304 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



depths, sometimes 40 or 50 feet. The tree has been quite 

 widely distributed in Australia, India, and the Philippines, but 

 it has nowhere been so keenly appreciated as in Hawaii. For 

 many years difficulties were experienced in grinding the al- 

 garoba pods. All kinds of special mills and drug mills were 

 tested for this purpose without success. The sugary pulp 

 surrounding the seeds sooner or later causes the accumulation 

 of a hard gum upon the machinery and renders the operation 

 of the machine impossible. The Hawaii Experiment Station 

 gave considerable attention to this matter in the hope of find- 

 ing a way by which the seed could be ground and thus make 

 available the chief source of protein in the pods. Finally a 

 very simple solution of the problem was found. If the pods 

 be kiln-dried they can be readily ground by the ordinary alfalfa 

 meal machine. If, on the other hand, a very fine spray of 

 water is allowed to play upon the rollers during the opera- 

 tion of the machine, the algaroba beans can be readily ground 

 without gumming the machinery. In the natural condition the 

 molasses-like pulp is extremely sticky. When slightly moist- 

 ened, however, or partly dried, the material offers little diffi- 

 culty in grinding. 



In Hawaii the algaroba occupies an area of 50,000 acres 

 or more, occurring on all the islands of the Territory. As 

 soon as methods for grinding the beans were devised a large 

 industry sprang up in preparing this feed. The industry now 

 amounts to about $400,000 annually. The two companies 

 which are preparing algaroba feed offer about $10 a ton for 

 the algaroba beans in the pod, picked and delivered by the 

 roadside. This makes a considerable source of revenue to 

 men, women, and children of the poorer classes. The ground 

 algaroba feed gives excellent results in rations for cows, 

 horses, mules, pigs, or chickens. 



Recently some experiments have been carried on in using 

 the ground material as a substitute for coffee. When the 

 algaroba bean (and this term always means the whole pod, 



