazette^ August, 1900. Also, by the same author, " Prickly Pear — Analyses, 



Fodder Value, and Destruction," published as a pamphlet, 1907.- The plate 



shown is 0. monocantha, the 'proliferous variety, and it is labelled 0. 



hrasiliensis by mistake, that being a name under which it went in Australia 



for over fifty years. I passed on the name to Mr. Guthrie before I knew 



better. Mr. Guthrie also made an analysis on 6th May, 1910, of one of 



Mr. Luther Burbank's so-called " spineless cacti," imported under the name 



of " Santa Rosa," with the following result : — 



Moisture ... 



Ash 



Fibre 



Albuminoids 



Carbohydrates 



Ether extract (fat or oil) 



Nutritive value 

 Albuminoid ratio ... 



Other analyses are given by J. Lewis in the South African Agricultural 

 Journal, February, 1912; by J. C. Brunnich in the Annual Report of the 

 Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock, 1908-9, and by Griffiths 

 and Hare in U.S. Bulletin Xo. 102. 



The most exhaustive paper on the subject of digestibility known to me 

 is " Experiments on the Digestibility of Prickly Pear by Cattle," by R. 

 F. Hare, published as Bulletin Xo. 106 of the U.S. Bureau of Animal 

 Industry (1908), and in the same year as Bulletin Xo. 69 of the Xew 

 Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station, the experiments having been 

 conducted in that State. The pears treated were not our pest pear, nor any 

 species acclimatised in Australia (out of a botanic garden), and experi- 

 ments were also made with feeding stuffs. 



- A Balanced Ration of Pear. — At page 25 of Xew Mexico Bulletin 

 Xo. 60, and p. 10 of U.S. Bulletin Xo. 102, we have the question of a 

 balanced ration discussed. It is pointed out that, in order to find in what 

 proportion pear should be fed with other foods to produce a balanced ration, 

 it is necessary to know the amount of digestible nutrients contained in it, 

 as well as those of the food or foods with which it is to be fed. Unfortu- 

 nately, -ft-e have few data in regard to the pest pear in different districts, 

 and here is one of the many, yet very important, investigations which await 

 the attention of the veterinary authority and of the chemist. In view of 

 the absence of the necessary data as regards the pear in the United States, 

 Griffiths and Hare, for the purpose of their article, ask leave to assume 

 that its digestion coefficient is not verj^ different from that of immature 

 green com fodder. The matter is very important, but en: mot be usefully 



