14 THE PRICKLY PEAR AS FOOD FOR STOCK. 



allowed to stand one night, and fed in the morning, with good results 

 during one or two winters. It should be stated that all of the liquid 

 was lost. This was a pure experiment, adapted to local conditions 

 and material convenient for the operations. The form of tank, the 

 length of time, and the consequent expense of keep : ng up steam, could 

 be greatly improved upon. 



CHOPPING BY MACHINERY. 



In southern Texas there have been some rapid advances made during 

 the last twenty years in the matter of pear-handling machinery. 

 By use of the machines now in vogue pear and other cacti may be 

 chopped into such small pieces that the spines are rendered innocuous 

 by the abrasion. The two machines manufactured for this purpose 

 and described later are both set so as to cut the pear into 1-inch to 

 l^-inch pieces. Owing to the succulent nature, the whole thing is 

 practically macerated in the operation. It is the practice to set these 

 machines up in the pastures convenient to pear and water. The pear 

 is cut down, hauled to the machines in wagons or carts, chopped, 

 reloaded, and hauled out again to be fed in troughs constructed for 

 that purpose. 



A further discussion of this topic will necessarily occur in connec- 

 tion with a description of the machines and their operation. 



OTHER CHOPPING DEVICES. 



Many feeders in Texas hire cheap labor to chop the prickly pear 

 with machetes or spades. A small quantity of the pear is placed in 

 a trough or a pile is built upon the ground. A machete or spade is 

 then employed to slash it into small pieces, when it can be more read- 

 ily eaten by the cattle. This is rather a poor way of feeding, for the 

 spines are only imperfectly gotten rid of, and the cattle consequently 

 get their mouths so full of them that after a time the}^ are unable to eat 

 at all. The practice does get rid of some of the spines, however, and 

 stock are able to eat the pear much better when prepared in this way 

 than in the natural state. 



REMOVAL OF THE EDGE OF THE JOINTS. 



All pastors (herders) carry machetes as a part of their equipment 

 in all prickly-pear regions of Texas and Old Mexico. With this most 

 useful Mexican instrument the}^ very dextrously lop off the edge of 

 the pear joint for the purpose of giving the sheep a chance to get 

 into the thickets or bunches of pear to better advantage. As a usual 

 thing the greatest number of spines occur on the edges of the joints, 

 the more effectually protecting them. The pastors simply cut off an 

 inch or two of this spiny portion and the animals are then able to 



