THE PRICKLY PEAR. ] 439 



for the presence of these hard seeds which are not easy 

 to separate, the prickly pear would rank as a most 

 palatable and useful summer fruit. On account of the 

 high percentage of sugar which it contains the fruit is 

 otten used to fatten swine, and the peel of the fruit which 

 is also rich in sugar is fed to swine, sheep, goats and 

 cattle. The tender and fleshy branches being practically 

 spineless, are sliced and fed to cattle, sheep and other 

 animals, and in our climate with a long and dry summer, 

 when no green forage is available, they afford a most 

 welcome change, given alternately with grain or dry 

 forages. 



The prickly pear grows in all situations and in all 

 soils, even the poorest. It is usually planted in odd 

 corners where nothing else can grow, or on rocky lands 

 where the soil is too shallow to permit the cultivation of 

 other trees or of field crops. It is commonly planted 

 around farmsteads where in a few years it makes a 

 shaded run or yard for poultry, and its fleshy branches 

 are always at hand for use as forage in summer. In the 

 close neighbourhood of the farmstead the prickly pear 

 has the advantage of an abundance of fertilizing material 

 and perhaps also of a more moist subsoil, and hence it 

 makes fast growth and the fruits are larger, more luscious 

 and sweeter. However the tree grows anywhere and it 

 is not uncommon to see a fine prickly pear growing on a 

 mound of stones or on a stone wall as a result of a branch 

 thrown there accidentally some years before. 



The tree lives for 50 years or more, but old trees 

 become unproductive, and the few fruits produced by 

 them are always too full of seeds, particularly if they are 

 produced on the stems or on old wood. The fruit is 

 considered at its best when the tree is from five to twenty 

 years old. It matures and is consumed gradually during 

 the summer from July to October, and keeps long and 

 well if properly handled. As a rule only one crop of 



