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 40 FACTS ABOUT CROP TREES

pound. At this rate men, women, and children make from one dollar and twenty-five cents to one dollar and seventy-five cents per day."

Speaking of the value of the beans. Mr. Wilcox said,** "The feeding value of twenty-five dollars which I have placed upon algaroba meal is to be compared with bran or rolled barley at about forty dollars per ton at present prices in Honolulu. At these prices it is worth more than twenty-five dollars per ton, since its analysis shows it to be practically equal except for the fact that the crude fiber is a little more."

The two sets of beans require two sets of blossoms, all of which are rich in honey, which Mr. Leslie Burr estimates at 2¥% pounds per year for a tree with thirty-foot spread. See Gleanings in Bee Culture. January, 1917. Honey by the ton is one of the products of a Hawaiian algaroba pasture.

THE ALGAROBA MEAL INDUSTRY

Owing to the fact that no animal can digest the bean it is estimated that most of the protein value (see table of food analysis, page 302) is lost. Some estimate that about forty per cent, of food value is wasted when the animals eat the beans under the trees. This loss, combined with the desire to have food in the off season, led to attempts to grind the beans. Owing to the fact that the sugar of the pods has the consistency of molasses, it stuck to the parts of the grinding machine and looked like vulcanized rubber. For a long time it interfered with attempts at successful grinding. After years of work a technique ** for grinding was evolved.

16 Letter signed E. V. Wilcox. Special Agent in charge. Agricultural Experiment Station. Honolulu. July 20, 1912

17 The experiment station recommends a fine spray of water on the rolls, which prevents the meal from sticking and does not wet the meal enough to cause it to spoil.

Mr. Ben Williams of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company on the Island of Maui worked out a different technique. He heats the beans

to a temperature of 600° to 800° F, by superheated steam in a rotary kiln. This turns the molasses to a white powdered sugar; the beans are then