CONDITIONS IN THE PRICKLY-PEAR REGION. 41 



prickly pear 15 to 20 feet high about the old missions and upon the 

 larger ranches and haciendas. (PI. IV, fig. 1.) 



The fruits are so highly prized by the Italians that there is a limited 

 market for them in the larger cities of this country at the present 

 time. They are imported from Italy, and sold at a price about equal 

 to oranges, bulk for bulk. 



The following rather formal list of the uses of these plants, together 

 with what has been said in the body of this bulletin, will give some 

 idea as to the use that is made of them by various peoples: 



(1) The fruits of not less than a dozen Mexican species are delicious, 

 and would form a valuable addition to our fruit supply. At least one- 

 half of these are now growing- out of doors in private collections of 

 cacti in this country. (PL V, fig. 2.) 



(2) Very palatable jellies are manufactured from the fruits of some 

 species, and could doubtless, under proper commercial methods, be put 

 upon the market as choice delicacies, if the plants can be successfully 

 grown in sufficient numbers. 



(3) The young joints are boiled for food by the Mexican people as 

 greens. 



(I) The 3'oung joints are manufactured into pickles. 



(5) The young joints are chopped into small pieces and dried for 

 future use. 



(6) The expressed juices are used by the Mexicans for mixing with 

 whitewash for exterior work. 



(T) Many species are used for hedges, borders, fences, and other 

 useful or ornamental plantings. 



(8) The pulp of the group of cacti known to the Mexicans by the 

 name of visnaga is boiled with sugar in the manufacture of cactus 

 candy. 



(9) The soft, pulpy tissues of cacti, being very retentive of moisture, 

 are admirably adapted and extensively used for poultices. 



(10) Some species yield valuable drugs. 



(II) Before the development of the coal-tar dyes some of the species 

 were largely used as hosts for the cochineal insect. 



(12) The peculiar reticulations of the vascular system of many spe- 

 cies are taken advantage of in the manufacture of an endless variety 

 of art goods. 



SOME CONDITIONS OBTAINING IN THE PRICKLY-PEAR REGION. 



There is probably no locality in the United States where labor is so 

 cheap as it is in the prickly -pear region. While it is a poor class, 

 being largely of the Mexican peon type, and not so good, man for man, 

 as the average American labor, wages are so low that many enterprises 

 depending upon the price of labor can be undertaken there when they 

 could not be established elsewhere. The average rancher in many 



