

THE JACK BEAN AND THE SWORD BEAN. 33 



The crop requires about a month longer to mature than do cowpeas, but the yield 

 is proportionately greater. Yields of 16 to over 20 tons of green fodder per acre have 

 been reported from various sources. The best yield of seed reported is 1,200 pounds 

 per acre. While a single crop is usually grown from each sowing, the station has occa- 

 sionally grown a good rattoon crop. Such crops, however, are subject to a leaf blight 

 common to the bean family. Otherwise the crop is exceptionally free from diseases 

 and insect pests, a point greatly in its favor over the cowpea. Another possible advan- 

 tage possessed by the jack bean over the rambling legumes is the absence of trailing 

 stems, which might interfere in some forms of intercropping. 



While the crop is quite drought resisting, as was shown in the excellent yield pro- 

 duced at Kunia during the dry season of 1909, it responds well to irrigation and makes 

 a good growth during the wet season if the weather is not too cold. The jack bean 

 develops a strong root system . The roots are nearly always well supplied with the 

 nodules produced by the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, so that the stubble remaining after 

 the crop is harvested should prove beneficial to the soil. The best method for the 

 culture of the crop, whether it is to be used for green fodder or seed, is to plant in 

 rows and cultivate freely throughout the growing season. .For the largest amount of 

 green matter, plant the seed 3 to 6 inches apart in rows 2 to 3 feet apart. If seed is 

 the object, especially if wanted for planting, the rows should be at least a foot farther 

 apart and the seed planted 6 to 10 inches apart in the row. Forty to sixty pounds of 

 seed will be required to plant an acre. The optimum amount of moisture for seed 

 growing is about two-thirds that required for maximum fodder production. 



In Porto Rico the jack bean has been found very useful as a green- 

 manure and cover crop in citrus groves. Judging from the behavior 

 of the plant in experimental trials in Florida, it should prove equally 

 valuable there. Its bushy habit makes it especially desirable, as it 

 does not interfere by climbing the trees, while its dense, vigorous 

 growth shades the ground during the heat of summer and provides 

 abundant vegetable matter to add to the soil. 



The value of the plant as forage is yet problematical. Its successful 

 utilization as green feed in Hawaii encourages the belief that it may 

 be found equally valuable in this country, especially in Texas and 

 Oklahoma, where its great drought resistance gives it particular 

 promise. 



The large yield of seed per acre justifies further experiments to 

 determine whether any means can be devised to utilize the seeds 

 profitably as feed, which the work referred to of the Mississippi Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station indicates is a difficult problem. The 

 jack bean has recently been introduced into Java, where on account 

 of the large yield of seed the agricultural authorities were endeavoring 

 to find a market for the product in Europe. 



There is also the probability that the jack bean may prove to be 

 valuable as ensilage. Its coarse habit and heavy tonnage should 

 adapt it well to this purpose. 



[Cir. 110] 



