lo Sept., 1909.] PricJdx Pear ■ A Pest or a Fodder Plant. 575 



Botanical Gardens, thornless varieties of the common Ofuntia have long 

 been known, so that at the present day, it is impossible for any single 

 person to claim the sole credit of developing a spineless Cactus {Ofuntia). 

 A much more important misstatement is prevalent as to the value of 

 the Cactus as fodder, some ha\ing even gone so far as to advise farmers 

 to cultivate this noxious pest, to provide fodder for stock. Spiny Cacti 

 can only be used as fodder after special treatment to destroy the spines 

 and spinules or to render them .soft and harmless. It has been stated 

 that farmers, in the dry southern districts of the United States, burn 

 off the spines with the aid of a torch and so render the plant available 

 as fodder for stock. This may be of .some use in times of drought, 

 where farmers have not provided themselves with stored fodder, but 

 except where abundant supplies of cheap labour are available, it would 

 be a ver\- expensi\e wa^■ of permanently feeding stock. Cacti are ex 

 ceedingly watery, very poor in nitrogenous (proteid) food, and by them- 

 seh-es would need to lie eaten in almost impossible quantities to main- 

 tain stock in good condition. The best comment upon the supposed 

 high value placed on prickly cactus in the United States, is afforded by 

 the following extract from the Farmers' Bulletin, Xo. 72, of the U.S. A 

 Department of Agriculture : — 



" Hundreds of square miles of the richest grazing country in Southeni Texas, 

 U.S.A., have been overrun with prickly pear, and the growth is each year becoming 

 more impenetrable. In many of the southern countries, it has been estimated that 

 this cactus has already decreased the carrying capacity of the ranches one-fourth 

 to one-third. The prickly pear is indeed a curse to the stock country. Some years 

 ago, before cotton-seed hulls and meal were available as a fattening food, the pear 

 "was quite largely used after the spines had been disposed of, by roasting or boiling. 

 Now, the cheaper and better cotton-seed hulls, which do not require a like amount 

 ■o"f labour in their preparation, have almost entirely displaced it as a forage. The 

 fruits are produced in great abundance, and when ripe are eaten with evident relish 

 by birds, hogs, and cattle, and the seeds are thereby being very rapidly disseminated 

 over whatever country is still free from it. Not only does the pear iticrease from 

 the seed, but if a joint of the stem is broken off and falls on the ground, it takes 

 root and produces a new plant. 



As a result of this rapid increase of prickly pear, the grass is being eaten to 

 the roots wherever stock can get at it between the clumps of cactus. Paths are 

 worn and the ground is trampled and packed, and the only grasses that are allowed 

 to ripen seed, are those growing within these thorny citadels of cactus plants. 

 Cattle on the range wih not eat prickly pear unless driven to it by hunger or 

 thirst. It is a better substitute for water than for food, but with this statement of 

 fact the best has been said concerning the forage possibilities of this plant. It is 

 a fact that it is spreading every year over a wider extent of range country, and 

 that its presence in any considerable (|uantit^' is, on the whole, detrimental to the 

 best interests of stockmen." 



In New South Wales, the plant has sometimes been used as a sup- 

 plementary fodder after prolonged boiling or treating with superheated 

 steam, so as to soften the .spines. Here, again, it must be remembered 

 that the bulk of the plant in regard to its food value is considerable, and 

 that the cost of treatment is proportionately great. Where no other green 

 feed i.> available it mav pay to u.se a portion of the growth covering the 

 land, in this way, but it will not pav to cultivate it for this purpose. 



In South Africa, the select committee appointed by the Legislative 

 Council of Cape Colony, reported in i8qo, that the prickly pear had 

 ■spread to an alarming extent, especially on good land, depreciating the 

 value of the land in certain districts by as much as 50 per cent. 



As the .result of many tests, spraving with arsenite of soda (ilb. to 

 5 gallons of water) to destroy the plant has been recommended, but to 

 make the spraying fully effective, the plants should be previously punc- 

 tured on all sides with a fork, so that the poison obtains free entry. 



