TDTTLE ENGINEERING NOTES ON HAWAII. 139 



tion on this island is due partly to the fact that the rainfall in the 

 sugar belt is usually sufficient to produce the crop, and partly to 

 natural difficulties in the way of developing a water supply. 



Such statistics as are available for 1901 indicate that the yield of 

 sugar during that year was about as follows: 



Kauai 2.5 tons (2 000 Ibs.) per acre of cane land. 



Oahu 3.3 " 



Maui 2.7 " 



Hawaii 1.75 " 



Average for all islands. .2.3 " " " " 



The minimum yield, it will be noted, is on the island where the 

 lands are unirrigated, and the maximum is on Oahu, where irrigation is 

 most extensively resorted to. 



The same statistics also show that the acreage cared for per 

 laborer on each island was about as follows: 



Kauai 4.7 acres of cane land per laborer. 



Oahu 3.4 " 



Maui 3.8 " 



Hawaii 6.8 " 



Average for all islands. 5 " " " 



These figures also show that the force of laborers required follows 

 the same order as the tonnage of sugar produced. There is an irregu- 

 larity in the number of acres cared for per man and ranging from 

 about 3 to over 10, and also in the yield per annum at the various 

 plantations, some of the richer plantations yielding as high as 12 tons 

 per acre per crop, and especially favored fields giving even greater 

 returns. On the irrigated lands there should be and is a much greater 

 uniformity of yield than when dependence is placed entirely upon the 

 rainfall as on the Island of Hawaii, where the great length of the cane 

 belt, including areas so located as to have little relationship in the 

 rainfall, is responsible for an apparent greater uniformity of yield for 

 the entire island than is the case for the various plantations considered 

 independently. 



During the years which have elapsed since the annexation of the 

 islands, there has been a growing scarcity of labor. In the early days 

 of the cane industry both Chinese and Japanese labor were freely 



