6 



To answer this question and also to supply data with regard to 

 Hawaiian-feeding stuffs, concerning which few, if any, analytical data 

 were available, a series of analyses was planned as part of the regular 

 routine work of the station chemical laboratory. The first installment 

 of analyses is reported in this bulletin. 



Unless otherwise stated the samples of the forage plants analyzed 

 were taken when the plant was in the condition in which it is usually 

 cut for fodder. In the case of wild plants the samples were usually 

 taken in the flowering stage. The method of preparation of samples 

 was to chop a weighed portion, usually 500 grams, expose this in a 

 shallow tray until air dried, weigh again, recording the loss on air 

 drying, grind, pass through a millimeter sieve, and store in a tight 

 sample bottle. This treatment insured thorough mixing, and it is 

 believed a fair sample resulted. Both proximate and ash constituents 

 were determined. The methods used throughout were those adopted 

 by the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. a 



For the ash ingredients potash, lime, and phosphoric acid, separate 

 portions were used, that for potash being ignited with sulphuric acid, 

 that for phosphoric acid with magnesium nitrate. 



In presenting the analytical data the materials have been grouped in 

 most cases according to their botanical relationship, the tabular matter 

 for each group being preceded by a description of the samples, data 

 regarding their origin, etc. 



NONSACCHARINE AND SACCHARINE SORGHUMS. 



The nonsaccharine and saccharine sorghums analyzed included sor- 

 ghum, sugar-cane tops, millet, and Kafir corn. In Hawaii sorghum is 

 more usually grown than any other cultivated forage crop. It has the 

 advantage that it grows well on a great variety of soils, and even with 

 a moderate rainfall and little cultivation rattoons freely. Little atten- 

 tion has been paid thus far to the varieties grown, except that for the 

 most part they are those which furnish green foliage rather than a 

 saccharine stalk. 



Of the five samples of sorghum analyzed, only one was a known 

 variety, namely, No. 3 of the table below. This was designated 

 "Madagascar" and was grown on the station grounds from imported 

 seed. Sample No. 1 was also grown on the station grounds, No. 2 at 

 Manoa Valley, No. ± at Waialae, and sample No. 5 at Kapahula, all in 

 the vicinity of Honolulu. 



Considered from the standpoint of the amount of fodder consumed 

 in Honolulu, sugar-cane tops exceed many times all other green 

 fodders combined. Cane tops and barley form the regular ration for 

 stock on or in the vicinity of plantations. The sugar-cane top samples 

 examined were all from Lahaina cane, grown on the station grounds. 

 Sample No. 1 was from cane 10 months old, samples No. 2 and No. 3 



o U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry Bui. 46, revised. 



