NATIVE PRICKLY PEAR IN SOUTHERN TEXAS. 



collection of prickly pear and agaves, the rows being numbered con- 

 secutively, the 6-acre planting beginning at row 20. The yields of 

 rows 20 to 48, inclusive, together with the time of harvesting and 

 the other data necessary to computations and a proper interpretation 

 of them, are given in Table I. 



Table I. — Dates of harvesting and yields of native prickly pear at Broivnsville , Tex. 



No. 



of 



row. 



Date of harvesting. 



Yield 

 per row. 



Length 



Total 

 yield per 





acre. 



Feet. 



Tons. 



501 



39.615 



501 



35. 492 



501 



50. 204 



499 



65. 362 



500 



73. 689 



501 



67. 956 



499 



75. 240 



498 



95. 899 



498 



117.619 



495 



118. 331 



494 



128. 500 



490 



133. 373 



497 



141.221 



489 



124. 588 



487 



185. 837 



484 



131. 428 



498 



164. 108 



481 



136. 262 



487 



126. 083 



475 



155. 443 



471 



145.063 



468 



112.597 



464 



148.463 



459 



129.633 



463 



141.618 



460 



139.421 



456 



101. 756 



451 



121.206 



451 



162.347 



Annual 



yield per 



acre. 



191 - I Pounds. 



Jan. 5 tol3 | 7,340 



Jan. 14 to 2Q I 6, 576 



Jan. 20 to 30 1 9, 302 



Feb. 1 to 12 '' 12, 062 



Feb. 14 to 28 ! 13, 626 



Mar. 1 to 15 ' 12,591 



Mar. 16 to Apr. 1 13, 885 



Apr. 1 to 25 i 17, 662 



Apr. 9 to May 14 | 21, 662 



May to June 21, 662 



May 15 to July 10 23, 476 



June 4 to July 14 24, 169 



July 15 to Aug. 14 25, 957 



Aug. 16 to Sept. 21 22, 531 



Sept. 24 to Oct. 21 33, 470 



Oct. 22 to Nov. 12 ' 23, 525 



Nov. 13 to 20 | 30, 224 



Nov. 21 to 26 ! 24, 239 



Nov. 27 to 30 i 22, 708 



Dec. 1 to 7 1 27, 306 



Dec. 7 to 13 1 25, 268 



Dec. 13 to 17 19,488 



Dec. 18 to 24 25, 476 



Dec. 24 to 28 22, 005 



1912-13. 



Dec. 29 to Jan. 2 1 24,249 



Jan. 1 to 7 j 23, 718 



Jan. 8 to 11 17, 160 



Jan. 13 to 17 1 20, 216 



Jan. 18 to 23 1 27, 078 



Tons. 

 19. 807 

 17. 746 

 25. 102 

 32. 681 

 36. 844 

 33. 978 

 37. 620 

 47. 949 



43.809 

 54. 703 

 45. 420 

 42.027 

 51.814 

 48. 354 

 37. 532 

 49. 487 

 43.211 



47. 206 

 46. 474 

 33.918 

 40. 402 

 54.116 



It will be seen that the yields are very variable. This is due 

 principally to the varying conditions of the soil. Attention has 

 been called on another page to the low depression running diagonally 

 across the .field. This was of stiff Cameron clay, very refractory and 

 difficult to cultivate and flooded at times. Another cause of the 

 differences in yield was the greater prevalence of Bermuda grass in 

 some places than in others. 



With reference to rows 20, 21, and 22, it should be stated that the 

 low yields were due to still another factor. The stock for planting 

 these three rows was, contrary to expectations, secured from material 

 cut and dumped into a waste pile several months before. The cut- 

 tings were badly withered, and, being planted in very dry soil in a 

 season followed by a long dry summer, they did not start well. 

 Many of the cuttings failed to grow, making the stand poor. During 

 the entire two seasons it was very noticeable that these rows were 

 much lighter than the contiguous rows of the same species but of 

 good stock. 



