INSULAR EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 21 



The investigations outlined in previous reports have been con- 

 tinued, and a number of new ones begun. The work with cotton con- 

 tinues to attract favorable attention, and it would seem that the 

 profitableness of this new agricultural industry has been demon- 

 strated. The results thus far obtained clearly justify the larger 

 plantings which have been made. The returns coming in from the 

 early crop show yields of from 400 to GOO pounds of lint per acre, 

 and also indicate that a practical method of controlling the bollworm 

 has been found- A number of plantings of cotton have been made 

 from sea level to altitudes of 1,600 feet. The results that have been 

 obtained with these plantings indicate that altitude alone does not 

 determine success with cotton in Hawaii, nor has the amount of rain- 

 fall necessary for good crop production been definitely determined. 

 Cotton makes its best and largest yields on lowlands and in places 

 protected from strong winds. Experiments on the control of the 

 Indian cotton bollworm by pruning have proved quite successful. 

 The cotton is pruned back at the close of each picking season and all 

 the rubbish bunied. This destroys the larvae and pupse of the boll- 

 worm in the infested bolls, and the pruning interrupts the crop of 

 bolls as completely as a new planting where the cotton is treated as 

 an annual. Growth from pruned plants is considerably more rapid 

 than that from seed, and the yield of such plants is larger than from 

 seedlings the first year. A peculiar type of Caravonica cotton has 

 been developed in which the lint is unusually harsh and strong. This 

 seems particularly well suited for mixing with woolen goods, and re- 

 ports received at the station on samples of the lint indicate that it 

 will be readily purchased for that purpose. The quotations sub- 

 mitted b}' buyers and cotton graders on last year's crop were 40 cents 

 for Sea Island, 28 cents for Sunflower, and 25 cents for Caravonica. 



The Japanese rices imported by the station have been successfully 

 grown, but their substitution for the imported rices has not been fully 

 satisfactor5\ Some consumers have considered the Japanese rice 

 grown in Hawaii equal in every way to imported Japanese rice, while 

 others claim that it differs in certain indefinable qualities. The yields 

 obtained from the Japanese varieties grown in Hawaii have been 

 satisfactory. The experiments with fertilizing rice have shown 

 definitely that the fertilizer should be applied before the rice is 

 planted, and that as a source of nitrogen, ammonium sulphate or an 

 organic fertilizer is better than nitrate of soda. In a similar manner 

 it has been shown that the fertilization of taro should be the same as 

 for rice, and the thorough drying and aeration of the soil between 

 crops, together with proper fertilizing, was found to prevent taro rot. 

 The results obtained by the station in these experiments with rice and 

 taro have been put in practice by many small planters in their opera- 

 tions. 



