CACTUS AS A FORAGE PLANT. 
15 I 
the ration, though it has been found decidedly advantageous to 
feed a small quantity of concentrated material, such as cotton 
seed meal, in addition. 
About twenty years ago it was discovered that by macerating 
prickly pear in a “ pear cutter,” an implement similar to the 
ordinary fodder cutter, the spines were rendered innocuous, partly 
from abrasion and partly from the softening effect of the juices 
of the plant. Since that time prickly pear has been fed exten¬ 
sively by stockmen in southwestern Texas, particularly in years 
of slight rainfall, when the grasses on the ranges failed. One of 
the leading stockmen of that section estimates that the possibility 
of using prickly pear for stock feed increases the amount of 
stock that may be safely kept on the ranges by 100 per cent. In 
ordinary years no pear is fed, but reliance on it in dry years 
enables the ranchman to keep his ranges stocked to the limit in 
good years. The great value of prickly pear lies in the fact that 
in years of famine the herds are not wiped out by starvation as 
they were before the stockmen learned to use these plants. 
In the vicinity of San Antonia dairymen very generally use 
prickly pear in feeding their cows, and many of them have come 
to regard it as a valuable asset. 
Another interesting method of preparing the cacti for feeding 
is to scorch the spines off by means of a “ pear burner,” a modi¬ 
fication of the ordinary plumber’s torch. The plants are treated 
in situ by this method and left for the stock to eat at their leisure. 
Two forms of these burners are in general use in the region 
south of San Antonio, as are also two forms of the pear cutter 
mentioned previously. It is quite amusing to see a herd of 
cattle run eagerly to the point where they hear a burner begin 
to blow, or where they see smoke arising from a brush fire, which 
they always do after they have learned the significance of the 
operation. 
Whether this class of plants will become of sufficient impor¬ 
tance to justify their artificial propagation and the, protection of 
the better spineless forms by rabbit proof fences, remains to be 
seen. It seems probable that such will be, the case in some 
localities. In one instance the amount of feed secured per acre 
1 
