590 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



any time of the year. Eight times as much growth of prickly pear 

 has been secured under cultivation as was obtained without cultiva- 

 tion in ungrazed pastures. More than six times as much roughage 

 (actual feeding value) has been secured from prickly pears as 

 from sorghum. One fungous and one insect enemy of prickly pear 

 of some importance are found, both of which may be controlled 

 either by selection of stock or by methods of harvesting, or by both 

 combined. The diseased condition known as dropping of joints is 

 believed to be purely climatical. This, while costing a month's 

 growth in the spring, is not looked upon with any apprehension. 

 (B. P. I. B. 124.) 



The Tuna as Food for Man. The prickly pear of the American 

 and the Australian, the Indian fig of the Englishman, the Barbary 

 fig of the Frenchman, the tuna of the Spanish-American, and the 

 higos chumbos of the Spaniard is a fruit concerning w r hich there 

 are more varied beliefs, contradictory opinions, and grades of appre- 

 ciation than any other known to us. The plant and its fruit are sub- 

 jected to both praise and abuse. While the Mexican prays that there 

 may be no rain when the plants are in bloom, in order that the 

 fruit may set well and produce a good crop of tunas, Australians 

 pass laws for their eradication. Less than 20 years ago stockmen in 

 Texas desired the eradication of the prickly pear ; now they consider 

 it a valuable stock food while, especially along the border line of 

 Mexico from southwestern Texas through New Mexico to south- 

 eastern California, they are not only considered good food for stock 

 but also for man. The tuna, which is the fruit of the prickly pear 

 and sprouts out of the parent plant in great numbers, almost as 

 do the Brussels sprouts along the stems of the old plant, though, of 

 course, different in form and composition, are greedily sought in the 

 vegetable and fruit markets of the region referred to. During the 

 height of the season, when the fruit is cheapest, women appear on 

 the markets each morning with huge baskets of them ready peeled, 

 which they place in earthen saucers, and dispose of for one cent- 

 each. Each purchaser is furnished with a tip of maguey leaf or a 

 thorn of the mesquite with which to eat the pulps, or, in a few in- 

 stances, modern wooden toothpicks are served with them. (B. P. I., 

 B. 116 ;N. Mex. B. 64.) 



Australian Wattle. The bark of the Australian black wattle 

 tree has long been in use for tanning purposes. It does not give the 

 leather as fine a bloom as the bark of the American oaks or the 

 acorn cups of the valonio oak, but it tans more quickly and is in 

 good demand for the common grades of leather. It had been dem- 

 onstrated that wattle grew well upon the hillsides of said country 

 and that the bark brought a price as high as $82.79 per ton, and 

 hence it was not difficult to convince people that the experiment of 

 its culture was worth making. An acre of 10 year old wattles will 

 furnish 5 or 6 tons of bark. This was extensively done in Natal, 

 South Africa, with success. 



Although there may be some reproduction by sprouts from the 

 stumps of the felled trees, these sprouts are not counted on as im- 



