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J. A. A vent, sr., Bexar County, Southern Texas : 



I have been feeding Prickly Pear for thirty years. It is an excellent feed for cattle, 

 if fed with fodder or hay of any kind ; when not too fall of sap it may be fed alone. 

 If cat in January it can be fed until March 20, but if left standing it is not good feed 

 after the 20th of February. There is nothing that cattle like better than Prickly 

 Pear, when accustomed to it. We feed it only in dry years when grass is scarce. We 

 begin feeding about the first of November and continue until the 20th of February. 

 The old stumps, with a little corn, will fatten cattle very fast. We burn off the 

 thorns in feeding it, but most stock raisers do not. The apples ripen about the first 

 of July, and are eaten by almost everything. Hogs get fat enough upon them to ren- 

 der into lard, when the crop is good, and it seldom fails. 



A. J. Spencer, Uvalde, Tex. : 



It is eaten by cattle, sheep, goats, and hogs. They eat it mainly as found on the 

 range, though sometimes the thorns are scorched off. It is considered one of the best 

 native forage plants, especially to carry these stock through the long droughts that 

 occur occasionally in Western Texas. It is a partial substitute for water for all stock 

 that eat it. The only injury I have known to result from eating it has been to sheep, 

 and then ouly when eaten while frozen. 



S. S. Jamison, Burnet, Tex. : . 



It is used extensively in the southwestern part of the State, especially by Mexicans, 

 for wintering work-oxen, cows, and other cattle upon. The thorns are scorched oii 

 before feeding, and no harm results from its use, unless it be too great a laxness at 

 times. Onl^ one kind is used as far as I know, but it varies in height in different 

 localities. In this country it grows from 6 inches to 2 feet high. Farther south it 

 grows taller. In Matamoras, Mexico, I have seen the " Nopal" as tall as the post-oak 

 timber, and having large round trunks like any other tree. 



Prof. George W. Curtis, College Station, Tex.: 



It is used quite extensively for cattle and sheep. The prickles are singed off, or 

 the whole plant is boiled and fed mixed with bran. Only the Opuntia vulgaris, and 

 perhaps a variety of the same, are used, so far as I know. I have no positive knowl- 

 edge of any injury to stock from feeding upon it, but from its purgative nature I 

 should be afraid that it might cause abortion in pregnant cows. 



Has your attention been called to the use of the Prickly Pear Cactus as a lubricant ? 

 Certain of the Western railroads have used it with excellent results. It is gathered 

 in Texas, shipped to Saint Louis, ground up coarsely, and pine tar added to keep the 

 albuminoids from decomposition (I do not know whether anything else is added or 

 not), after which it is barreled and returned. The total cost is 2-£ cents per pound, 

 and it is said to do the work of fi or 8 cents' worth of grease and rags formerly used. It 

 is especially useful in preventing and cooling hot boxes. If this comes into general 

 use it will open a new field of production. 



Leonard A. Heil, San Antonio, Tex. : 



The Cactus or Prickly Pear grows abundantly in nearly every section of Southwest 

 Texas, often reaching a height of 10 or 12 feet. Ever since the settlement of the 

 country by the English, and probably years before, it has been used to supplement 

 grass in times of drought, but now it is being used with other feeds at all times, and 

 especially in the winter. Sheep do well upon it without water, there being sufficient 

 moisture in the leaves. The herder goes along with a short sword and clips the 

 points of the great leaves so that the sheep can insert its nose, when it readilv eats 

 them entire. 



Dr. A. E. Carothers, an extensive ranchman of Cotulla, La Salle County, began feed- 

 ing Prickly Pear and cotton-seed meal to 400 head of steers for the purpose of fatten- 

 ing for the market, and at the last account was highly pleased with the result and 



