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114 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



May 



LETTER FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 



Honolcxu House, Oct. 25, 1848. 



D. D. T. Mookb, Esq. — Dear Sir : I have reg- 

 u'ar'v received the numbers of your paper since you j 

 were* kind enough to put my name on your list, j 

 more than a year since. Be assured, though the j 

 climate and soil of the Sandwich Islands is so differ- j 

 ent from your latitude, as to render inapplicable j 

 many of the valuable suggestions it contains, I find j 

 much in it that, by analogy, can be made useful to | 

 the horticulturist and agriculturist of this region. j 

 As yet, I have not, of course, bcei; enabled to ex- i 

 periment in any of the departments of cultivating i 

 the soil, but 1 hope within a few years to demon- 

 strate that a hotter climate or a superior soil does not j 

 exist than can be found on the Hawaiian group for j 

 the tillers of the earth. 



As yet but little, comparatively nothing, has been i 

 done to deve'lope the resources of these Islands. Most I 

 persons who have become residents here are either 

 merchants, seeking their fortunes in commercial ope- 

 rations — missionaries, c.mfined by their obligations 

 to the Board, to other than agricultural pursuits — 

 discharged sailors, who are ignorant and inefficient, 

 except upon the ocean — and now and then an indi- 

 vidual of extravagant habits and crude notions of the 

 means necessary to secure efficient labor and render 

 it productive. The latter class have generally been 

 the foreign agriculturists, and their unsuccessful 

 efforts have tended much to discourage others, fitted 

 by their education and habits to make the soil pro- 

 ductive. The native population, just emerging from 

 an uncivilized and degraded state, it cannot be 

 expected would, as yet, be able to comprehend or 

 execute the plans of an intelligent farmer. Such 

 being the facts, it is not surprising that the rich re- 

 sources of our soil and climate are as yet undevel- 

 oped. It is to bo !>>;)ed that the recent discovery of 

 mineral wealth in California will attract, a large, 

 intelligent and efficient population from the United 

 States and the Eastern Continent, and that the mar- 

 ket that will be thereby afforded for the natural pro- 

 ducts of this tropical climate, will induce men of 

 capital, experience and proper taste, to emigrate here 

 to supply their wants. T am clearly of the opinion 

 that more money is to be made and more happiness 

 secured by supplying the wants of the gold-hunters, 

 than can, or ever will be realized by them, should their 

 golden dreams all be realized. And I hope and trust 

 the day is not far distant when, as a consequence of 

 the present mania for the gold-dust of California, these 

 Islands shall be rendered the garden of the Pacific. 



I am satisfied from the expensive and indifferent 

 experiments that have already been made, that coffee 

 of the best quality, equal to Mocha : sugar unsur- 

 passed in the world ; oranges, and all of the tropical 

 fruits, may be abundantly produced, and at a cost that 

 will compete with the Mexican and South American 

 provinces. Specimens of most of these I have seen, 

 and others of more experience assure me there can be 

 no question but they all may be produced at the mar- 

 ket price, with profit. But it can not be done with- 

 out intelligent, industrious and prudent men to man- 

 age and direct the labor of the native population. — 

 Could we be blessed with one hundred men, of the 

 experience and ability of the farmers of New York, 

 who would seek their fortunes in agricultural and 

 horticultural pursuits upon these Islands, the day 

 would be near at hand when they would be the West 



Indies to that portion of the United States west of 

 the Rocky mountains. 



As I can say but little concerning the present state 

 of agriculture here, t make these general remarks 

 hoping they may direct attention to the general facts 

 tin v contain. 



The simple wants of the natives, which are so 

 easily supplied, are not calculated to stimulate them 

 to continued and assiduous exertion ; but the exam- 

 ple of the few foreigners who have located in their 

 midst already has elevated their tastes and increased 

 feheir desire for the comforts and luxuries of civilized 

 society : and there are many striking examples of 

 thrift and business habits, which warrant the belief 

 that the future progress of this nation is not to be 

 less rapid in the improvement of its business habits, 

 than it has been in intellectual and moral culture. 

 All that is needed now to make the natives emulous in 

 the cultivation of the soil, is the example of foreign- 

 ers who are ready and willing to secure their com- 

 forts and pleasures by the sweat of the brow. 



T am satisfied that many of the fruits and products 

 of your climate may be successfully cultivated here. 

 Pe tches have already been grown, but as they were 

 seedlings, and proved not to be of the best qualities, I 

 have heard it repeatedly said they were not worth 

 cultivation. You see, therefore, how important it is 

 that the simplest truths in horticultural science should 

 be understood. Patience and successive attempts to 

 grow peaches from stones (as yet the only practicable 

 method here,) I have no doubt would finally result in 

 producing desirable varieties, which might then be 

 propagated by scions and buds. But as the first 

 attempt was not satisfactory, little attention is paid 

 to the subject, and we are without a supply of that 

 delicious fruit. So it has been with many other 

 unsuccessful efforts in horticulture — a single unsuc- 

 cessful experiment has discouraged a second ; and as 

 we are generally without the Genesee Farmer, or a 

 similar paper to enlighten the community, as I have 

 before suggested, we are greatly in want of men to 

 give a practical illustration of even the commonly 

 acknowledged truths that make up the science of 

 agriculture. 



With very little cultivation, abundant supplies of 

 sweet and Irish potatoes, beans, squashes, tomatoes, 

 and all the other common culinary vegetables, are 

 produced : and was the soil simply sufficiently dis- 

 turbed, without any of the aids of manure, lime, and 

 the many other auxiliaries that are used in America, 

 I have no doubt the quantity would be doubled. The 

 man who is now planting my garden was astonished 

 that I required him to move or stir the soil beyond 

 the narrow limit of a contracted basin, before I per- 

 mitted him to plant corn to supply my table — so little 

 is known and practiced of the essential requisites of 

 cultivation. A sub-soil plow or the double spading 

 of a garden, would be considered entirely a waste. 

 The portion of the earth that has been cultivated at 

 all, has generally as yet been only disturbed by a 

 Carolina hoe, or an "Oo," as it is called by the 

 natives, which is a clumsy instrument in the shape of 

 a spear ; yet, as I have remarked, it produces a rich 

 reward for the labor bestowed. Could the sub-soil 

 be thrown up and manure and lime supplied, (the 

 latter being very essential, as the entire formation of 

 the Islands is of volcanic origin.) I doubt not the pro- 

 ducts of what are now comparatively barren districts 

 would equal those of the Genesee bottoms adjacent 

 to the lime ridges, and supplied therefrom with a 



