THE CRUCIAL QUESTION ON THE ISLAND OF HAWAII. 21 



to the sugar industry. In the opinion of some this limit has already 

 been reached. During the early part of the present year an expression 

 of opinion of the plantation men was obtained as to what limit should 

 be set for clearing. Most of them favored a limit below the 2,000- 

 foot contour. Nevertheless, some of the managers are verj^ anxious 

 to extend their plantations beyond this limit. 



The opening up of large tracts of forest lands for homestead pur- 

 poses has also complicated the problem seriously. Several years ago 

 a preliminary trial indicated that coffee could be successfully grown in 

 this, region, and the insular government, importuned by those who 

 desired to engage in its cultivation, threw open to settlement several 

 large tracts lying just above the sugar plantations in Hamakua and 

 Puna. Clearing and coffee planting went on rapidl}^ for a few years, 

 but came to a sudden halt when it was discovered that the coffee trees 

 bore onl}^ a crop or two and then failed. Something had to be done 

 with the homesteads. The most convenient thing was to turn them 

 over to the sugar plantations, and this in most cases was done. Thus 

 the possibilit}^ of using the homestead law for extending the sugar 

 plantations was demonstrated. The pressure for opening tracts, osten- 

 sibly for homesteads, has continued. Several tracts have been opened 

 within the past few years, and the opening of others is under consid- 

 eration. In a great many, probably a majority of cases, the horne- 

 steader has sold first the timber and then the cleared land to the plan- 

 tations, for the settler has found it more profitable to dispose of his 

 homestead in this way and afterwards work for the plantation than to 

 till the land. 



Attempts to farm these homesteads have signall}^ failed. The rain- 

 fall is too great for some crops, and those which could be grown are 

 usually devoured by insects, which seem to be always present in aston- 

 ishing numbers. If b}^ chance the homesteader manages to grow a 

 crop he finds it difficult to get it to a shipping point over the mountain 

 roads. The shipping rates to Honolulu, which is practically the 

 only market on the islands, are excessive. And in the Honolulu 

 market it is impossible for the Hawaiian farmer to compete with 

 California in dairy products and cereals. Except for specialized crops, 

 which will have high value in proportion to their bulk, farming in 

 these districts is absolutely without promise of successful returns. 



The question may be asked. If sugar is so profitable a crop on this 

 land, what reasonable objection can be raised to cutting away the for- 

 est and growing sugar cane upon it? The danger is that the planta- 

 tions may go so far in the matter as to bring ultimate disaster upon 

 themselves by ruining their water supply and decreasing the rainfall. 

 Many of the plantations now obtain water from the mountain streams 

 for fluming cane to the mills. There is scarcel}^ enough water for this 



