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REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. : 285 
No. 2. A leaf of this year’s growth. . 
No. 3. An old leaf cut from near the main stalk. This is supposed to be more 
nutritious than the others, and is the part that horses will eat if cut un fine for 
them. I regard this as of interest. i 
No. 4. Specimens of the fruit, the last of the season. 
I have been unable to procure specimens of the thin-leafed cactus, the Cacanapo 
of the Mexicans that Mr. Dull sent you, as it only grows upon thin black land, 
whereas my land isa rich, sandy, redloam. Ishall, however, procure the Cacanapo 
as soon as possible, and send it to you. It may be well to note what may be, and 
probably is, a popular superstition in relation to the fruit of these two varieties. Itis 
believed that the fruit of the Nopal de Buey which I send you will cause, if eaten, chills 
and fever (Febris intermittens), while that of the Cacanapo, a smaller and lighter 
colored fruit, is innocuous, and is used by the Mexicans as an article of diet, while 
they will not eat the other. It may also be worthy of attention that the cochineal 
insect is only found upon the Nopel de Buey, of which I send a specimen, and 
never upon the Cacanapo. I would also like to correct a misapprehension in your 
letter. It is not an ‘‘arid” region in which this cactus exists. We havean annual 
rain-fall of from 24 to 26 inches, and usually raise good crops of cotton, corn, and 
nearly all the cereals. I have raised stalks of Johnson grass 9 feet high, within 
100 yards of where I cut the samples of pear that I send you. 
I fear that I have extended this report to such a length as to weary you in read- 
ing it, but what I believe to be the importance of the subject must be my apology. 
Iam secretary of the Southern Texas Live Stock Association, own a large ranch, 
and have my entire capital embarked in stcck-ra‘sing, hence I am greatly inter- 
ested in the matter and in everything pertaining to it. I would regard it as im- 
portant if you would have an analysis made of the different parts of the cactus before 
and after cooking the same. Congressman Miller is quite positive from his experi- 
ence that cooking greatly increases the food value of this substance, and I think it 
not improbable. We have familiar examples in the process of panification, in the 
making of ‘‘ pinole” by toasting the kernels of corn and rice, in the roasting of 
peanuts, and other similar cases. In all of these the quantity of sugar or its con- 
geners is increased. 
Could you give me the quantitative analysis of the glucose in same specimen before 
and after cooking? Iam at your command for any further information you may 
require, and should this investigation be attended with any expense I will cheer- 
fully meet it. , 
Yours, truly, 
A. G. CAROTHERS, M. D. 
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, : 
Washingion, D. C., October, 1887. 
Later Dr. Carothers wrote: 
In pursuance of the correspondence of last summer, begun by Mr, A.J. Dull. I have 
fed 400 beewes and am now feeding 800 more on this food. From the analysis fur- 
nished I found thecactus was deficient in the nitrogenous albuminoids, and from the 
well-known richness of the cotton-seed oil cake in these elements, I selected it to 
supply the deficiency, which it did very satisfactorily. 
first burned the thorns off the cactus, then cut it up by a machine which I 
devised, and spread it in large troughs, scattering the cotton-seed meal over it, when 
the cattle ate it with great avidity. Isoon found, however, that the burning was 
injurious, as 1t was impossible to conduct it without cooking the cactus to a greater 
or less extent. which caused purging inthe animals. Toremedy this, 7. e., to destroy 
the thorns without scorching, I took advantage of the botanical fact that the thorns 
of O. Engelinanni, the only one I use, are set at about an angle of 60° backward to 
the plane of the leaf,and that a cut of one-half inch in width would strike every 
one of them and destroy them. I therefore set the knives of my machine to a one- 
half inch cut,and find that the cattle eat it fully as well as when scorched, with 
none of the unpleasant results referred to. I have fed about 60 pounds of the cactus 
and an average of about 6 pounds of the meal per capita for ninety days. A train 
load of 350 head of these cattle sold last week in Chicago at 4} cents. The meat 
is singularly juicy and tender, the fat well distributed among the muscles. Ihave 
sold it at 1 cent gross over grass cattle in San Antonio. 
: A. G. CAROTHERS. 
Others have more recently expressed, at the request of Dr. Vasey, 
their opinions in regard to the use of Opuntia, which have been 
published in Bulletin No.3 of the Botanical Division of the U. 
