August i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



353 



of Oahu, which has nearly 60,000, and it is on this island 

 that the city of Honolulu is situated. The native population 

 to-day is small, being less than one third of the total, the 

 predominant races being the Chinese and the Japanese. 

 Probably no country in the world offers a greater variety of 

 beautiful scenery than does this midocean territory of ours, 

 and not only is the scenery marvelous and the arable land 

 rich and productive, but the climate is uniformly the finest 

 on earth. The very hottest day that the islands can fur- 

 nish will not show a temperature of over 90° F. and it never 

 gets colder than 55°. On the mountain tops they have cool 

 nights, occasional frosts, and sometimes a little snow, but 

 anywhere near the sea level there is beautiful May weatlier 

 the year round. It is certainly a fisherman's, huntsman's, 

 bicyclist's, automobilist's, or general tourist's paradise, and 

 the .\merican people are rapidly waking uj) to the fact. 



Sugarcane, of course, is the main crop in the Hawaiian 

 islands. I have forgotten exactly the number of acres but 

 think it is about 200,000, most of which are tilled by great 

 corporations under their own plantation systems. There are, 

 however, many small planters whose cane finds a rcadj- 

 market at the sugar mills. A great variety 

 of tropical fruits such as pineapples, bana- 

 nas, alligator pears, oranges, etc., are also 

 grown and a good deal of coffee is raised 

 while the Chinese planter is quite a feat- 

 ure as a rice producer. 



It is claimed that there are at the present 

 time something like 400,000 acres of ara- 

 ble land on the islands, most of it belonging 

 to the government. This may be easily 

 acquired by those who contemplate any 

 sort of planting proposition. Much of this 

 land lies in sheltered valleys, and at the 

 present time it is heavily wooded. The 

 soil being volcanic, except on the coast 

 plains which are of coral origin, the drain- 

 age is good and the land fertile. For cer- 

 tain growths, however, fertilizers are need- 

 ed, and to those who contemplate taking 

 up land in the territory of Hawaii it is 

 strongly urged that they communicate with 

 the special agent in charge of the Hawaiian 

 Experiment Station at Honolulu, who is a 

 gentleman of much experience and who is 

 in a position to be very helpful. Exactly 

 what it would cost one to purchase land it 

 is difficult to state. Good sugar land 

 brings from $25 to $60 an acre, that is, 

 when purchased from private individuals, 

 but bought from the government it would 

 cost from $10 to $15. These holdings are 

 all classified, and the commissioner at 

 Honolulu can give any inquirer full infor- 

 mation regarding what is open, conditions 

 for the homestead lease system, right of 

 purchase, leases, cash freeholds, and so on. 



I have dwelt at some length upon this 

 for the reason that now that rubber culture 

 has made a beginning in the Sandwich 

 islands, and particularly as these islands 

 are now making real progress, many faces 



will turn towards this Pacific possession of ours, and much 

 agricultural development will result. It is to be hoped that 

 a large part of this, or at least a fair proportion of it, will be 

 along the line of rubber cultivation. Indeed, it wouldn't 

 hurt the writer's feelings a bit if the thousands of acres 

 devoted to the luxury, sugar, were turned within the next 

 five years into the production of the necessity — rubber. 



To speak a little further about conditions for the man who 

 wishes to plant rubber or anything else ; It will be a satis- 

 faction to many to know that there are no snakes or poi- 

 sonous reptiles of any kind in all the islands. There are no 

 such pestilences as are to be found in other tropical coun- 

 tries, and there isn't a wild beast anywhere there ; nor have 

 they yet discovered malaria. Of course there are certain 

 drawbacks. While there are apparent!}' no insects poisonous 

 to man, there are many agricultural pests. For example, 

 the fruit industry suffers from scale and mealy bugs and 

 sugar planters are obliged to fight the borer and all his kin. 

 Then, too, there are cut worms, plant lice, Japanese rose bee- 

 tles, and lots of others of the same sort. Whether there is 

 auvthing that will he injurious t" rubber no one knows yet, 



MANIHOT QLAZIOVII," NAHIKU PLANTATION. 122 INCH DIAM.) 



