THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



123 



Experiment has proved that it can be successfully produced in almos-t 

 any part of the Islands, and in six years fifty plantations took the place 

 of the wild forest. 



Government lands are being opened up as fast as possible, and en- 

 couragement is given to investors. 



To start a coffee plantation the following suggestions are given: 

 Have a good nursery, that is, if you contemplate having a coffee planta- 

 tion of 75 acres, you will need one acre upon which to start the plants. 

 Some planters obtain the plants for their nursery by taking wild stumps, 

 but the best method is to plant the seed and from that grow your own 

 plants, which, when the proper size, are transplanted to the field. "The 

 next best plan is to use nursery stumps. These are nursery trees that 

 have grown too large to safely transplant. By cutting them down and 

 training the roots they can be safely transplanted to the fields, where 



VALLEV SCKNF, HAWAII. 



they will grow into good healthy trees. Stumps soon after planting 

 send up several shoots; these, with the exception of the strongest one, 

 are taken off. This latter shoot is to grow and make the coffee tree." 



The transplanting must be carefully done, the ground kept free 

 from weeds and the trees, after the first year judiciously pruned. The 

 third year the trees begin to bear and continue until the fifth year. The 

 third year the trees are topped, from four and a half to seven feet from 

 the ground for the convenience of the pickers. 



The estimated cost of establishing and maintaining a coffee planta- 

 tion of 75 acres from the first to the seventh year is as follows: The 

 first year for land; 100 acres, $l,COO, houses, buildings, water tanks, 

 etc. , $950; clearing land, fencing it ard buying one thousand one-year-old 

 trees, $2,225; for labor, tools, etc., $2,780, making a total of $6,955 for 



