COMPARISON BETWEEN VARIOUS ROTATION PEAS 225 



Account should also be taken of the sum of organic 

 matters contained in a crop of peas when in flower; organic 

 matters manufactured by the plant itself which break up 

 and enrich the soil. 



In the following table we have inserted the weight of 

 organic matter per hectare for each variety, and we are 

 thereby able to calculate the quantity of manure to which 

 this mass of organic matter is equivalent. The first eight 

 varieties give an average of 6,712 kilos to the hectare, equal 

 to about 45 metric tons of manure. 



Wherever the soil is impoverished by a mono-culture it 

 is always advisable to return the elements abstracted in a 

 methodical way. In the Coral Islands, where M. Boname 

 has made a study of the coco-nut tree, he has not failed 

 in his valuable report on the composition of the coco-nut 

 tree to advise the sowing of d'Achery peas, cow peas, &c. 

 They could be ploughed in and would enrich the soil, which 

 is particularlv poor in nitrogen owing to the difficulty 

 with which the leaves and other detritus of coco-nut trees 

 decompose. 



As analyses of all these crops have been made at the 

 Agronomic Station we have constructed a comparative table 

 showing the proximate analyses of these forage plants. As 

 regards their use in the feeding of live stock we shall study 

 them later. The information will be particularly useful to 

 those who wish to make use of them as green fodder only. 

 '5 



