The San Francisco call. [volume], August 14, 1912, Page 8, Image 8

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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8
SISAL BANANAS
RUBBER CASSAVA
PINEAPPLES COFFEE
Special Agent In Charge Hawaii
PINEAPPLES
Pineapples are now second in im
portance only to sugar in the terri
tory. The development of this indus
try has undergone rapid strides in the
last few years and more than 5,000
acres are now planted to pineapples.
This area will be about doubled within
the next year. The pineapple indus
try first took root in a commercial way
on the Wahiawa plains, but is now also
an important industry on the windward
side of Oahu on Kauai and Maui. A
large planting will also be made dur
ing the coming year in the Kohala dis
trict of the island of Hawaii. Nearly
all of the pineapples grown in Hawaii
are canned. The shipping of fresh
pineapples to the mainland has never
been an important feature of the in
dustry and does not promise to ac
quire great importance in the near fu
ture. The basis of the remarkable
success which has been achieved in the
growth of pineapples in the territory
rests upon the satisfactory agricultu
ral conditions and the selection of a
variety well adapted to the purposes
in hand and to the adoption of sani
tary methods in canning and business
sagacity in distributing the fruit. The
present output is about 1,000,000 cases
of canned fruit per year and when the
land which is now being prepared for
pineapples is in full bearing the output
will probably reach near, if not quite,
the 2,500,000 mark. Hawaiian canned
pineapples occupy the canned pineapple
market of the mainland almost exclu-
Blvely. The product is not only well
prepared, but is remarkably uniform,
due to the fact that one variety is used
and the further fact that canning meth
ods are essentially the same in all com
panies engaged in the business. All
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E.V. WILCOX
I Agricultural Experiment Station
pineapples are picked when fully ripe,
with complete sugar content, which
reaches from 10 to 14 per cent. The
flavor of canned pineapples is there
fore better than that of fresh pineap
ples picked and shipped green and al
lowed to ripen off the plant.
The difficulties which have been met
in the pineapple industry, aside from
certain soil difficulties, are not of a
serious nature. Insects and fungus
diseases have not made much inroad
jpon the industry of canning pine
apples. The "soft rot", offers some
trouble in shipping fresh fruit to the
mainland. The two soil difficulties are
lack of proper drainage on some of the
heavier soils and the presence of man
ganese on a portion of the Wahiawa
plains. The drainage troubles are be
ing rapidly overcome by deeper plow
ing, the use of surface ditches to carry
off the excess of water and the use of
dynamite on some of the heavier soils.
Where manganese is present to an ex
tent of more than 1 per cent an un
surmountable difficulty has been' ex
perienced in growing first class fruit.
Some benefit has been obtained from
planting stumps, rather than suckers,
and from the application of phosphates.
Since the main effect of high percent
ages of manganese is to disturb the
balance between lime and magnesia,
causing the plants to absorb too much
lime, we have now instituted experi
ments to determine whether the bal
ance can not be restored by the appli
cation of a cheap form of magnesia.
The number of plants set per acre
ranges from 6,000 to 12,000, according
to the different systems of planting.
The larger number on fertile soils
seem to assure a crop of fruit of more
uniform size, giving less waste in can
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1912.
AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES
IN HAWAII
1 ning. The crop per acre ranges from
8 to 20 tons and the total cost of pro
duction from $10 to $15 per ton. The
price paid by canneries in different
parts of the territory ranges from $13
to $22.50 per ton. The length of time
required for the development of pine
apples is such that three crops may be
produced in about five years. The ap
parent limit of market demand for
canned pineapples has not yet been
reached. The industry offers profits
not only to large companies, but also
to homesteaders, provided they are
located within easy reach of a cannery.
« • «
CASSAVA
The cultivation of cassava in Hawaii
has heretofore been confined largely to
one plantation of Oahu and one on
Kauai. On Kauai cassava was raised
largely as a stock feed, while the plan
tation on Oahu has been producing
starch for sale locally and on the main
land. Recently a mainland company
has proposed to take up several thou
sand acres of land for the production
of cassava starch on a larger scale. The
company in question will require 8,000
tons of starch per year. The ordinary
yield of cassava is about six tons of
roots, giving about 2,400 pounds starch
per acre. The plant has no serious
enemies in the territory and requires
little attention during its growth. The
profits to be obtained from the growth
of cassava are such as to Induce many
small planters to engage in the indus
try as soon as this assured market of
8.000 tons of starch is establlhed.
• • •
RUBBER
The companies organized for growing
rubber in Hawaii began operations in a
serious way In 1905. The plantings are
chiefly of Ceara rubber, since this has .
given the greatest promise so far.
There are smaller plantings of Hevea
and Castiloa, as well as a number
of other species of rifbber. There
are at present about 1,500 acres
of Ceara rubber located on Maui and
Hawaii. Preliminary experiments made
on young trees indicated that this spe
cies of rubber is not only thriving well,
but that it promises to yield a profit
able flow of latex. It was estimated in
preliminary experiments that the cost
of tapping, collection and preparing the
rubber would amount to about 50 cents
a pound. The cost has been reduced
by the employment of more effective
methods of tapping to about- 85 cents
a pound. At present the rubber from I
the two companies which are now tap
ping commercially is about 600 pounds
of dried rubber per month, which sells
readily at a price about 5 cents below
the highest market price of the best
Ceylon Hevea rubber. The actual tests
thus far made do not indicate even this
difference in value between the two
grades of rubber, but heretofore a
slight prejudice has been held against
Ceara rubber on account of the fact
that It has been collected from wild
trees in South America by crude meth
ods. It has been found in our rubber
plantations that an ordinary laborer
lean tap and collect the rubber of the
previous day's flow from 1,000 trees a
day. As high as five pounds of dried
rubber a day has been collected by a
single laborer. The trees are still too
young to give a maximum flow, but the
tapping of young trees seems actually
to have a beneficial effect uponv the
subsequent field. The area now planted
to rubber could be somewhat extended
on Maul and in the Puna district of
Hawaii. Rubber does.not lend itself
so well to cultivation on a small scale.
Rather large areas are evidently re
quired to secure the best profit. It
would appear safe to predict, however,
that good profits will be realized from
the Ceara rubber industry of Hawaii.
•• # -
SISAL
The sisal industry of Hawaii at pres
ent is practically altogether in the
hands of the Hawaiian Fiber company,
'. with plantings at Sisal and Hobinson,
.on the island of Oahu. The area now
• planted is about 2,000 acres, but con
siderably larger plantings are being
prepared for. Sisal grows under ex
ceedingly low rainfall and in soils
where practically no other cultivated
crop could be raised. The sisal fiber
produced in Hawaii is better than that
grown in Yucatan and equals the high
est quality known in the world. The
yield per acre is about 500 pounds of
fiber per year. The plants furnish the
first cutting of leaves at the age of
three years and the bearing life of the
plant is about five years. No cultiva
tion is required beyond plowing the soil
before planting, unless it is desired to
raise Intercrops for the first year or
two, in which case the soil will have
to be cultivated for the benefit of these
intercrops. In addition to* the fiber
there is a waste pulp to be considered.
This, according to an examination made
by the United States experiment sta
tion, is worth about $6 per ton as a
fertilizer. The profit per acre on sisal
is smaller than with the pineapples, and
the crop should therefore be planted in
large areas to obtain the best results.
• * *
COFFEE
The area now devoted to coffee in
Hawaii is about 4,500 acres and the in
crease is small from year to year. Ha
waiian coffee has never been placed on
the market in a way to secure for it
the recognition which it deserves. The
crop amounts to about 25,000 bags per
year and the yield per acre is about 650
pounds. According to the experience
of our coffee planters, the cost of pro
duction ranges from 7 to 10 cents per
pound. At times the selling price has
been only 12 cents. During the last
year, however, it reached 18 cents, and
the coffee growers have been greatly
encouraged thereby. Hawaiian coffee,
however, is practically all sold in San
Francisco, to be blended with cheaper
coffee of ranker flavor grown in Central
and South America. It is never sold by
itself as Hawaiian coffee. If an asso
ciation were formed among the coffee
growers to market their coffee under
- — - '< Z — — •**♦*■
suitable brand names without admix
ture with other coffees, it is quite cer
tain that a larger profit would be ob
tained and that many coffee consumers
would be gratified at the opportunity
of obtaining coffee on the mainland of
the delicious flavor shown by our coffee
grown in Kona and Hamakua.
* * *
RANCHING
The ranching business has always
been an industry of considerable im
portance in Hawaii. Of a total of
4,000,000 acres of land in the territory,
something like 1,600,000 acres are de
voted to ranches, some of which are
found on all of the islands. Two of
the smaller islands are devoted ex
clusively to ranching. The beef pro
duction of Hawaii has until recently
been sufficient for home consumption.
Not enough pork and mutton have
been produced and some of this has
been imported from the mainland'
Within the last ten years great im
provement has taken place in the
grade of stock raised on our ranches.
Some of the finest sires of Hereford,
Devon and shorthorn cattle have been
imported to improve the production of
beef and similar *. changes have taken
place in sheep and horse raising. One
of our ranches produces a fine grade
of Devon cattle and Tunis sheep,
another has adopted Hereford cattle
and Shropshire sheep, another prefers
Merino sheep and shorthorn cattle.
These preferences partly depend upon
the individuals concerned and partly
upon the adaptation of the different
breeds to the climatic and other con
ditions of the different Islands. A
great Increase in the area devoted to
cultivated crops on the ranches has
come about in the last Tew years, re
sulting in the increase In the area de
voted to corn and pastures sodded with
grasses Imported from various parts
of the world. Alfalfa and other le
gumes are also raised as stock feed
and on one ranch cotton is grown pri
marily for furnishing seed for feeding
steers. The difficulties attending the
transportation of beef cattle from the
other islands to Honolulu are now be
ing solved by the establishment of
slaughter houses on each ranch. The
beef is then held In cold storage and
shipped in cold storage on the inter-
Island boats with more satisfactory
results to the ranchman and meat
consumer.
« • •
BANANAS
Like other tropical and subtropical
climates, Hawaii is capable of produc
ing an abundance of bananas of all
varieties. There are more than 30 va
rieties in the territory, but the chief
commercial varieties are Chinese and
Bluefieids. Most of the bananas shipped
from Hawaii are of the Chinese variety,
which is well liked in San Francisco
and Oakland, where nearly all Ha
waiian bananas are consumed. The
put averages about 15,000 bunches per
month, but could be easily increased to
100,000 bunches per month if better fa
cilities could be offered for transporta
tion, such as could be obtained only
with a system of special fruit boats be
tween Hawaii and the mainland. Such
a business arrangement has been seri
ously considered by a number of fruit
companies, without thus far any defi
nite culmination of their plans. Not
withstanding the fact that flattering
»rofits can be obtained from raisinf
.ananas in Hawaii, the present statu*
if the industry is somewhat unsatlsfac
tory on account of unsuitable means of
ransportation, and particularly on ac
count of the posibllity that the horti
cultural commission of California may
exclude «our77bananas i from»fear- of In
festationof|the-fruit T fly., ' - J -\'•> A-S ' ;