898 KKPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPKRIMKNT STATIONS. 



An analysis was made of the s(»il on wliicli those tomatoes were 

 jjjTown. It contained potash, o.itS per cent; lime. 1 ])<'r cent; niagne- 

 siuin. 4.r>;i per cent; phosphoric acid, <>. Ta per cent, an<l nitrogen, 0.38 

 percent. Jt will thus he seen that this soil is exceptionally rich. The 

 only fertilizers re(|uired were lime to halaiicc the man"nesium and a 

 general fertilizer to replace the elements removed. The hi<;h per- 

 centage ot" magnesium in this soil is umisual, althougli it l)ear.s the 

 relation to lime wITk li many of the Hawaiian soils do. The toma- 

 toes on this i)lat grew too raidvly to j^roduce the best results. Many 

 of the varieties showed a tendeuc}' to keep on i)roducing vine indefi- 

 nitely without flowering or setting fruit. This exi)(M-iment was not 

 carried through to a conclusion Ix'cause Mr. T. F. Sedgwick, agri- 

 culturist of the station, resigned before the completion of the season's 

 work and no appointment has as yet been made to fill his place. 

 Nevertheless, man3' facts in regard to the cultivation of this crop have 

 })een determined, and the results will be published some time during 

 the next fiscal Acar. 



FORAGE PLANTS. 



The dairying and grazing industry is second in importance to sugar 

 in Hawaii. Upward of :^o,0(i(» head of cattle are raised on the TO or 

 more ranches which comprise fully four-fifths of the total area of the 

 islands. The number of dairy cattle has not been determined, but 

 there are between '25 and 30 dairies in the vicinity of Honolulu, 

 and a large number of the stock ranches have dairies for the pro- 

 duction of cream or butter for supplying the local trade on this and 

 other islands. The forage problem is, as may be readily seen, one of 

 the most important lines of investigation. Some work has been done 

 during the past year in the way of preliminary survey of the field. 

 A number of ranches have been visited on Oahu, Kauai, ]SIolokai, 

 Maui, and Hawaii. The special agent in charge of this station was 

 made an honorary member of the Hawaiian Live Stock Association 

 at its annual meeting in Honolulu, November, 1902. It is the aim of 

 the station to undertake, as soon as practicable, experiments along the 

 line of animal industry. The original land divisions throughout the 

 Territory of Hawaii extended in narrow wedges from the mountain to 

 the sea. In the early days, before the settlement of these islands by 

 white men, the land l)elonged to the king and was by him parceled 

 out to the chiefs. The people ownied no land. The idea was to give 

 to ever3' chief a patch of land which should contain mountain land for 

 supplj^ing tim})er and fil)er plants, valley land for taro and food plants, 

 and a strip of sea beach for the fisheries. These original land divisions 

 have been perpetuated so that practically all of the ranches and estates, 

 at least the original ones, are in the form of long narrow strips or 

 wedges, extending from a broad fringe along the seacoast, in a nar- 



