Show Hawaiian Agriculture BY P A YODER I r T rf I b s I II af ft I de iW 1 I 4 w 3 V VI x I 4 V 7 S T 2 I 3 1 1 4 4 Weeding the rice near Honolulu As is the case with wih the large lae acrs acres of sugar cane which one sees in mak making makIng making ing the trip to the volcano so through throughout out the group of islands the agriculture acul agriculture ture tun is characterized by a one crop system system tem tern Whether it be the principal crop cane or Of the smaller crops rice pine pineapples pineapples pineapples apples sisal bananas banana coffee or any of the other small smal crops the area de devoted devote devoted voted vote to that crop is used year ye after year ear for the same crop Of a rotation of crops we see se practically nothing in inthe inthe inthe the Hawaiian islands This presents an interesting problem in keeping up the fertility of the soil sol The agriculture agriculture agriculture ture Is 15 too young young to predict at this time what the consequences will wi be ho b of the continuation of this one crop system Very heavy with wih commercial fertilizers seems seem at present to suffice to keep the soil in a high state of pro productivity productivity In no other place in the United States has the trade In com corn commercial commercial mercial fertilizer assumed so great di dimensions dimensions in proportion to the area cul cultivated The application of 1000 pounds of high grade fertilizer per acre acree each e year is not unusual unusual This of course is practical only with wih big yields ields of ot very valuable crops and such they have lave If I you ask the sugar planter why he does not put in a leguminous crop crp like field peas on his fields be before b before fore replanting to sugar cane he hei will probably answer the cane cae Is too to valuable valuable able a crop crp to lose this time He gains gins more by b starting his cane ce crop at once and buying Chile Chie saltpeter or sulphate of ammonia to supply the nitrogenous food for the plants Potash and phosphates phosphates phosphates are also extensively applied In some places they hey find the soil sol some somewhat somewhat somewhat what sour from the large amount of decaying vegetation and they have ha e to apply lime to correct this acidity This Thi is especially true of the pineapple re region regon gion glon at on Oahu The pe peculiar gon culiar fact fact discovered at Japanese ex experiment experiment stations that a certain ratio rato must mut exist between en available lime and magnesium salts for best crop results finds Illustration in some localities here and applications of magnesium salts met with wih good results in the crops Natural manures are not extensively produced on the tle Islands as the stock raising or dairying industries have not been much developed What Wat is pro produced produced produced Is mostly taken by the Chinese for rice and garden crops cros The vol volcanic volcanic canic origin of at all al the soil sell soi will wi naturally naturally ally produce a a rich soil son but as yet the tho weathering has ha not progressed far farenough farenough farenough enough to make much of f it i available Wo Vo have In these Islands t excellent example of young land which af affords affords affords fords an equally oung attractive study to the geologist and agricultural student In Inmany Inmany Inmany many places especially on the young youngest youngest youngest est of the Islands Hawaii HawaI the layer of soil soi Is vry ry shallow on oi the lava rock which underlies the soil soi or More recent flows as also the present beds of the craters are almost completely bare bar of any soil sell sl It I seems odd to find a few pioneers among the native plants ven yen venturing venturing turing out upon these lava beds and nd securing a foothold In some corners and crevices where hardly harly a handful of soil could be scraped together The tree fern seems to be about the most venturesome in this respect On this same island the streams though car carrying carrying tying an ah abundance a of water have not eroded very deep canyons nor eroded the gulches very ver far Inland and up the sides of or the volcanic cones jit t thus happens that the mountains Mauna MaunaKea launa MaunaKea Kea and Mauna Loa Lea La are very sym symmetrical symmetrical metrical cones On the less steep slopes slops of the coast regions the th soil sol Is usually deep enough to make good god su sugar suar gar ar cane land Some of the areas area of cne shallower soil hoil are put Into Int crops that t H need no nc cultivation as coffee or sisal where the te water supply Is very limited The very ve flat fat areas near nea some of the bays are a utilized for fO rice culture The Sugar Cane Plantation As previously intimated sugar cane ce ceis canes is I s by far the most Important crop of the islands Many a princely fortune has been le n made in hi this industry and the he t Islands lands I are ar full ful of millionaires as asa a asa a result With the cheap labor the twelve months growing season sason each year and the favorable climate it is isan isan isan an extremely profitable industry The sugar planter plater and the Interests de depending depending depending pending on the sugar business arc are at present the controlling clement element in the islands As 4 many of the readers reer of these thes notes have never seen sugar sug cane growing a few words on the method of planting and the care of the crop may ma manot not be out of place No seed is pro produced produced produced for the propagation of the ordinary ordinary ordinary nary crop Each Joint on the cane stalk has an eye which under fa favorable favorable eye conditions sprouts and pro produces produces produces duces a new plant The cane stalks are therefore cut into pieces having sev several several eral oral joints to each piece and these are re replanted planted by covering them with wih soil soi In the soil 61 bed The plowing should be deep if possible six sixteen sixteen sixteen teen to twenty inches On one planta plantation plantation plantation tion we saw a steam plow outfit It I consisted of two engines one on either side of the field and a gang of plows pulled back and forth cross the field fled by means of a cable alternately lt wound upon a drum first by one engine and then by the other oth r Where Irrigation Is necessary as Is the case with all al the plantations on the Island of Oahu the theland theland he land lad is thrown up in ridges or fur furrows furrows furrows rows running at right angles to the tho slope slop of the land Supply ditches diches to tofi fill fi these furrows are run about every two rods down the slope Longer fur furrows furrows furrows rows than two tw or three rods cannot advantageously be used as the soil soli soi is very porous Water Vater is applied to the growing gowIng crops every week or ten days daysOn daysOn daysOn On most of the plantations of Oahu the water for irrigation is all al pumped from wells wels to the higher levels The Eua plantation almost eighteen miles mUes west of oi Honolulu is probably the larg largest largest est cst and wealthiest plantation on the island We Ve were informed that they have acres and that the pumps have a capacity of gallons dally daily daly by four pumping plants to sup supply supply supply ply this plantation It I requires from eighteen to months for the first crop to majure maure After this crop is harvested a second crop stools out from the old stumps called caled a crop which matures In about a year Sometimes a second crop is har bar harvested vested veste before the ground gund is again plow plowed od ed up and replanted Until the tho crop crp is large large enough to smother out the weeds frequent are necessary Before it matures ready to cut It be becomes becomes becomes comes a dense tangle very ve difficult to get through The cane cane when bar har harvested mr vested rested is from six to eighteen feet long The method of transporting var varies varIes ies les according to the lay of the land and the abundance of water from nearby streams On the plantations on Oahu Oah they have narrow gauge railroad tracks about the plantations and movable movable able lateral tracks to collect colet the cane to the th permanent tracks and over them to the mills mis On a few planta plantations plantations tons on Hawaii Hawai they have suspended trolly cables on an Incline down the slopes slops to the mill mi which is built bui at the lowest lowet part pa of the plantation u The Te I cane In big bundles is hung on a trolley trolley trolley ley which being on the cable is al allowed allow lowed low d to run by gravity down theline the line Une to the mIll mi On most of ot the planta 17 tons on the east side of Hawaii HawaI where e water Is plentiful th thy they y have a system of flumes fumes constructed out Ot of the mill mi At harvest hanest time they need but to turn the water ater into these thee flumes fumes and dump dum p the cane cane into the streams The he current curren t will wi do the rest A system of long lines of or these flumes fumes carried cared by b long lon g and high trestles over gulches and hol hollows hollows hollows lows makes a very characteristic fea feature feature feature ture in the landscape The process of o f extracting the sugar at the mill mi is in inmany Inmany i n many features f similar to that used ir Ir y the beet sugar factories The Juice is i s pressed out nd by boiling boing down in i n vacuum pans pan made to crystallize From these mills is nearly all al the sugar suga r is sent to the mainland at California or elsewhere for refining Rice Culture Considerable rice is produced on ox aD the th e islands almost exclusively by the Chi Chinese Chinese nese This crop requires much water The field is kept ket covered with wih water to t o the depth of several Inches until the th e crop crp If Is il nearly mature when the water wate r is drawn off and the ground allowed allowe alow d to dry off somewhat before harvesting What is 15 very odd In the culture of rice ric e is the large amount of hand labor labo r which is done on it I and the antiquated antiquate d methods used Instead of sowing the th e seed sed where it I Is to grow to maturity it is sown very thick in small smal beds anc an and d t after the plans are eight or ten te n inches high they are set out in s abut about eight inches apart each way with wih three or four plants in i n each hill hi By this method of ot setting out ou t the plants they economize time on the th e larger areas necessary to mature a crop cro p and also Increase greatly grety the yield Careful observations made by the rice ric e specialist at the government experiment t station staton indicate that for the prevailing g conditions with cheap labor continuous ous growing gowing seasons and ad valuable e land it I pays to transplant thus anc an and d he even questions whether it i would no not t alto also alo pay in the rice regions of the main land of the United States The harvest ing is done with sickles and thresh threshing threshIng threshing ing as a rule on floors with wih cattle wa water water Water ter buffaloes or horses hores to tramp It i out ou t In the early erly stages of the rices growth growt h in tile fields felds the Chinese from time to t o time wade through and with wih the finger s weed It i and loosen up the tho soil 01 Birds Bird s principally the English sparrow have hav e become very obnoxious pests and in inthe Inthe i ithe n the ripening fields felds we may frequently y see a Chinaman with wih a shotgun scar scarIng scaring Ing ins them off of by much yelling and occa occasional occasional shooting On some patches they the y had a system of tin cans strung on o n wires so that the workman at any part pa rt of the field could reach up and jerk the th e wire starting the tin cans all al over the th e field feld to making a racket sufficient s to t o scare care off of anything Pine Apple Culture Next In order of importance to suga sugar sugarcane r cane and rice is the pineapple This Thi is crop is raised in small smal patches In nearl nearl y all al parts of the Islands but the main mai n center tenter for it I is In the interior of Oahu Oah u at Wahiawa about mile miles s from Honolulu Here at an elevation n of about 1000 feet some thousands o of f acres of ot fine land Is almost exclusively y devoted to pineapple culture Excel Excellent l lent fruit Is produced here her and the Wa Wahiawa Va hiawa pineapples are eagerly sought In I n both local and distant markets This Thi ThiIs This is Is also a crop crp that requires much hanc ian d labor to prepare the sprouts sprout from oh old d plants plant or Of tops of traIts fruits fris to set out fo for r new areas to keep them well cultivated cultivate d free from weeds and to harvest harves st 1 I Continued on Page 3 l i HAWAIIAN AGRICULTURE TUBE Continued from Page 1 the crop The time for maturing and the number of r tool crops crops from the theold theold theold old stalks Is about the same as In the sugar cane viz about eighteen to months for the first crop and about a year ear each for one ODe or two crops The plants are set pet out in rows rows from three to five feet apart and about one to two feet apart in the rows They receive no Irrigation but have a rainfall of from thirty to sixty inches a year The clean cultivated fields of pineapples in long straight rows over overhills overhills hills hilla and through hollows makes an an at attractive attractive sight Our partiality to the pineapple above all other tropical fruits for eating made these fields doubly at attractive attractive attractive to us The crop is mostly canned and shipped to the mainland markets At the cannery the producer receives about 21 7 a ton for tor the Ule crop crops As M s the yield Is from four to eight tons to an acre three years out of four there are large profits in its culture on onland onland onland land of ot somewhat limited rainfall The Theland Theland Theland land in the vicinity of Wahiawa which a few years ago ag was thought to be al almost almost almost most worthless now since pineapple culture la is proving such a success is selling for from to an acre The labor as In all other large farming industries on these Islands is almost exclusively Chinese and Japanese The village of Wahiawa has sprung up within the last few tew years and contains some very ery nice cottages cottage Among these I wish to mention espe especially especially dally the cottage of Mr H C Brown which they have named in Inthe inthe the tho shade of the Kukul tree and in which the writer can testify they suc sue succeed succeed in making making a stranger feel ve y comfortable Many Salt Lakers rs will re remember remember remember member Mrs Brown as at atone atone atone one time a teacher in the Collegiate In Institute Institute Institute of Salt Lake City Sisal Near the Ewa sugar plantation there is a considerable area of level land of coral formation with the soil soli so go shallow shallow shallow low and the rainfall so scant cant that it if would seem to be practically worthless This has been converted into a sisal plantation and is now MOW yielding a hand handsome handsome some income with but little attention Sisal Is la a fleshy leafed plant which yields a fiber in its leaves very similar to hemp It is planted Ih in rows about eight feet apart and the underbrush land and large weeds kept down Otherwise it receives no attention Leaves are harvested off from time to time until after attora a number of years ears the plant sends up a central shoot which bears sets seis that may be he used for new plant plantings plantings plantings ings The remaining leaves are now cut off and the old plants cut out and anew a anew ane new ne one planted Banana Production A very common tree in the lawns is the banana tree and much of this fruit is thus raised unsystematically on a small scale It |