22 



chine for splitting the sedge. Hand splitting is too ex- 

 pensive. There is a good prospect that such a machine- 

 will soon be perfected. When this is accomplished, there 

 will be a profitable use for large areas of brackish and. 

 salt marshes at present unutilized. 



CASTOR BEAN. 



This plant has been known in Hawaii since early days. 

 It grows wild as a perennial, sometimes developing inta 

 trees with trunks two feet in diameter. The plant thrives- 

 from sea level up to 4,000 feet or higher. In plantations, 

 it is spaced about fifteen to twenty feet apart. Each 

 plant may be expected to yield from twenty to twenty-^ 

 five pounds of beans per year. The products from castor 

 beans are castor oil and castor pomace. Castor oil finds a 

 ready market and castor pomace is a valuable fertilizer,, 

 which could be used in many of our soils. The encourage- 

 ment for the production of the castor bean has not been 

 very great on account of the low prices at which it can 

 be produced with cheap labor in India. Nevertheless, 

 on a small scale, it may be depended upon to return 

 reasonable profits. The simplest method by which this^ 

 industry could be encouraged is to established a central 

 oil mill, which would purchase the beans from small pro- 

 ducers at a reasonable price. 



MANILA HEMP. 



There is a widely prevailing opinion. that Manila liemiv^ 

 of good quality can be grown only in the Philippines. 

 Nevertheless, wherever Manila hemp has been plantcid in 

 our Islands it has grown even more vigorously than the- 

 species of edible bananas. Manila hemp being a species of 

 banana, may be rightly expected to require cultural condi- 

 tions similar to those of the banana. Such conditions we- 

 already have fulfilled in many localites in respect to rain- 

 fall, soil fertility and uniformity of temperature. It is con- 

 fidently believed that Manila hemp could be developed in- 

 to a profitable industry in Hawaii. A number of gr.oups of" 

 this plant have been observed on the windward side of 

 the Islands in a very thriving condition, and even on the 

 grounds of the Hawaii Experiment Station, where the 

 rainfall does not exceed thirty inches per year, Manila 

 hemp grows more vigorously than edible bananas. It is- 

 apparent that the development of Manila hemp would 



