442 [ THE PRICKLY PEAR. 



no advantage whatever and cuttings strike root so easily 

 that it is not worth while to grow the tree by grafting. 

 The amateur may like to hdve a prickly pear bearing 

 two or more sorts of fruits, and in that case he has only 

 to cleave deeply by means of a sharp knife the upper 

 edge of a joint, and to insert in the cleft the lower end 

 of a terminal joint cut obliquely on both sides like a 

 wedge, completing the operation by tying the scion 

 firmly on the stock with a bit of twine. 



CULTIVATION. The prickly pear can be transplanted 

 with the greatest ease and with little risk of failure, at 

 any time from March to October, but as cuttings strike 

 root with equal certainty and become fully established 

 in less than four weeks, nobody thinks of transplanting a 

 prickly pear, but plants the cuttings in the spot where 

 they are to remain. The pockets in which two or three 

 cuttings are planted as above stated should be made at 

 least 4 metres apart, with a distance of 5 metres from 

 one row to another, and the general practice is to leave 

 the cuttings to take care of themselves, and in realty no 

 further attention is required to ensure success. The soil 

 may be hoed in winter and again in spring, and a top 

 dressing of manure every four years will keep the tree in 

 full vigour and the yield of fruit will be larger and of 

 better quality. A mulching of road dust or road sweep- 

 ings and wood ashes is very much liked by the prickly 

 pear, and the sandy and porous road dust which is usually 

 rich in fertilizing material, soon becomes permeated by a 

 greedy mass of rootlets. 



The tree's resistance to drought is well known, the 

 moisture stored in the fleshy joints or branches being 

 sufficient to bring the fruit to maturity even if the soil 

 and subsoil are perfectly dry, but on fairly moist lands the 

 production of green joints for forage, and also of the fruit, 

 is much larger. The size and the quality of the fruit is 

 improved by watering the tree twice or thrice in July and 



