CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO IN HAWAII. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The requirements of skill and knowledge attendant upon the 

 curing, fermentation, handling, and marketing of tobacco make the 

 cultivation of this crop one of the most desirable for inculcating 

 thrift as well as modern methods of agriculture. The districts where 

 the soil and climate are adapted to the production of cigar-leaf 

 tobaccos of high grade are limited. For that reason the market 

 for the product is always a good one. While tobacco is, perhaps, 

 strictly speaking, a luxury, it is one of world-wide use among all 

 nations and all classes of people. As in the case of all other luxuries, 

 stimulants, or narcotics, the ratio of consumption depends somewhat 

 upon the prosperity of the people who use it. Tobacco is always 

 salable, but its price rises and falls in accordance with world-wide 

 conditions as affecting the supply of the weed and the purchasing 

 power of the consumer. 



The production of tobacco in any country tends toward the build- 

 ing up of a stable population. The skill required is that of men 

 who make its production their life-long occupation. A great deal 

 of labor is required, and if the industry is to succeed here in Hawaii 

 those who are identified with its development must people the land 

 and bend their endeavor to the maintenance of a permanent, con- 

 tented population. 



The tobacco grown by the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion in the Hamakua district on the island of Hawaii has been 

 pronounced by experts in the trade as equal in quality to that pro- 

 duced in any other tropical tobacco-growing country. It was be- 

 lieved before the work was begun that this and other districts were 

 particularly adapted to the cultivation of this crop, provided modern 

 methods were applied. Work was begun three years ago with the 

 object of demonstrating the possibility of this crop. The work has 

 been hampered from the beginning by insufficient funds, but the 

 results amply repay for the struggles and hardships. Mr. C. K 

 Blacow has had entire supervision of the work, under the direction 

 of the special agent in charge, since June, 1905, and the success of 



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