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ment, and several years will yet pass before they are ready 

 for graduation. 



The fruit is very unique and attractive in appearance, 

 and its flavor is rich, suggestive of the banana, the pine- 

 apple, or the apricot. It is delicious when, standing by the 

 plants, it is eaten from the hand, or when served with sugar 

 and cream, as a dessert at meal time. It is also used as a 

 salad, and may be baked as you bake bananas. It ranges 

 in color, both skin and flesh, from almost white to deepest 

 crimson. Some kinds are a light greenish with a crimson 

 flush, while others are a deep orange, almost an amber. 

 The general way of preparing the fruit for use is to 

 rub it off with a whisk broom, cut a thin slice from each 

 end and run the knife through the skin from end to end. 

 You can then curl the skin back easily, leaving the sweet 

 flesh ready for use. Or one may cut through the fruit 

 from end to end and remove the flesh with a spoon. 

 Opuntia's fruit is very wholesome and keeps well. It can 

 be gathered and stored like apples. 



Perhaps you have eaten candy colored with this fruit, or 

 ices colored with it, for these are among its many uses, while 

 the leaves furnish a mucilage which makes a whitewash more 

 lasting, and the fibre is quite valuable for paper-making. 



If you would like to grow some of these curious plant 

 children in your garden, secure some cuttings in warm 

 weather and lay them up to wilt for about a week. They 

 will then root readily in any soil in a warm climate, for they 



