135 
however, it can be preserved as well as other marketed kinds 
of fresh fruit. The dried fruit is a well established article of 
trade and a number of other products from the Prickly Pear 
are well established. 
t 
PRICKLY PEAR HONEY. 
One of the best known products of this fruit is a thick syrup 
known as "Miel" or "Honey" and a more solid substance 
called "Queso" or "Cheese." The "honey" is produced by 
boiling the peeled fruit for a period of about two hours, when 
the solid contents are strained off and the residue evaporated 
to the consistency of honey, when it is cooled off in wooden 
receptacles. When cold it is run into bottles and jars" and is 
said to remain good for an indefinite time. 
PRICKLY PEAR COLORING. 
A dark purple variety of Prickly Pear yields a brilliant red 
juice which is used in considerable quantities in Mexico for 
coloring various preserves. This use of the fruit is also known 
in Hawaii where it is occasionally used for imparting a pleas- 
ing color to summer drinks and sherbets. The value of manu- 
facturing and marketing a fruit coloring matter for confec- 
tionery and kindred uses will be appreciated, as none of the 
objection to chemical coloring agents could be advanced 
against the juice of the Prickly Pear. Xo doubt a most suc- 
cessful future awaits the experimenter who first places on the 
market a stable coloring made from this fruit. 
In recent years considerable attention has been paid to this 
cactus, incited very largely, no doubt, by the production of a 
spineless variety by Luther Burbank. The use of this new 
plant as a stock feed on arid lands will probably be largely 
adopted in the future, and in many ways indications are not 
wanting to suggest that before long the despised Prickly Pear 
will obtain an honored place among the economic plants of 
mankind. 
