HAWAIIAN TREE FERN AS A SOURCE OF STARCH 



15 



rotary starch drier removes the remainder of the water. The dried 

 starch is then powdered and put into 1-pound packages for market. 



COST OF THE RAW MATERIAL 



Strange as it may seem, the cost per ton of landing the starch 

 core at the mill is greater than is the cost of production of most 

 of the common starch crops in Hawaii. The following prices per 

 ton prevail for landing the raw material at the mill at Hilo, Hawaii, 

 from the tract, located 4 miles north of the Volcano Eoad at 18 Miles : 

 Cutting and stripping logs $6.50, making donkey trails and carrying 

 logs to road $1, trucking to Hilo $3.50, total $11. 



The first item is a fixed cost and could not be materially changed 

 at the present wage scale in Hawaii. The making of donkey trails 

 would increase in cost as it became necessary to exploit more remote 

 areas; and shipping by rail to Hilo would not materially cheapen 

 transportation charges since the main difficulty lies in getting the 

 material from the forests to the main road. It is apparent, there- 

 fore, that the above listed items can not well be reduced under pres- 

 ent conditions. 



FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY 



The development of the tree-fern starch industry in Hawaii is 

 seriously handicapped by the high cost of the raw material (starch 

 •core) , and the very slow rate of growth of the tree which makes it 

 impracticable to establish a permanent starch-producing area. The 

 industry might become permanently established in Hawaii by mar- 

 keting the starch as a special-purpose starch rather than in direct 

 competition with cornstarch as a food, or with potato starch for in- 

 dustrial uses. The amount used for special purposes would, of 

 course, be limited, but the market price could be placed sufficiently 

 high to compensate for the high cost of raw material. 



In considering the possibilities of this industry in other tropical 

 countries, it is important to bear in mind that a very large per- 

 centage of the total cost of production is for labor. Only a small 

 capital is required to start the industry. The tree-fern lands are 

 usually of very little value for any other purpose, and can be leased 

 at a nominal rental; and the starch extraction machinery is rela- 

 tively inexpensive. The actual starch extraction process costs less 

 than a cent a pound of finished product. It is evident, therefore, 

 that in countries where labor costs are only a fraction of what they 

 are in Hawaii the cost of producing tree-fern starch could be greatly 

 reduced and might well be brought to a sufficiently low figure to per- 

 mit of commercial production. This is, of course, based on the 

 assumption that the species of tree ferns found elsewhere are equally 

 ' as well adapted to starch production as is Cibotium chwnissoi. 



SUMMARY 



The Hawaiian Islands contain many thousands of acres of tree- 

 fern forests from which starch can be extracted. 



Three species are found in Hawaii, only one of which, Hapu 

 {Cibotium chamissoi), is used for starch production. 



