MUCUNA UTILIS (BENGAL BEAn) I29 



Like all Leguminos^e, this pea is best planted at the 

 beginning of the wet season. There are four varieties in 

 existence : white, veined, black, and (var.) lyuni; the variety 

 with black seeds being known as the pois noir. 



From an agricultural point of view this plant gives 

 splendid results. It is of very sturdy habit, and forms on 

 the soil surface a regular blanket, thick and tufted, which 

 prevents the growth of w-eeds. It is very easy to cultivate, 

 all that requires doing being to sow two or three seeds 

 together at intervals of a metre. In this way the growth of 

 the plants is fairly well assured and the ground soon covered. 



Its leaf organs are very large, it is a great spreader, 

 covers the ground for two years at least, and produces an 

 abundant amount of seed. 



The great size of its leaf organs allows this plant to store 

 up a large amount of nitrogen, and this, in addition to its 

 great productivity and its content of fertilizing matter, 

 places it in the front rank of cover peas. It will be seen 

 further on, in a table giving the percentage proportion of 

 nitrogenous matter to the dry matter of green fodders, that 

 the Bengal bean contains 25 per cent, more nitrogen than the 

 legume which is next richest in that substance. 



At the same time its yield on the fields is lower than that 

 of the cow pea, which, though less rich in nitrogenous matter, 

 gives a higher sum of fertilizing elements, its weight to the 

 hectare being higher. 



A characteristic peculiar to the Bengal bean and the cow 

 pea is that roots are given off at everv point where the 

 creeping stems touch the soil. This probablv increases the 

 number of nodules, and, if Hellriegel and Wilfarth's theory 

 be correct, this peculiarity should have an appreciable 

 influence on the enrichment of the soil in nitrogen, especially 

 as the nodules are of large size. 



This pea is distributed throughout a number of colonies, 

 and in Mauritius it is generally to be found covering the 

 fields in those districts where rotations are practised. The 

 9 



