THE PIGEON PEA: ITS CULTURE AND UTILIZA- 
TION IN HAWAII. 1 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction ; 3 
Botany and agricultural history 5 
Climatic and soil adaptations 7 
Planting 8 
The hay crop 9 
Harvesting 9 
Curing 10 
The seed crop 13 
Harvesting 13 
Thrashing 14 
Page. 
Pigeon pea as feed 15 
Feeding value 15 
Milling and mixing feeds 16 
Suggested feeding rations 18 
Plowing under of pigeon peas 20 
Pigeon peas as a cover and green- 
manuring crop, and for rotation— 20 
Pests and diseases 22 
INTRODUCTION. 
The pigeon pea, also commonly called the Porto Rican pea, was 
introduced into Hawaii from Porto Rico. It has been grown in a 
limited way in Hawaii for at least 20 years and is now commonly 
cultivated as a back-yard shrub. It does not appear, however, to 
have been thought of as a field crop until comparatively recently. 
Between the years 1906 and 1908, the Hawaii Experiment Station 
grew several varieties or types of pigeon peas as an experiment ; and 
in a comparative test with leguminous field crops that had been given 
extensive trials the pigeon pea was found to attract especial atten- 
tion on account of its vigorous growth and heavy seeding qualities. 
In the experiment just referred to, three test rows, each 100 feet long, 
were spaced 10 feet apart. The middle row was planted to the 
variety known at the station as No. 218, which yielded 102 pounds 
of prime seed within eight months from the time of planting. This 
was at the rate of 1.02 pounds per running foot of row ; and if cal- 
culated to acre yields, the product would amount to nearly 2 J tons 
of shelled seed per acre. The plant, being a perennial, yielded two 
subsequent crops which were harvested within the succeeding 12 
months, the combined yield of seed approximating that of the initial 
crop. The seed of this variety (No. 218) was well distributed and 
undoubtedly is now to be found growing in widely scattered sec- 
tions of the islands. 
x See also Hawaii Sta, Bui. 23 (1911), pp. 21-23. 
3 
