HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION. 
As early as 1910, reports from Fred S. Lyman, of Pupakea, Oahu, 
and others stated that the stems of the pigeon pea and the accompany- 
ing seed in pod, when harvested and fed fresh from the plant, were 
proving an excellent feed for work horses, mules, dairy cows, and 
poultry ; and that all kinds of stock browse freely upon the growing 
plants. Of the pigeon pea as a green manuring and cover crop, 
C. G. White, of Haiku, Maui, wrote in 1910 : 
It is the hardiest legume of all I have tried at Haiku. It maintains itself 
for years, and no insects have seriously bothered it so far. It does not start 
well when planted in winter, but November plantings loiter along and grow 
vigorously at the coming of warm weather. Its chief drawback is its size. 
With special care and arrangements, plowing one-half acre a day, I have turned 
it under fairly well when four years old, using a disk plow and four large 
mules. * * * In three months' time the plants had rotted so that it gave no 
trouble in replowing and fitting the land in good shape. * * * The best corn 
I ever grew followed these peas. 
James Munro makes the following statements regarding the use of 
pigeon peas : 
Pigeon peas have been used on this ranch (Molokai) since 1910, first as a 
windbreak and later as a soil renovator in worn-out corn fields. The crop was 
found to be a good soil renovator, but expensive when bringing the land back 
into cultivation on account of the rank growth, which left very heavy stumps 
to be disposed of. The pigeon peas are planted at 800-foot elevations in rows 
4 feet apart in clean cultivation, either in the fall or spring, giving preference 
to the fall because there is more time available then. Rainfall averages about 
32 inches yearly and the fields are favored with the trade rains in March and 
April, during which months there is an average rainfall of 5 to 6 inches. Under 
these conditions pigeon peas make a rank growth, and so long as the soil does 
not get too hard they will last through a dry summer with stocking after the 
grasses have failed. 
The fenced, 60-acre lot used for the soil renovation test was used at the same 
time for fattening steers for market. Not more than 60 head were allowed on 
the lot at one time. These got very fat and the field could have carried more. 
Pigeon peas should not be pastured until the plants have flowered and the pods 
are beginning to set, because it is on the pea pods that the cattle graze. They 
will also eat the leaves when hard up for feed, but in this case they will break 
down and destroy the plant. 
The freckled variety has proved an excellent chicken feed. The chickens were 
turned out in the peas, and the bushes beaten in dry weather to thrash out the 
peas. Two varieties have been grown together here without seeming to cross. 
The great thing about pigeon peas is, like corn, to get it through its early 
stages without its being destroyed by caterpillars. 
Although the Hawaii Experiment Station had advocated the pos- 
sible value of the pigeon pea as a field crop as early as 1907, and 
had been instrumental in getting under Way the field plantings above 
noted, little or no progress was made in Hawaii with it as a field 
crop, so far as can be determined, until the establishment of the 
Haiku demonstration and experiment farm on the island of Maui 
in 1914. Land on that island that failed to produce 25 bushels of 
