24 
THE SPINELESS CACTUS : 
results from the points of view of feeding stock 
with the different aims that one may have (viz., 
breeding, working, fattening, etc.)? To find out 
the forage mixture containing cactus which gives 
satisfaction in each of the above cases. 
4. Does there exist a thornless variety produc¬ 
tive enough and with fruits rich enough to make 
its culture immediately profitable? If it does not 
exist, has anyone anywhere made attempts to 
create it? A. JEHANNE. 
Tunis, Jan. 15, 1904. 
PRICKLY PEARS. 
[From Law’s Grocers’ Manual, London, Eng.] 
These are also known among plant lovers as 
Barbary Figs, Indian Figs, etc. They are the pear- 
shaped fruit of Opuntia tuna, a species of cactus. 
There are several varieties, native of South 
America and Mexico, now grown in the West Indies, 
Brazil, Florida, etc., but we receive most from 
Spain, Algeria, and other parts of Africa. 
The wild varieties—although sweet, nutritive, 
juicy and invaluable in dry, hot, sandy countries— 
are generally fiat and insipid to the taste. They 
abound in India, around Delhi, and were introduced 
into the Deccan by a Sirdar of the old Poona Court 
to be grown as a defence against military attacks. 
The plants are also found a convenient hedge 
between fields or a fence about farmsteads, being 
at once impenetrable and uninflamable. The 
jointed, juicy, columnar stems of the plant form 
an excellent fodder for cattle, so do the leaves and 
fruit, although both leaves and fruit are armed 
with minute but very sharp and stinging prickles, 
which produce violent inflammation and swelling, 
like nettles. Sheep and cattle are very fond of this 
fruit, and soon get fat on it. In some parts of Africa 
the leaves are chopped and fed to ostriches and 
dairy cows during droughts and periods of scarcity. 
The plant thrives best on barren spots, rocky 
shelves, etc., where nothing else will grow—and 
is, therefore, of great value in restoring vast tracts 
of desert lands to cultivation, although owing to 
the vitality of its hard seeds, it is difficult to ex¬ 
tirpate it when it once spreads. * * * 
The proper way to peel the fruit is to hold it on 
a fork or skewer while you cut it open and remove 
the skin. They should never be touched by the 
hand, or they will sting like nettles. 
The White Prickly Pear is noted for its agreeable 
acid flavour. The Yellow is rather sweeter; the Crim¬ 
son, both large and small, are quite sweet; the 
Japona is so called by reason of its costive effect 
when eaten in large quantities; the Pelona (a naked 
variety, almost destitute of the objectionable 
prickles) is a great forage plant, and will grow 
almost in any warm climate if not very damp. 
The leaves are very large and thick, averaging 
about 8 lbs. each. 
Another variety, the Xoconostle, makes a most 
delicious preserve, its peculiar “foreign” flavour 
being much esteemed, and quite as distinct from 
other jams as Indian chutney is from English 
pickles. 
In practice pear is very seldom fed alone. Even 
during the severest drought cattle are able to pick 
up some old grass and get a little browse from the 
abundance of brush that exists throughout the 
pear region. It is seldom that the Texas rancher 
feeds it without some cotton-seed meal, although 
the cactus of southwestern Colorado has usually 
been fed alone. 
SINGED CACTI AS FORAGE 
[From The Pacific Rural Press ., 1 
During the periods of long drought, to which 
the southwestern United States is liable, range cattle 
frequently browse upon various species of cacti 
common to the region. 
The Arizona Experiment Station has reported 
the results of studies regarding the utility of this 
class of forage plants, particularly after the spines 
have been removed by burning by means of a 
prickly pear burner—that is, a gasoline torch 
similar in principle to that which plumbers use. 
I lie spines of about 300 plants of the species of 
cacti commonly found in the neighborhood of the 
station, including prickly pears, chollas, etc., were 
singed, the spines being burned off at intervals 
for about ten days. 
I he first 50 plants that were singed were literally 
devoured by the stock, the prickly pears being 
eaten nearly to the level of the ground, while only 
the trunks and woody branches of the chollas re¬ 
mained. As the work was continued from day to 
day, it was evident that the stock (although under 
usual circumstances they will eat more or less of 
the cactus with the spines) were feeding entirely 
upon the singed plants, and that they readily 
distinguished them from the unsinged ones. This 
singeing and close browsing of the cactaceous 
plants, if continued, would surely result in their 
final destruction, which would add more distress to 
what already exists, so that in general not more 
than one-half of the plant should be singed, leaving 
the remaining half to restore the growth singed 
and utilized by cattle. 
Conservative estimates indicate that from 7,000 
to 11,000 Ids. of cactus forage can be prepared daily 
in this way at a cost of $2.40, which represents 
eight gallons of gasoline at 30c per gal. The amount 
of water in this forage, as determined in the ex¬ 
periment station chemical laboratory, is approxi- 
mately 75 to 80 per cent, leaving 20 to 25 per cent, 
or 1,600 to 2,500 lbs. of solid matter for the day's 
work. 
Cacti have been analyzed at the Arizona and 
California Experiment Stations. Carbohydrates 
