Edible Products. 



116 



[February, 1910. 



in nitrogenous (proteid) food, and by 

 themselves would need to be eaten in 

 almost impossible quantities to main- 

 tain stock in good condition. The best 

 comment upon the supposed high value 

 placed on prickly cactus in the United 

 States, is afforded by the following 

 extract from the Farmers' Bulletin, No. 

 72, of the U.S.A. Department of Agri- 

 culture:— 



"Hundreds of square miles ot the 

 richest grazing country in Southern 

 Texas, U.S.A., have been overrun with 

 prickly pear, and the growth is each year 

 becoming more impenetrable. In many 

 of the southern countries it has been esti- 

 mated that this cactus has already de- 

 creased the carrying capacity of the 

 ranches one-fourth to one-third. The 

 prickly pear is indeed a curse to the 

 stock country. Some years ago, before 

 cotton-seed hulls and meal were avail- 

 able as a fattening food, the pear was 

 quite largely used after the spines had 

 been disposed of, by roasting or boiling. 

 Now, the cheaper and better cotton- 

 seed hulls, which do not require a like 

 amount of labour in their preparation, 

 have almost entirely displaced it as a 

 forage. The fruits are produced in great 

 abundance, and when ripe are eaten 

 with evident relish by birds, hogs, and 

 cattle, and the seeds are thereby being 

 very rapidly disseminated over whatever 

 country is still free from it. Not only 

 does the pear increase from the seed, 

 but if a joint of the stem is broken 

 off and falls on the ground, it takes 

 root and produces a new plant. 



"As a result of this rapid increase of 

 prickly pear, the grass is being eaten 

 to the roots wherever stock can get at 

 it between the clumps of cactus. Paths 

 are worn and the ground is trampled 

 and packed, and the only grasses that 

 are allowed to ripen seed, are those 

 growing within these thorny citadels of 

 cactus plants. Cattle on the range will 

 not eat prickly pear unless driven to 

 it by hunger or thirst. It is a better 

 substitute for water than for food, but 

 with this statement of fact the best 

 has been said concerning the forage pos- 

 sibilities of this plant. It is a fact that 

 it is spreading every year over a wider 

 extent of range country, and that its 

 presence in any considerable quantity 

 is, on the whole, detrimental to the 

 best interests of stockmen." 



In New South Wales, the plant has 

 sometimes been used as a supplementary 

 fodder after prolonged boilingor treating 

 with superheated steam, so as to soften 

 the spines. Here, again, it must be re- 

 membered that the bulk of the plant 

 in regard to its food value is consider- 



able, and that the cost of treatment 

 is proportionately great. Where no 

 other green feed is available it may pay 

 to use a portion of the growth cover- 

 ing the land, in this way, but it will 

 not pay to cultivate it for this purpose. 



In South Africa, the select committee 

 appointed by the Legislative Council of 

 Cape Colony, reported in 1890, that the 

 prickly pear had spread to an alarming 

 extent, especially on good land, depreci- 

 ating the value of the land in certain 

 districts by as much as 50 per cent. 



As the result of many tests, spraying 

 with arsenite of soda (1 lb. to 5 gallons 

 of water) to destroy the plant has been 

 recommended, but to make the spraying 

 fully effective, the plants should be pre- 

 viously punctured on all sides with a 

 fork, so that the poison obtains free 

 entry. 



During my recent visit to Sydney, 

 Mr. Maiden arranged for a demonstra- 

 tion of a new method of destroying 

 prickly pear which its inventor was 

 supposed to have used successfully in 

 Queensland, but which was merely based 

 on the above principle of puncturing 

 the stem to admit poison. Even assum- 

 ing that the treatment as shown was 

 fully effective, its cost worked out to 

 over £4,000 per square mile, *or £7 an 

 acre, which is more than most of the 

 land affected by prickly pear is worth, 

 when cleared. The use of a heavy roller 

 has been recommended, bub grubbing 

 out, piling, spraying the heaps, and 

 burning when dry is the only method 

 of permanently clearing. Even then the 

 land is readily re-infected by seed 

 carried by birds, etc. 



The spiny cactus was originally intro- 

 duced by Governor Philip in 1789, ap- 

 parently for the purpose of starting the 

 cochineal industry in New South Wales, 

 but had not long been cultivated, before 

 it ran wild, and became the terrible 

 pest it now is in Queensland and in 

 New South Wales north of the Hawkes- 

 bury River. 



The fruits of the prickly pear are used 

 as food for man in Siciiy, North Africa, 

 and some parts of the United States, 

 the prickles being removed by rubbing 

 with a cloth. They contain up to 14 per 

 cent, of sugar, but barely more than £ 

 per cent, of nitrogenous food, so that 

 they are comparable as. regards food 

 value, with sugary fruits like apples or 

 pears, have a less food value than a 

 potato, but rather more than a carrot 

 or fodder beet. According to Wolff, 3 

 pounds of prickly pear fruits are equal 

 to 1 pound of good dry hay. This ap- 

 plies only to the fruits of the prickly 



