March 30. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
slumbering soil; cause the fields to rejoice with beauty; 
gather in his harvest and his dimes ; and give us plenty of 
sweet bread and to spare. 
“ It has been generally thought that wheat would not 
grow and fill well at an elevation above the sea of less than 
a thousand to fifteen hundred feet. This is a mistake ; for 
Mr. Emmerson, of Waialua, has this year sown a patch not 
ten feet above the level of the sea, which has filled admirably. 
Some of it is now here for exhibition. 
“ Corn, Barley, Oats. —-The corn crop in the islands is a 
very uncertain one, and is only remunerative in a very few 
locations. After being nursed through its infancy, and 
preserved from its great enemy the cut worm, it is subject 
to be blasted in a single night by a smaller but more terrible 
foe. This is a tiny white insect., so small as to be hardly 
visible, which settles on the field in a cloud, as it were, and 
just as the corn begins to silk, and the heart of the husband¬ 
man gladdens with hope of an abundant harvest, the green 
field turns brown, withers, and dies. The best corn is 
raised at Wailua, on this Island, and finer meal than is 
made of it at the new Flouring Mill was never eaten. The 
kind generally planted is the yellow corn of from 8 to 10 
vows. Several new varieties were introduced by the Society 
last year, Rnd scattered on the different Islands, but I have 
had no report from them. 
“ There is a steadily increasing demand for oats and 
barley for horse feed, at about a dollar and twenty-five cents 
per bushel, and yet there is scarcely any raised. Why is 
this ? Both will generally do well where wheat grows, and 
I should think the raising of them would be profitable. At 
least we ought to raise enough to supply our own market. 
At present our oats are mostly imported from the United 
States, by way of filling in boxes of hardware and other 
goods which they do not injure. From the varieties of 
barley imported by the Society last year, I have not yet 
heard. Mr. Townsend is said to have a flourishing field of 
this grain growing at Makawao, on East Maui. 
“ Sugar. —The growth and manufacture of sugar in this 
country is still in its infancy. The trials and difficulties of 
pioneers in this business, and remote from every means and 
facility for carrying it on, can never be told ; but I trust the 
day has arrived when some, at least, of those who have 
persevered so manfully in rolling stones up hill will lie 
rewarded for their labors. The last year’s crop has not 
equalled our expectations, though it has exceeded that of 
the year before. We estimate the whole produce of the 
islands for the last season at 800 tons, which, with the syrup 
and molasses, is valued at 130,000 dollars. The great 
obstacles in the way of an increased produce of this article, 
I have often before remarked, are the want of capital, and 
the still greater and ever increasing one of labor. Each 
successive year reduces the number of Hawaiian labourers, 
and whether this diminution can be profitably supplied by 
the importation of Coolies is still problematical. The 
present crop of the Koloa plantation on Kaui, owned by 
Dr. R. W. Wood and Mr. Burbank, will amount to 300 tons 
of beautiful sugar, which, at six cents per pound, makes the 
handsome sum of 36,000 dollars. Its syrup and molasses 
I estimate at ten thousand dollars more, which shows a 
total of 40,000 dollars. The whole expences of the planta¬ 
tion per annum do not exceed, I am told, 15,000 dollars. 
Comment is unnecessary. 
“ The sugar plantations belonging to the Chinamen in the 
district of Hillo, Hawaii, I am sorry to say, are at a stand 
still. Their proprietors, so far as improvements are con¬ 
cerned, stand just where their ancestors stood 3000 years 
ago, and not a step will they advance. The largest cane I 
have ever seen was raised in Hilo, and a large part of the 
district is quite an Eden in the way of cane growing. The 
great objections to plantations in Hillo are the iron 
bound coast,, and the impossibility of building a good road 
to their only harbour. Still, these obstacles are not in¬ 
superable. 
“ Since our last meeting we have imported, through the 
kindness of Captain of the ship George Washington, some 
new seed cane direct from Tahiti, which will doubtless 
prove a valuable acquisition to our planters.” 
(To he continued.) 
483 
FLOWERS AND PERFUMERY. 
Some idea of the importance of perfumery as an article of 
commerce may be formed, when it is stated that one of the 
large perfumers of Grasse, in France, employs annually 
80,000 lbs. of orange blossoms, 60,000 lbs. of cassie flowers, 
54,000 lbs. of violet flowers, 20,000 tbs. of tuberoses, 16,000 His. 
of lilac flowers, besides rosemary, mint, lavender, thyme, 
lemon, orange, nnd other odorous plants, in like proportion. 
Flowers yield perfumes in all climates, but those growing in 
the warmer latitudes are, it seems, the most prolific in their 
odour, while those from the colder are sweetest. Though 
many of the finest perfumes come from the East Indies, 
Ceylon, Mexico, and Peru, the South of Europe is the only 
real garden of utility to the perfumer. Grasse and Nice are 
the principal seats of the art. From their geographical 
position, the grower, within comparatively short distances, 
has at command that change of climate most applicable to 
bring to perfection the plants required for his trade. On the 
sea-coast his cassie grows without fear of frost, one night 
of which would destroy all the plants for a season ; while, 
nearer the Alps, his violets are found sweeter than if grown 
in the warmer situations where the orange-trees and migno¬ 
nette bloom to perfection. England, however, can claim 
the superiority in the growth of lavender and peppermint ; 
the essential oils extracted from these plants, grown at 
Mitcham, in Surrey, realise eight times the price in the 
market of those produced in France, or elsewhere, and are 
fully worth the difference for delicacy of odour. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should he addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London.” 
HEATns (A Subscriber, Norfolk)).— To give you their “treatment” 
would occupy pages. You will find it detailed fully in our numbers— 
167 , 168 , 169, 173, 174, 178, 181, 185, and I 87 . 
Seeds at a cheap rate ( Temporis).—\Ve cannot advise you, nor do 
we think you more reasonable than a lady would be who went into a 
haberdashers and wanted to cut a little bit off everything, not considering 
that the tradesman must have a profit. You might write to some seeds¬ 
man in our advertising columns and state your wants. He would do all 
he could to aid you, consistently with his own living. 
Asparagus Potato {A Subscriber).— You are mistaken altogether. 
Mr McEwen exhibited Asparagus and Potatoes. 
Grafting Strawberries (D. Pressley). —The writer in the Quarterly 
Review , which we extracted at page 404, made use of a wrong word, he 
intended to say “crossing,” and that by doing so judiciously Mr. 
Myatt has produced improved kinds. 
Arabian Laughing Pigeons {A Constant Reader).—O ut male bird 
is blue, with a very iridescent neck; the hen is pied-blue and white. 
Our correspondent wishes to know who has any to sell. 
Stay-at-home Pigeons (Y. Z.).—The least wandering Pigeons we 
have ever kept are the Maltese Runts. They are very large, and 
excellent for table. 
Gerarde’s Herbal (J. C -, A Subscriber).— You can obtain this 
from Mr. Pctheram, Holborn, or other dealer in second-hand botanical 
and gardening books. It varies in price, having known it sold at from 
15s to 21s. The original edition was published in 1597, but another, 
“ enlarged and amended by Thomas Johnson,” appeared in 1633. Both 
editions bear the same title-” The Herball or Generali Historic of 
Plantes.” 
London: Printed by Hugh Barclay, Winchester High-Btreet, in 
the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, of Church Hill, Walthamstow, in the County of 
Essex, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of Christ 
Church, City of London.—March 20, 1855. 
