802 Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 



Prickly Pear. 



We publish in this number au article by Dr. Juritz on " Prickly 

 Pear as a Stock Food," which will be read with interest and profit 

 by farmers situated in those parts of the Union where the prickly 

 pear abounds and where the problem of utilizing* or eradicating a 

 plant cumbering thousands of acres of land is ever present. The 

 phase of the problem discussed by Dr. Juritz is the one found thus 

 far to aiford the best means of making some use of the plant, but 

 even then its benefits are limited and not of any wide economic value. 

 The article sets out the feeding value of the prickly pear very clearly 

 and may be taken as the latest pronouncement on the subject by one 

 who has studied it carefully, not only in the aspect of the plant's 

 value as a stock food but in respect of other likely means of putting- 

 its unwelcome presence to the best possible economic use. 



Dr. Juritz discusses the matter very thoroug*hly in a scientific 

 bulletin recently published, and those desirous of pursuing the subject 

 should certainly obtain a copy of the bulletin.* It may be had on 

 application to this office. 



The spread of pricklj^ pear in the Union and methods for con- 

 trolling the pest have exercised the authorities for many years, but 

 serious as the matter is in South Africa, it is small when compared 

 with the situation in Australia, where it is estimated that the worst 

 species of prickly pear occupies over 22 million acres of land, and is 

 spreading at the rate of a million acres a year. It is to be expected, 

 therefore, that the subject has received much investigation in 

 Australia, and one of the latest publications dealing with the problem 

 is a bulletin (jNTo. 12) entitled "The Prickly Pear in Australia," 

 issued by the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry. The 

 result of the Australian investigations, and they have been very 

 thorough, shows that of the great number of ways suggested for 

 utilizing the pear, the only one which has proved satisfactory is that 

 of feeding it to stock, and that only by the addition of various feed- 

 ing stuffs. " The manufacture from prickly pear," the report states, 

 "of alcohol, paper or cardboard, potash, and various other materials 

 has been suggested, but in all these cases the fact that prickly pear 

 consists very largely of water makes its profitable utilization very 

 unlikely." In the South African Joiimol of Industries (August and 

 September, 1920) Dr. Juritz discusses this industrial aspect of the 

 subject, dealing very fully with the various uses to which, it has 

 been considered, prickly pear might be put. This publication gives 

 the result of many years of investigation and experience of local con- 

 ditions, and contributes a valuable addition to the existing literature 

 on the subject. 



But as an outcome of all these investigations it seems, as has 

 been the experience in Australia, that the real problem is the best 

 means of eradicating the pest, for its economic utilization offers no 

 satisfactory solution to the effective control of the plant. While, 

 therefore, we may derive a measure of utility from a pest occupying 

 large areas of fertile land, by using it as a stock food, the way out 

 of our difficulty appears to lie in the effectual extirpation of the plant 

 at a cost commensurate with the value of the land cleared. 



* " Prickly Pear as a Fodder for Stock." Science Bulletin No. 16 [1920]. Price 3d. 

 (prepaid). 



