8 BULLETIN 46, HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION. 
Planting in August, September, or October, to follow the corn or 
other summer harvests, is practicable when the ground contains suffi- 
cient moisture to germinate the seed. However, no intercropping 
should be attempted with fall planting of the pigeon pea. If the 
fall planting is followed by either an excessively dry or wet fall and 
winter, the crop will, as C. G. White has stated, "loiter along" for 
awhile and then start off vigorously at the coming of warm weather. 
Such plantings often produce the strongest legumes. They may be- 
gin to flower as early as May and yield seed abundantly by early 
July, especially in the more protected lowlands where the soil is 
light and well drained. Under such conditions the fruiting season 
may continue for a period of six months, from July to December. 
The following year, both from spring and fall plantings, two dis- 
tinct fruiting seasons, the spring and summer crop and the fall and 
winter crop, will have established themselves. Under unusual con- 
ditions the plants may continue to flower and bear seed throughout 
the year. 
In its adaptation to a wide variety of soils, the pigeon pea is 
equalled by few other crops. A deep, well-drained, medium rich 
loam is conducive to the best development and longest life of this 
crop; however, it thrives in light, loose, sandy soils having scant 
moisture from the gravelly and stony type to heavy clay loams of 
close texture and considerable moisture content, provided there is no 
standing water on the ground. Furthermore, the crop seems to be 
tolerant of salty soil conditions, plants having been noted to thrive 
in soils containing fully 0.0005 gram of sodium chlorid per gram of 
soil. In soils containing twice this amount of salt they were dwarfed 
and failed to seed freely, while a content of 0.005 gram of sodium 
chlorid per gram of soil seemed to be wholly destructive to growth. 
It is thought that many of the extensive barren sandy wastes border- 
ing the seashore might be reclaimed and made of great use by plant- 
ing them to pigeon peas. Seed stocks are being widely distributed 
at present with a view to testing further the adaptability of the crop 
to these conditions. 
It has already been shown that the crop finds a natural habitat in 
the lowlands, but it is by no means confined to low elevations. It 
is stated that in the Himalayas, the pigeon pea plant thrives at an 
altitude of 6,000 feet. In Hawaii thriving plants have been found 
at an elevation of 3,000 feet. 
PLANTING. 
It is advisable to prepare the land thoroughly before planting it 
to pigeon peas. After the crop is established, little or no cultivation 
is required to get good results from it, but the young plants start 
off slowly and make only a spindling growth for the first month or 
