96 KEPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPEKIMENT STATIONS. 



HAWAII. 

 Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station, Honolulu. 



Under the supervision of A. C. True. Director, OfBce of Experiment Stations, 

 United States Department of Agriculture. 



JARED G. Smith, B. S., M. A.. Hpcc'ml Agent in Charge. 



The AYork of the Hawaii Station has been continued along the 

 general lines of previous years, with especial attention to the intro- 

 duction of promising industries. An experimental planting of sev- 

 eral hundred varieties of grapes has been made at Makawao, on the 

 island of Maui. In view of the continually increasing Portuguese 

 population it is believed that grape growing and wine making may 

 become profitable home industries. 



The experimental w^ork with tobacco which has been in progress 

 for three years at Hamakua was attended with such marked success 

 that arrangements have been made for growing the crop on a com- 

 mercial scale. Drying and curing sheds have been erected and at- 

 tempts will be made to prepare the crop for market. Considerable 

 quantities of leaf tobacco were produced, cured, and manufactured 

 during the year under the direction of the special agent in charge. 

 A crop of Sumatra tobacco gave fully 20 per cent of leaves of excel- 

 lent texture, valued by an expert tobacconist as worth from $2 to 

 $4.50 per pound for cigar wrappers, and the remainder of the crop 

 was nearly all adapted to use as filler. The tobaccos of the Cuban 

 type were also of excellent quality, and when the yield per acre and 

 the proportion of high-grade tobacco are considered, the jDossibilities 

 of profit in this new industry seem manifest. 



The greatly increased demand for rubber and the consequent in- 

 crease in price have led the station to experiment with various kinds 

 of rubber-producing plants with a view to ascertaining their relative 

 worth under Hawaiian conditions. A considerable planting has been 

 made on the slopes of the upper part of the station grounds, and the 

 special agent has supervision of an experiment on the island of Maui 

 in the cultivation of rubber and the fertilizer requirements of the 

 trees. 



The special agent has also devoted nnich of his time to coffee prob- 

 lems and is assisthig in experiments relating to cultivation, topping, 

 shading, curing, and marketing, as well as to diseases and insect pests. 

 Efforts are being made to create a s^jecial market for the Hawaiian 

 coffees based on the superior quality of the product. 



With a view to rehabilitating the rice industry of the island, in- 

 vestigations pertaining to rice cultivation have been begun in the 

 hope of offsetting the drawbacks of primitive Chinese methods and 

 high land rent by the use of iuiproved machinery, fertilizers, the 



