46 THE PRICKLY PEAR AS FOOD EOR STOCK, 



Pear cut and piled up moderately will keep in good condition for a 

 month or more, if not left in the sun. 



There is no object in preparing ensilage from pear, even if it can be 

 successfully done. 



The pear has a large number of enemies, consisting mainly of insects 

 and fungi. Rats and rabbits are also injurious in some seasons. 



The pear has two characteristics which render it especially valuable 

 for pastures: 



(1) It can withstand long periods of drought without injury. It 

 has limitations, however, in drought resistance. It has been severely 

 injured during some droughts within the memory of the present 

 generation. 



(2) It is protected by spines, so that it can not be materially injured 

 by overgrazing without artificial preparation. A thornless pear, in a 

 pasture grazed the entire year, would soon be exterminated. 



Pear is not particularly difficult to keep in subjection, nor is it 

 spreading of its own accord to any alarming extent. However, to 

 prepare a pear thicket for cultivation is expensive, for all of the pear 

 must be hauled out of the field. It can not be burned like brush. 



There are many areas in extreme southwestern Texas where pear 

 is so thick as to interfere with the growth of grass. The feeding 

 here should be done with the view of thinning the pear rather than 

 destroying it. 



The destruction of the pear in southwestern Texas would be a 

 severe calamity to the stock industry. 



The practice of preparing pear with a machete by cutting off the 

 edges of the joints tends to form pear thickets, which is often dis- 

 advantageous. 



In practice, pear is very seldom fed alone. Even during the severest 

 drought cattle are able to pick up some old grass and get a little browse 

 from the abundance of brush that exists throughout the pear region. 

 It is seldom that the Texas rancher feeds it without some cotton-seed 

 meal, although the cactus of southwestern Colorado has usually been 

 fed alone. 



Cacti have many uses besides that of forage. 



Prickly pear, including several species in southwestern Texas, the 

 cane cactus of southeastern Colorado and New Mexico, and the cholla 

 and related species in one or two localities in Arizona, are the only 

 species of cactus that have been fed to any extent in this country. 



