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OBSERVATIONS  ON  HORTICULTURE  IN  HAWAII . 
By  Edw.  M.  Ehrhorn. 
An  address  delivered  before  the  Social  Science  Association  of 
Honolulu , on  Dec.  6,  1909. 
Coming  from  California  where  horticulture  is  at  about  the 
highest  point  of  perfection,  where  nearly  every  kind  of  fruit, 
flower  and  tree  has  been  tried,  where  the  soils  vary  to  such  an 
extent  that  at  times  a hundred  acre  field  is  not  unlike  a checker- 
board, I have  taken  some  interest  in  and  have  made  some  general 
observations  into  the  methods  of  your  horticulture  since  my  arrival 
a few  months  ago.  Your  wonderful  growth,  your  perfect  climate 
and  apparently  rich  soil  have  made  it  possible  to  call  this  the  Para- 
dise of  the  Pacific.  Climate  and  soil  go  a long  way  to  produce 
the  magnificent  growth  which  is  to  be  found,  but  soon  there  is 
climate  alone  left  and  other  agents  must  come  to  the  front  to 
assist  in  keeping  up  the  growth  and  beauty  of  the  surroundings, 
and  I will  endeavor  to  bring  out  some  points  on  these  lines  in  this 
paper  tonight. 
In  California  we  started  in  a happy  go  lucky  way  with  our 
fields  of  grain,  our  vineyards,  orchards  and  gardens  and  tickling 
the  soil  and  laughing  at  the  harvest  was  the  real  thing  for  a time 
at  least.  We  were  able  to  raise  enormous  crops  without  much 
effort.  This,  however,  did  not  last  very  long  and  rotation,  fertili- 
zation, cultivation  and  irrigation  of  crops  has  to  be  taken  up,  not 
haphazardly  either,  but  on  very  scientific  lines.  This  all  may  seem 
strange  to  some  and  you  may  ask  why  all  this  was  necessary  and 
the  answer  is,  that  the  available  foodstuff  in  the  soils  gave  out. 
The  grains,  vines  and  trees  took  up  tons  and  tons  of  elements  from 
the  soil,  gave  tons  and  tons  of  produce,  but  the  grower -never 
thought  of  giving  the  soil  anything  to  replenish  the  enormous 
drain,  and  the  yield  got  less  and  less,  the  luxuriant  growth  became 
smaller,  the  crops  inferior,  and  then  came  innumerable  inquiries 
into  the  cause.  Scientific  investigations  were  started  and  finally 
after  drawn  out  experiments,  successful  results  were  obtained. 
You  have  gone  through  somewhat  like  phases  here  in  the  cane 
fields  and  other  plantations  and  I cannot  add  anything  to  the  work 
done  there,  but  I must  dwell  more  on  the  smaller  holdings  around 
your  homes,  your  plants  and  your  first  trees.  I have  been  told 
that  a few  years  ago  your  orange  trees  yielded  an  abundance  of 
fruit  and  your  other  trees  did  better  than  today  and  I find  in  look- 
ing over  the  ground,  that  there  is  a great  lack  of  horticultural 
methods,  such  as  pruning,  cultivation  and  the  like.  I have  seen 
trees  which  are  almost  gone  and  the  idea  that  insects  alone  are 
the  cause  of  this,  must  be  dispelled,  in  most  cases  it  is  the  lack 
of  pruning,  cultivation,  fertilization  and  irrigation,  which  is  at 
the  bottom  of  it  all.  You  see  large  orange  trees  almost  leafless. 
