318 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



10 inches and a width of 3 to 4 inches. The species appears 

 to be more resistant than the common spiny form of prickly 

 pear. In a comparative test of Marin cactus, ordinary spiny 

 prickly pear, and various varieties of Burbank spineless cac- 

 tus on the Island of Kahoolawe, the Marin cactus was the 

 only one which successfully established itself. Moreover, the 

 Marin cactus, under ordinary conditions, grows 3 or 4 times 

 as fast as the common forms of spineless cactus. 



Honohono is the Hawaiian name for Commelina nudiflora, 

 a succulent plant closely related to the common Tradescantia 

 or wandering- jew. It grows as a weed in practically all of the 

 rainy districts of the Territory. In fact, on some of the sugar 

 plantations it has been found impossible to control or eradi- 

 cate it by any other method than the use of a spray of ar- 

 senite of soda. Honohono has been found to be an extremely 

 valuable feed for dairy cows. For this purpose it is perhaps 

 most extensively utilized in the region about Glenwood on the 

 Island of Hawaii. There are several thousand acres covered 

 with honohono in that region. It has been found that the 

 plant rattoons very promptly after cutting and that the yield 

 is readily maintained, particularly if a light dressing of manure 

 is applied immediately after cutting. In some experiments 

 recently conducted in that section, it was found that 12 crops 

 per year could be obtained, totaling a yield of 200 tons of green 

 material per acre. Judged by its chemical composition, hono- 

 hono is not particularly nutritious since it contains about 90 

 per cent, of water. It is an extremely valuable forage plant, 

 however, in the section where it is used chiefly as a dairy feed, 

 for the reason that most grasses, except perhaps Para grass, 

 do not thrive well in the heavy rainfall of that district. The 

 average rainfall of the district in question is about 250 inches 

 per year. C. benghalensis is much used for the same purposes 

 in Ceylon. 



Rainy districts in the Tropics are noted for the immense 

 and graceful tree ferns which develop under such conditions. 



