NAPIER GRASS, A PASTURE AND FODDER CROP FOR HAWAII 11 
mature head of beef cattle per acre per year can be fattened on his 
Napier-grass pastures. Compared with other pasture plants, it can 
readily be seen that Napier grass offers extremely good possibilities 
wherever it is well adapted (fig. 4). 
EXPERIMENTS ON THE YIELD OF NAPIER GRASS 
In May 1932 an experiment was begun at the university farm to 
determine the comparative yields of four grasses grown under irri- 
gation. Plats of Napier and Merker grasses, Sudan grass (Sorghum 
vulgare var. sudanense), and guinea grass (Panicum maximum) were 
planted. A crop of piegeonpeas and mixed legumes was plowed 
under a few months before planting the grasses, but no manure nor 
commercial fertilizer was applied to this field. 
Stem cuttings were used for planting in case of Napier and Merker 
grasses, root-clump divisions in case of guinea grass, and seed sown 
Figure 5.— Harvesting Merker-grass plats at the University of Hawaii farm, June 1933. 
at the rate of 20 pounds per acre in case of Sudan grass. Two spacings 
were used with each grass. With the Napier and Merker grasses, 
rows were spaced 4 feet and 6 feet apart with plants 2 feet apart in the 
row. The guinea and Sudan grasses are much smaller in growth and 
the rows were spaced 2 and 3 feet apart (fig. 5). 
Each grass was cut at what was considered to be the proper stage for 
feeding as a soiling or green-fodder crop. Sudan grass was cut when 
in early bloom, guinea grass when starting to bloom, and Merker and 
Napier grasses when the plants were about 5 feet in height. At this 
stage the Merker grass was often just starting to bloom and during 
the winter months the Napier grass sometimes showed a few flowering 
heads. Subsequent cuttings were made at as nearly the same stage 
as could be determined by observation. The yields of green forage 
harvested, air-dry forage, and percentage of air-dry forage in the green 
material harvested for the first year of the experiment are given in 
table 1. 
