INTRODUCED PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 279 



are carried, a few at a time, on each end of a carrying stick over the shoulder, 

 and stacked near the thrashing floor and milL 



The grain are tramped out in the most primitive fashion by horses on a 

 smooth, hard floor. It is further dried on the floor and is then stored in sacks. 



The removing of the hull or husk is a laborious task, occupying hours of 

 time and all the machinery that the ingenuity of the Chinese race has been 

 able to bring to bear on the problem. The process, to be appreciated, is one 

 that must be seen in its primitive crudeness at the mills themselves, where the 

 Chinese miller, cheerfully explaining the operation in answer to every cpies- 

 tion, blandly replies. "Oh, Chinaman, him long time do alle same, me no 

 sabbie." However, it should be remarked that a few of the more progressive 

 rice growers are making use of some of the modern American machinery, and 

 it is cpiite probable that before many years the change in methods of growing 

 and milling will be complete. 



Coffee. 



Coft'ee growing is essentially a tropical industry, and the coft'ee '' plant 

 has found a favorable home in the higher districts in the Hawaiian Islands. 

 The industry, for various industrial reasons, has not prospered of late as it 

 should. The plants were first introduced into the islands in 1823 liy Mr. 

 Matain, who established a small plantation ne;ii' Honolulu. Cofl:ee was again 

 introduced from Rio de Janeiro, in 1825, by Mr. John Wilkinson, a practical 

 gardener, who came to the islands from England in the ship Blonde at the 

 request of Governor Boki. He settled in Manoa Valley, where he made a 

 beginning in both the sugar and coffee industries. Plants from there were 

 set out in Kalihi, Pauoa and Niu valleys. A year or two after (1827-28) 

 plants were introduced from Manila and were also set out in Manoa Valley. 

 From this start coffee plants soon .spread to other localities throughout the 

 group, and there are trees in existence over sixty years old that are still in a 

 thrifty condition. 



The i)lant without (juestion is a horticultural success m the islands, attain- 

 ing an early maturity and bearing heavy crops. The berries are frequently so 

 crowded on the stem that there is scarcely room for one more. The coft'ee of 

 the islands has a marked flavor, and pui-e "Kona"" is said to be superior in 

 every way to the i)est ^Mocha or Old < iovei-iiment Java. 



The coft'ee ]>lant was first cultivated by the Arabs, who transferred it 

 from its native soil in eastern Africa to Arabia, about the 16th century. From 

 Arabia it was carried to Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies, a hun- 

 dred years later. From this beginning many cultural varieties have been de- 

 veloped that are now grown in the coft'ee zone tiiroughout the world. 



In a wild state coffee is a slender tree and grows fifteen to twenty feet in 

 height, but in cultivation, foi' convenience in picking the fruit, it is not allowed 

 to grow over ten or twelve feet tall, and the tree is made to assume a p.xramidiil 



• Coffea Arahira ;iiid C. I.ilii- 



