BULLETIN OF THE 



OMffiMAWM 



No. 208 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry, Wm. A. Taylor, Chief 

 May 13, 1915. 



YIELDS OF NATIVE PRICKLY PEAR IN SOUTHERN TEXAS. 



By David Griffiths, Agriculturist, Office of Farm Management. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



When information regarding the value of prickly pear began to be 

 demanded some years ago next to nothing was definitely known 

 about the handling of the crop on an economic basis. Indeed, so 

 far as known, the species of southern Texas had never been system- 

 atically planted as a crop. In consequence, some very elementary 

 investigations were necessary in order to furnish the required infor- 

 mation. First, it was imperative to determine the yields which 

 could be obtained from the various economic species under cultiva- 

 tion. Data on this phase of the investigations have accumulated 

 to such an extent as to warrant the publication of a summarized 

 statement of yields secured under variable and difficult conditions. 

 The difficulty was due mainly to meager f acilities and lack of sufficient 

 constancy and continuation in organization. Although the conditions 

 under which the various yields have been obtained are very variable, 

 they are perfectly interpretable, and some of them at least approach 

 ordinary farm conditions very closely. 



Yields for the first plantings made were reported in Bulletin 124 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industry. In this first 2-year period a yield 

 of about 23 tons per acre was secured for each year. Since that 

 time further observations and tests have been possible with plantings 

 at San Antonio as well as at Brownsville. These two localities are 

 representative of the coastal region of heavy rainfall and of the more 

 inland situation of much more uncertain distribution of moisture. 1 

 In both places the rainfall is irregular, but at San Antonio it is smaller 

 in quantity. It is neither possible nor necessary here to go into 

 details, but the rainfall at San Antonio is not only on the average 

 smaller in quantity but also of more irregular distribution than at 

 Brownsville. 



1 For a discussion of the relation of the climatic conditions of the San Antonio region to prickly-pear 

 culture, see Bulletin 124 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, entitled "The Prickly Pear as a Farm Crop." 

 84730°— Bull. 208—15 



