1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



525 



side, or among thorns, and after all gather an 

 hundred fold. I am not the man, however, who 

 regards this as a trial. It is a presumptuous 

 tempting of God to expect such a result from so 

 l^zy or earek'ss a method of doing business. I 

 used to hear, when a boy, the boast of a neighbor 

 that he had a corn-field which would grow without 

 hoeing. But he was a notorious lazy maif, and 

 his corn was not sought by other farmers for this 

 remarkable quality. When corn will grow and 

 fruitfully bring forth without being hoed, wheat 

 may grow on half-plowed land. I pity no man 

 who mourns over a stinted crop of grain cast on 

 untilled soil. 1 think the experiment will not 

 again be tried among us. 



Our greatest trial in raising wheat is found in 

 the ravages of the cut worm and caterpillar. We 

 know not how to save our fields from the ravages 

 of these enemies. We cannot destroy them. We 

 cannot calculate when they will make their ap- 

 pearance. Nothing remains for us but to experi- 

 ment — to sow and plant, and if cut down, to sow 

 and plant again. About the first of April last, I 

 finished sowing wheat, two fields of twelve and 

 fifteen acres remaining, for which I had no seed 

 till this late day. One year I sowed all in April, 

 and lost none by the worm. This year I lost 

 nearly all of the 15 acre lot, and about a half of 

 the other. In May I sowed again, not much ex- 

 pecting any return, but doing so as an experi- 

 ment. On the one piece, the 15 acres, I lost all, 

 but saved two-thirds of the 12 acre piece — ^^that is, 

 it looks well at present and may do well. Jn 

 May also, finding the last sowing of wheat de- 

 stroyed, 1 planted the field with corn, and though 

 it came up well, yet there are scarcely fifty hills 

 remaining. I am about to replant it. Thus it is 

 with us from year to year. But for this trouble, 

 we could raise any thing in the shape of grain 

 •and vegetables. As it is, we are sadly tried, and 

 seldom have beans, or peas, or turnips, or beets, 

 or onions. 



AYe apprehend something of a trial in reference 

 to a market, or I should have said, in reference to 

 the manufacture of our wheat and its sale. Here- 

 tofore we have had nothing but hand-mills, and 

 till quite lately no means of bolting. Now there 

 is erected a fine flouring mill ; but it is some 70 

 miles distant, instead of being at Wailuka, some 

 15 miles distant, in our own neighborhood. The 

 mill is owned Ijy a steam company, who invested 

 their money there rather than loan it at 12 per 

 cent. Of course, they desire to make moiv.:y 

 faster tlian by loaning at the above rate. In a 

 word, I regard the mill in the light of a specula- 

 tion. These men wlio comjwse the steam com- 

 pany flouring mill, may be no more eager for 

 money-making than other speculators at the 

 islands. I do not think them Vt'orse. But they 

 have this advantage — there is no competition in 

 this business. There is no other mill at tlie 

 islands. So that, for aught I see, they will have 

 the greater part of the wheat at their own price ; 

 ■whereas, had we a mill at Wailuku, there would 

 be 60 much of a competition that the producers 

 of wheat would stand a much better chance to 

 do well in the sale of their grain. Do you eay, 

 let the owners of wheat hold on to it till a price 

 shall be offered that sliall divide the profits be- 

 tween the producers and the company'? Some 

 may be able to do so, and probably will, but the 



majority cannot. There being no barns, and few 

 houses any thing better than grass ones, the na- 

 tives and most of the foreigners must sell, and 

 how they will succeed remains to be seen. It is a 

 great trial to be obhged to buy and sell where 

 there is no competition. 



3. Encouragements to continue in agricultural 

 labors. 'Tis encouraging that the experiment 

 has been tried till all are satisfied that this region 

 is admirably adapted to tlie raising of wheat. So 

 also of corn and other vegetables. Almost any 

 thing, for that matter, if we can dodge the cut 

 worm. 'Tis encouraging to perceive that we can 

 raise cheap bread, so that should we be unable to 

 obtain the staS" of life from the uld homestead, 

 we can have a supply at our own doors. Indeed, 

 I hope tliat we shall be able to do this at any 

 rate, also to furnish whale s'lips and other vessels 

 with fresh and sweet flour, more conducive to 

 health than most which has hitherto been con- 

 sumed in the Pacific. To me it is, moreover, 

 very encouraging that thj raising of wheat is 

 awakening the Hawaiians to a sense of the im- 

 portance of industrious habits. This is a fact 

 which greatly cheers me ; and in the crop of 

 wheat now being harvested, especially the 200 

 acres belonging to the people, I am more than 

 rewarded for all the toil and sacrifice to which I 

 have submitted. 



I hope, also, if spared to see greater improve- 

 ments than these, wheat raising will doubtless go 

 ahead. I shall not need to say more on the sub- 

 ject of raising this grain. 1 think my people will 

 sow at least 500 acres the coming year. I hear it 

 said, by some of the foreigners, that 5,000 acres 

 will be sown in this vicinity. I doubt this some- 

 what. But wheat will be both plenty and cheap. 

 But I want to see more variety. I want to see 

 small farms, and each sowed to wheat, oats and 

 l)arley ; planted with coins and beans ; with 

 Irish and sweet potatoes ; and adorned with a 

 vegetable garden, wherein shall be found beets, 

 onions, cabbages, melons, squashes, cucumbers, 

 &c. &c. If I am spared, T mean to try my hand, 

 though 'tis a maimed one, in this line. And, as 

 you kindly suggested sending me something in 

 the book line that miglit aid mo, though nothing 

 has yet reached me, may I ask you to send me 

 fresh seed of various kinds, put up in the best 

 style? I have some fears that nothing sent round 

 the Cape will do well, tliougli I may Ije mistaken. 

 Judge Lee last year received from Mr. Johnson, 

 of the New York Agricultural Society, a large 

 number of specimen wheat, oats and barley, but 

 scarcely a seed came up — not Ijccause they were 

 [ilanted late, but because tliey had no germina- 

 ting quality. I'lease think of me and my people, 

 and, if consistent, send sometiiing of tlie kind ; 

 so of any book which you can spare. 



Anotlier thing — the cut worm. Can ^'ou help 

 us to destroy this enemy of all Hawaiian cultiva- 

 tion'? The man who can help us to eradicate 

 this worm, or destroy its eggs, will do us the 

 greatest of earthly favors. Perhaps you have 

 some book which treats of insects, and the means 

 to save crops from their ravages. But for this 

 one drawback, the cut worm and caterpillar, I 

 see not why we could not raise any thing we need 

 for our comfort, both tropical and temperate pro- 

 ductions. Nothing that we have tried seems to 

 'make the least impression upon them. Lime 



