Prickly pears

I feel I must give some contribution on prickly pears taken from my experience with this marvellous fruit tree.

This tree is a pest unless controlled. The roots will travel wide and 12 centimetre-thick roots are common. If it grows on hard rocky land with little soil, the fruit is exquisite. To recognise whether it is full of pips or not use this formula: the fewer the number of black spots from where spines emerge, the lesser the number of pips.

Younger trees produce such fruit. When cutting the fruit for storage purposes use a sharp knife and cut a small part of the leaf so as not to breach the fruit. It can keep for weeks. Never let these trees near orange trees, the orange trees would suffer. So would all shallow crops, like potatoes etc.

The only plants I know which will kill this tree are the carob and olive trees. The almond tree's roots, on the other hand, will shelter under the roots of the prickly pear and enjoy the humidity and nourishment there. Almonds grow very well near prickly pear plantings.

The leaf of the plant is a fantastic healer for burns. If you get burnt and slice a leaf and put it on immediately, the burn will not even get sore or blister. A plant that should be eradicated from Malta is the acacia. Nothing grows under it. Even snails hate it. The department of agriculture should freely give one olive tree for every two acacia trees uprooted.

Prickly pears are fantastic as a wind shield and for their fruit. Before I stop this ode to prickly pears I feel I must tell you how I enjoyed half a dozen of them last week, when I found them growing in a sheltered area.