258 



CHAPTER VIII. 



USE OF THE LECUMINOS>E FROM AN AGRICULTURAL 



POINT OF VIEW. 



The employment of peas in rotations in colonial agri- 

 culture dates back to the beginning of the last century, and 

 was due in Reunion to the initiative of j\I. Joseph Des- 

 bassyns. In a report to the Colonial Minister, dated May 

 5th, 1816, he gave a detailed account of the system which 

 had been so successful and advised its extension to Bourbon. 



M. Desbassyns left a portion of his land under ordinary 

 pigeon peas for four years. The pigeon peas served as 

 supports for the stems of the peas, and he advised cutting 

 them down in the course of their growth in order to give 

 the peas more scope. The good results which M. Des- 

 bassyns obtained encouraged the other colonists, and in this 

 way Reunion was foremost in adopting his system. 



M. Joseph Desbassyns had studied in France, where he 

 was able to appreciate the value of Leguminos^e in restoring 

 soil fertility, especially with regard to sainfoin (wild) and 

 lucerne. However he realized that this improvement would 

 only be effected so long as tropical plants were utilized. 

 He consequently sowed ordinary peas and pigeon peas with- 

 out attempting to introduce European species of Legu- 

 minosas. Several years would have been required for these 

 latter to become acclimatized, and even then success might 

 not have been achieved, as we know that lucerne does not 

 thrive in our soils. 



It will be seen later that the colonial agriculturist was 

 perfectly right, as our tropical Leguminosag furnish, in a 



