THE PRICKLY PEAR 



yeast fungus is really a living distillery. It lives in the 

 midst of alcohol all its life, dying eventually (like the 

 Duke of Clarence in his butt of Malmsey wine) by alcoholic 

 poisoning, which it has brought about by its own work. 

 This little yeast fungus can only be seen with a microscope. 

 From a rotten fruit it drops on to the ground, where it 

 remains all winter. Next spring certain small insects (green- 

 fly and the like) carry some of these yeasts from the earth to 

 next year's fruits. But the skin of the plum or apple, or the 

 hairs on a gooseberry, or the delicate, waxy bloom on a 

 grape, will prevent these insects or wasps from laying open 

 the sugar inside the fruit to the attacks of yeasts and other 

 fermenting fungi. 



Some fruits appear to have "favourites"; they seem to 

 prefer that large animals should eat them. If you look care- 

 fully at a piece of orange peel, and cut a small piece across, 

 you will see distinctly small resin pits full of a curious essence 

 which gives the characteristic taste to marmalade. This 

 bitter stuff will prevent wasps from touching the sugar. It 

 is, however, a valuable material, and some kinds of lemons, etc., 

 are grown chiefly for this oil, which is obtained by scraping 

 the peel with a little saucer which is studded with short pins. 



A still more extraordinary fruit is the prickly pear ; this 

 is very delicious though very difficult to eat. Indeed, only 

 monkeys and man seem able to enjoy it. The sugary part 

 and the seeds form a little round mass in the inside. The 

 outside part, though also fleshy, contains hundreds of minute 

 mineral needles, which stick in the tongue and lips and cause 

 most painful inflammation. The monkey eats the prickly pear 

 with very great caution, getting his fingers into the top and 

 scooping out the sugary part. Man requires a teaspoon to 

 do this satisfactorily. 



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