30 THE PRICKLY PEAR AS FOOD FOR STOCK. 



results obtained appear to indicate, according to Mr. J. F. Branham, 

 that hogs take to the pear for roughage as kindly as cattle. 



The number of hogs fed on the place during the past year and a half 

 has been in the neighborhood of 230 in all. Many of these were small 

 and ate little or no pear. To this number of animals, during a period 

 of one and a half years, were fed 400 bushels of corn, 2i barrels daily 

 of meat and bread scraps, and 3,000 pounds daily of pear. 



In feeding, extreme care is said to be necessary to rid the pear of 

 spines, for they are very injurious to the hog. During this feeding 

 about one-half of one per cent was killed by the spines in spite of the 

 great precautions exercised. The pear was all burned in the field by 

 a gasoline burner, loaded on wagons and thrown into the pens, one 

 man burning as fast as three men could cut and load. Each day's 

 ration of 3,000 pounds required 2^ gallons of gasoline for the burning. 



In many localities in the pear region of Texas it is the practice, as 

 soon as the tunas (fruit) ripen and begin to fall off, to let out the few 

 hogs which the rancher usually has to feed upon them. It is consid- 

 ered by all who have had any experience with this practice that hogs 

 are very fond of these fruits, and fatten very rapidly upon them. 



PEAR FOR SHEEP AND GOATS. 



Mr. Albert Urban, one of the largest owners of sheep in the Laredo 

 district at the present time, values the pear very highly. His sheep 

 are run entirely without feed, even during the dry seasons. His 

 pastors all carry machetes and cut the edges off of the joints to 

 give the sheep a chance to get at the pulp without being injured by 

 the thorns. His range is well adapted to sheep on account of the large 

 amount of browse furnished by the guajilla [Acacia lerlandieri) and 

 the mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa). These, together with the pear 

 chopped with the machete, furnish an abundance of feed when the 

 grasses fail, and the latter obviates the necessity of driving to water 

 as often as would otherwise be necessary. 



Upon nearly every ranch of any note in the pear region a small 

 flock of goats are run and held most of the time in the thickest pear 

 and brush on the ranch. It is a universal practice to furnish them 

 access to all the pear they will eat, b}^ a liberal use of the machete. 

 The amount of pear they consume depends upon the condition of the 

 other feed, it furnishing the greater part of their ration during 

 droughty seasons. 



PEAR AS A RATION FOR WORKING ANIMALS. 



The animals best adapted to working on pear appear to be oxen. 

 They often work for months upon no other feed than dry grass, brush, 

 and prickly pear. Instances of the use of scorched pear for oxen by 

 the early freighters have been mentioned. Even now a large num- 



