648 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Sept. 2, 1920. 



in heaps in a field and chopped into small pieces with a machete. (6) The 

 whole plant may be chopped into pieces ^ to 1 inch long with machines 

 prepared tor that purpose. (7) In some localities the whole plant is steamed 

 in large vats to render the spines innocuous. 



A cow with calf, fed with prickly pear alone, will lose flesh very rapidly. 

 Cotton-seed meal or cake and cotton-seed (cotton-seod is, of course, abun- 

 dant in the southern States) appear to be well adapted to feeding with pear. 



Hogs fatten well on the fruit of prickly pear, and they take kindly to 

 a ration of prickly pear wlien the thorns are properly singed ofiF. 



Stock fed on prickly p(>ar and cotton-seed products are said to suffer heavy 

 shrinkage on the way to market. 



Pear as feed for stock is of sufficient value to warrant investigations for 

 the purpose of determining — 1. Its exact value as food for both man and 

 beast. 2. The nature and cause of the rapid fermentation in the chopped 

 material. 3. The comparative value of different species. 4. The compara- 

 tive value of old and new growth. 5. The exact influence upon quantity and 

 quality of milk. 



The old woody stems are preferred by feeders to the young joints. 



AVhen fed for succulence, as is the case in dry weather, the young nopals 

 (pears) are of more value than when a maintenance or fattening ration is 

 desired. 



Pear has been fed in Texas since the early Spanish occupation. 



Pear is better feed from the time that frost strikes it in the fall (autumn) 

 until it begins to grow in the spring than in other seasons. 



Cattle and working oxen will eat a large ration of pear, properly prepared, 

 when there is an abundance of th»^ best of green grass for them to eat. 



Pear has a decided value in toning up the system of cattle that have lived 

 on dry grass for several months. Two-year-olds especially are benefited by 

 a partial ration of it for a short time. 



Ail cattle, sheep, and goats soon become accustomed to eating pear. The 

 sound of the pear machete or the sight of smoke in the pastures where stock 

 are fed attracts the entire herd immediately. 



The greatest promise for pear is in the line of milk production. The value 

 of the succulence for the winter months will probably pay for the propaga- 

 tion of small hcreages for this purpose. 



Burning with a pear-burner tends to kill out the pear if close pasturing 

 is practised afterwards. 



When fed a full roughage ration of pear, cattle scour more or less all the 

 time. 



Inquirj' at hide establishments and .stock markets fails to reveal any 

 serious injury done by the spines to commercial cattle products, although the 

 spines work into the flesh considerably. 



Cattle fed on pear chopped with a machete, and not burned, often get 

 their mouth so full of spines that after a time they are unable to eat at all. 



The crushing action of the chopping machine renders the spines inmxjuous. 



The pear has two characteristics which render it especially valuable for 

 pastures — 1. It can withstand long periods of drought without injury. It 

 has limitations, however, in drought resistance. It has been severely injured 

 during some droughts within the memory of the present generation. 2. It is 

 protected by spines, so that it cannot be materially injured by over-grazing 

 without artificial preparation. A thornless pear in a pasture grazed the 

 entire year would soon be exterminated. 



The destruction of the pear in south-we.stern Texas would be a severe 

 calamity to the stock industry. 



In practice, pear is very seldom fed «ilone. Even during the severest 

 drought cattle are able to pick up some old grass and get a little browse from 

 the aT)undance of brush that exists throughout the pear region. It is seldom 

 that the Texas rancher feeds it without some cotton-seed meal, although the 

 cactus of south-western Colarado has usually been fed alone. 



Altogether the evidence suggests that feeding tests with prickly pear 

 might be conducted with advantage iu New South Wales. 



