372 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



shaped berry will bring from 1 to 2 cents per pound more than a small misshaped 

 berry, although the cup qualties of the coffees are precisely the same. 



The selection of a location for a coffee plantation is a most important consideration, 

 and a newcomer should under no circumstances decide this matter without the 

 advice of a successful cultivator. 



Being thoroughly familiar with the island of Hawaii from Kohala to Kau, I can 

 say the land of Hamakua, immediately back of the Hamakua and Paauhau sugar 

 plantations, lying at an elevation of from 1,500 to 3,000 feet, offers the best natural 

 advantages of any district; and should you contemplate establishing an experimental 

 station for the cultivation of coffee, I would suggest that you select a location in the 

 Hamakua district. 



PRESENT STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY. 



With the most favorable locations and with the best management, coffee can not 

 be produced for less than 12- cents for the average value of entire crop laid down in 

 Honolulu, and this grade will bring an average of 13 cents in San Francisco. Inas- 

 much as coffee is sold on sixty days' credit, and from three to four months are con- 

 sumed in selling a crop, the present San Francisco price is barely equal to the cost of 

 production, and unless the industry is encouraged by a protective tariff in the 

 immediate future the entire business so far as the production of the better grades is 

 concerned will be stamped out. 



Considerable areas throughout the islands of uncultivated coffee will be picked in 

 a desultory way by Japanese and Hawaiians. The flavor of this grade is very inferior, 

 and the method of curing is crude, and in consequence these coffees are bringing 

 to-day in the San Francisco market from 8 to 10 cents per pound, and a certain 

 irregular production of this grade will be continued under any circumstances. 



The cultivation of coffee is one of the most interesting of agricultural pursuits. 

 Mr. J. M. Horner, who is largely engaged in sugar and coffee, once told the writer 

 that when he was thoroughly tired ot|t in the sugar fields, work in the coffee brought 

 back health, strength, and courage. 



The altitude at which coffee thrives is best adapted for the production of food 

 crops — corn, potatoes, and garden vegetables can be grown most successfully in con- 

 nection with coffee, and by the cultivation of forage crops a fine grade of butter and 

 beef can be produced ; poultry also flourishes. 



The coffee industry of the islands has gone from bad to worse. The situation 

 to-day is such that the market prices of our coffees are below the cost of production, 

 and while a few of the plantations may struggle along for a year or two longer, 

 unless speedy relief be furnished the end is inevitable. 



The point where the most favorable location and careful management will enable 

 a coffee plantation to live has been passed, and if you will trouble yourself to inquire 

 at the banks you will find that it is absolutely impossible to obtain a loan on a coffee 

 plantation beyond the bare value of the land, and even then the banks are reluctant 

 to make advances. 



Up to the time that we were annexed to the United States the Hawaiian duty on 

 coffee protected our market to the exclusion of all other coffees, but since that time 

 low-grade coffees have been introduced from the United States, and in consequence 

 the Honolulu market has been materially affected. I am not in a position to give 

 statistics, but I believe that at least one-third of the Hawaiian trade in coffee is sup- 

 plied from abroad, and a representative of a large wholesale house in San Francisco 

 told me that his sales of coffee in these islands were largely increasing. 



Referring to your inquiry as to the amount of lands available in the islands for the 

 cultivation of coffee, 1 am not able to give you any approximately correct informa- 

 tion for the reason that certain localities which appear to have every natural advan- 

 tage will not grow coffee when the actual test is made, and that other localities which 



