26 THE PKICKLY PEAR AS FOOD FOR STOCK. 



be obtained without definiteW planned experiments. Their experi- 

 ences are of great value in planning future investigations and in sug- 

 gesting to those who have not had experience how best to proceed in 

 feeding these plants. 



The Messrs. Furnish, of Spofford, Tex., have fed pear three win- 

 ters. Two years ago they simply cut the cactus with a pear cutter 

 and fed it in troughs with two pounds of cotton-seed cake a day for 

 each animal. The following winter they scorched it with brush in the 

 field and then chopped and fed it in the same way. Their experience 

 appears to indicate that chopping does not destroy the spines suffi- 

 ciently to prevent injury from them. During the first } r ear they were 

 feeding pear they lost many calves and they attributed the loss to this 

 cause. They are confident that there is no danger for older stock. 

 They experimented with a pear burner, but were not pleased with 

 it, as their machine used up about a gallon of gasoline per hour under 

 careful manipulation, and with the employment of cheap Mexican 

 labor, much more. The}^ discarded their machines and put the men 

 at work singeing with brush, which, on account of the irresponsible 

 labor available, they considered much more economical. 



There are various ways of harvesting cactus. These people employ 

 one or two men to cut the pear off with a hoe, and then another gang 

 comes along and loads it on a wagon fitted usually with a hay frame. 

 The felled pear is handled with forks, and from a ton to a ton and a 

 half constitute a load. This is then hauled to the machine and chopped 

 up. A machete is sometimes employed for cutting the cactus off at 

 the ground. 



It is claimed that the old stocks are much more nutritious than the 

 younger joints. An effort is made, therefore, whenever extensive 

 feeding is done, to go into the thickest, rankest pear areas and cut the 

 plants off at the surface of the ground in order to get as much of the 

 old stumps as possible. What relation there is between the 3^oung 

 joints and these older stocks should be determined chemically as soon 

 as possible. In practice it is always considered that the older joints 

 and stalks are most nutritious. 



The chop is loaded on to wagons and hauled to the feeding lot, where 

 it is fed in large flat-bottomed troughs, 3 feet wide and 8 inches deep, 

 the cotton-seed meal being sprinkled over the chop at the rate of about 

 2 pounds for each animal a day. 



The first winter feeding was done steadily for two months, and the 

 cattle were given all the pear they would eat, together with 2 pounds 

 of cotton-seed meal. All stock had a limited run of brush pastures. 

 After this first period of two months was up they fed a bunch of the 

 poorer animals for two or three weeks longer until they got strong. 

 These were then turned on to native pastures to ''rustle" for them- 

 selves, while another bunch of weaker ones was fed two or three weeks 



