THE FODDER PLANT FOR ARID REGIONS. 
25 
ONE LEAF IMPROVED SPINELESS OPUNTIA. 
Bearing thirty-two ripe fruits which, without the leaf, weighed seven pounds. 
constitute the principal nutritive material in the 
dry matter of the cacti. The amount of protein 
present, as in the case with most green fodders, is 
small. The ash content was found to be high, 
“suggesting an explanation of the purgative effect 
of this forage upon cattle.” 
In the above estimate no account has been taken 
of the possible expense of one extra man to operate 
the burner, since ordinarily this work can be done 
with the jjaid help already at hand. The relative 
value ol this class of forage is as yet in question. 
1 he expense and trouble ol burning, however, will 
be amply justified if range stock can be successfully 
carried over periods of extreme shortage. The 
large amount of water in tins forage is of no small 
value to thirsty, starving cattle, doubtless enabling 
them to feed much farther from their watering- 
places than they could otherwise do. 
J. J. Thornber, who carried on the Arizona inves¬ 
tigations, states that in using a gasoline torch for 
singeing cacti, the tank should be suspended from 
the shoulder in such a way that the end which 
supplies the gasoline to the burner is always down. 
As a matter of economy it will be found desirable 
to maintain a good pressure of air in the tank, and 
to avoid using the burner in a brisk or even a mod¬ 
erate breeze, since one-third more gasoline is 
then required. 
In connection with an extended study of Prickly 
Pear and other cacti as food for stock, carried on 
by I). Griffiths, of the Bureau of Plant Industry 
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, data re¬ 
garding different methods of singeing cacti, the 
use of the singed material as a feeding stuff, and 
other questions wcie considered. 
