Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-31

course and just the right amount of mois-
ture Is fed to it at every step of its jour
ney. So is 1t kept in ideal summertime
condition and SO is the mine kept from
blowing up, and so are the lives Of the
miners spared. So is Dame Nature April
fooled.
When nature covered the prickly pear
with such a collection of thorns to
make animal access to its leaves impoS-
sible she did it for the very purpose OF
keeping that prickly pear from being de-
voured by live stock But she reckoned
not upon the cleverneSS OF those high
brow book farmers of the Department of
Agriculture, who have a penchant for i'm
proving upon her methods. Nature placed
the prickly pear in the arid and semi-arid
west and endowed 1t with such moisture
economy as to resist drought, and with
such a warlike exterior as to resist eff
fectually all animal encroachments. So
the pr1ckly pear has grown quite merrily
in such regions as western Texas while
other plants died from drought and cattle
starved to death for lack of food.
One of these book farmers was sent
down to Texas and instructed to find
some crop that could be grown profitably
upon these semi-arid lands. He looked
around to find the crop that was native
to them. 1t was prickly pear. He asked
himself why the cattle did not eat this
prickly pear. He answered himself and
said. thorns. On April first he cap
tured prickly pear and played the role
of barber to it, removing the whiskers.
Then he showed 1t to thin and hungry
COW and she fell upon 1t as long post
poned meal. He barbered still other
prickly pears and fed them to the COW.
They transformed her from breadline
thinness to plutocratic proportions.
Prickly pears were good for cows to eat.
4
This book farmer had a second inspira-
ton. He tclled the soil around the
roots Of one of these priokly pears in
such a way as to loosen 1t up and let
in the greatest possible amount of rain
fall. Then he scratched the soil again
according to the best regulated dry farm
ing methods Of conserving that rainfall.
This cultivated pFickly pear grew four
times as much in the season that fol-
lowed as did its unattended associates.
So the book farmer planted a twenty
acre crop of prickly pears and cultivated
them steadily. After they had been grow
ing for three years the book farmer be-
gan to estimate his crop. He found that
he had grown thirty tons to the acre of
perfectly good COW feed.
But these rejuvenated prickly pears
were the thorniest of their kind. No
starving cow could get her nose with
in three inches of one of their succulent
sections. But the book farmer had the
best April fool joke in the world up his
sleeve for this husky crop of prickly
pears. He had rugged himself UP a sort
of blow pipe a large scale such as
plumbers use and with this he went
into the prickly pear farm and singed the
thOrns off of plant number one. Pres
emily COW with an appetite drifted by
and found what he had done. She fell
upon the prickly pears in such way as
to attract the attention Of all her associ-
ates. Soon they were all busy with the
eating.
Nowadays all tho farmers around San
Antonio have cultivated prickly pear
patches. They pronounce this the best
hay crop in the business. AS the prickly
pear stays green year after year inded-
nftely, there IL no need in harvesting it.
AS no living creature can damage it, a
fence Is not even necessary. When the