THE ANALYSIS OF PRICKLY PEAR. 

 By W. M. Hamlet, F.C.S, F.I.C, Government Analyst. 



[Read before the Royal Society of N.S.W., October 2, 1889.^ 



The specimens selected for analysis were those of Opuntia hv 

 ziliensis in fresh vigorous condition, but the fruit was not qui 

 ripe. The prickles having been carefully removed, the follown 

 results were obtained from a hundred parts of the fresh plant :- 



Water ... B9-60 



Fat ■^: 



Starch . 

 Arabin, Pectose or digestil 

 Cellulose (woody fibre) 

 t Mineral matter (Ash) 



1 of its value as a fodder plant we e.xcmu. 

 the prickles, the prickly pear will he found to possess a nutntne 

 value equal to that of the melon or to the common cabbage. 

 Ob\iously the chief, but not insurmountable difficulty attending 

 its use as fodder for stock is the presence of two distinct sets 

 prickles, one being the long hard spines, the other the fine short 

 spiculai formed in tufts upon the fruit, both of which combme 

 make a very formidable defence to the plant against the approa 



f h rl f+1 • ]...-, ■ . . - 1 rl K tl e latter except 



when hard pressed by hunger in a dry season. m i 



In the Brazils and in some parts of Mexico, horses and ^^^ 

 cattle will attack this prickly cactus in a remarkable in^^H^^J^ 

 This is accomplished by tlie animals turning round upon the p^^.^ 

 and stamping it down with their hind legs until they have s 

 ently mashed the leaves and destroyed the prickles, whereup 

 they are able to eat it. _ „rnress 



Stock may however })e sa^'ed this labour by the sunple proce ^ 

 of burning the spines ott' liy roasting in heaps after cutting 

 by bill-hooks or scythes, or by means of a pulping machine 



Nitrogen 0-17. t Containing Potash 92. 



