4<>5 



facts stated prove that there is considerable virtue in the much 

 despised prickly pear. It only remains for me to add that the 

 pears were placed in the stack whole, including thorns and 

 roots, the largest bunches being afterwards chopped to flatten 

 them. The heat and ferment of the silo has softened the thorns 

 and rendered them harmless. I always add a bag or more of 

 coarse salt to a stack to make the fodder more palatable. 



The Rev. Herbert Heath, who lately left Queensland, in 

 writing to the -Queensland Agricultural Journal, states that he 

 resided for many years in Mexico, and had had many opportunities 

 of observing the uses to which the prickly pear was put to by the 



FIG. 24. Serradella (Ornithopus sativus). 



rancheros. In dry seasons, and even during good seasons, the 

 vaqueros and peons go out on the runs and cut down quantities of 

 mesquite bushes, and make piles of them at intervals over a large 

 extent of country. Labor being plentiful and very cheap, the work 

 is performed in quicker time than might be supposed. Quantities 

 of prickly pear are now cut and thrown on to the heaps, which are 

 then fired. The heat and evolved steam disarm the leaves and 



