Prickly Pear as a Stock Food. 851 



with prickly pear was carried out at the Governinent Civil Dairy, 

 Pooua, in 1914, when it was shown that singed and sliced prickly pear 

 mixed with 6 per cent, of its weight of cotton seed enabled animals 

 which had become very poor from semi-starvation to regain condition. 



In its application to milch cattle in particnhir the effect of prickly 

 pear feeding has been shown to increase the quantity wliile maintain- 

 ing' the quality of the milk. In Corsica, and Sardinia a daily ration 

 of about 50 or 60 lb. per cow, comprising prickly pear finely cut up, 

 mixed with bran or dry grass, was fed to impoverished cows, which 

 had almost ceased their supplies, with good results. Mr. Martin, 

 whose experience in feeding prickly pear to oxen has been quoted above, 

 found his milk supply greatly augmented by utilizing prickly pear as 

 a feed for his milch cows. In Mexico, milch cows maintained their 

 yields, in spite of the increasing coldness of the season, when fed on 

 prickly pear, thus minimizing the need of purchasing expensive winter 

 fodders. 



The main points to be noted in connection with feeding prickly 

 pear to stock are the following: — The leaves consist mostly of water, 

 and hence are useful in times of drought. F^r the sam.e reason they 

 are not rich in nourishment unless dried. The spines on the leaves 

 should be removed before feeding to stock, and the thorns on the fruit 

 are likewise a source of danger. During drought the prickly pear 

 forms a valuable emergency ration, but cannot be advantageously fed 

 to stock unless mixed M-ith more concentrated food. To such food, 

 however, it is a valuable accessory. 



Pure Salt for Hides. 



The following is extracted from " Hide aud Lpather " of 1st May, 

 1920: — 



Hides should be salted only with clean, pure salt, free from 

 alum, according to a recent statement of th.e Bureau of Chemistry, 

 United States Department of Agriculture. This Bureau is making a 

 study of the best methods for skinning farm animals and curing hides 

 in order to produce a high-grade leather. Salt containing alum partly 

 tans the hide and sets the hair so that it cannot be removed. Hides 

 which cannot be unhaired properly bring a loss to the tanner and 

 prejudice him in future purchases against hides from the same source. 



Tanners recently submitted to the Bureau of Chemistry green 

 salted hides which could not be unhaired after liming in the usual 

 way, in order to find out the cause. An examination showed that on 

 the basis of the dry hide unhaired spots contained 0.8 per cent, of 

 alumina, and the portions where the hair was not loosened contained 

 1.25 per cent, of alumina. The portions of the hide which contained 

 0.8 per cent, alumina unhaired with difficulty, while the portions 

 containing 1.25 per cent, could not be unhaired even on the beam. 

 An inferior salt containing alum had been used in salting the hides 

 and had set the hair. 



This incident illustrates the importance of attention to details in 

 the handling and curing of hides and skins. Farmers, country 

 butchers, and dealers are advised by the Department to use only clean, 

 pure salt in salting hides. The presence of alum in salt is especially 

 objectioDable, and as little as 5 per cent, in Ihe salt can be detected 

 usually by its astringent, bitter taste. 



