The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1872-11-16
Small Farming.

Mr. EDIToR II have perused with much interest
the account published in your last issue Of the meet
ing of the Hawaiian Immigration Society. The dis
cusSion was OF n rather chaotic nature IL makes
one think of a blind man hesitatingly stretching
forth his hands for the purp pose OF grasping something
which he fears he cannot find.
With all Difference to the aggregate wisdom and
profound logic of the mdgi forming that honorable
body, | must be allowed to express my establishment
at the degree of prejudice, and, pardon the word,
ignorance, indicated by certain assertions and theories
then and there made and promulgated.
We find any allusion to 90 small farming " in the
meeting to have been received with boots of contempt
: Farming as carried on in Europe and America was
out of question here Exactly so;-and 50 are
snow storms. If we find ourselves incompetent TO
revolutionize the climate of these fair isles to suit
our hereditary ideas of what is proper and right,
why not exhibit at least n modicum of common
sense by quietly accepting the situation, and suiting
ourselves 10 our altered circumstances. "Al at
tempts at small farming have proven a dClusion and
n snare" Had the author of this sentiment limited
it to his personal experience, all could have replied
with a plying smile. Jess So" But let us look at
facts for u moment and see If the above quoted
sweeping assertion be not somewhat unreliable. In
the Waimea valley, on the Island OF Kauai, is TO be
found a community of Hawaiians and Chinese.
They are dwelling for the most part in comfortable
cottages Of wood, and are surrounded with signs Of
thrift and comfort. As a community they give
evidence of prosperity, independence and growth.
And this in spite of the oppressive rent which they
are obliged to pay for their little farms, which is
N40Sh OUt-tdU vi ~ AO0hO ANN " navy
a vindication of " small farming II is no longer
an experiment. Time and the results pronounce it n
perfect success. In almost all of the fertile and
well-watered valleys of the above mentioned island,
you will find these little rice-farms; some in the
hands of Europeans, but most of them controlled by
natives and Cinnamon. And they are almost uni
versally doing well. The proprietOrs are, slowly it
is true, but surely advancing from year TO year.
And is all the land suitable for the cultivation of rice
now occupied? BY no means. Where one acre is
cultivated, five are lying idle. Where one hundred
individuals are now making comfortable livings, sir
hundred might, and ought to be living with equal
comfort.
Why sarcastically point to the miles Of dreary
waste where there cannot be found sufficient water
to quench the thirst of the travellers horse Let
these arid stretches remain sacred to the grazer.
When this group was discovered ninety-four years
ago the population comprised nearly half a million
souls. And where were they living2 On the barren
plains? In the mountain junglef No, with the
exception of a comparatively small number who
devoted themselves exclusively TO fishing, and the
cultivation of the sweet potatoe, the people were
collected in those numerous GASES where the fertile
soil smiled with verdure in response to the merry
ripping laugh of crystal streams. Let us not
neglect the experience even of pagan Hawaii.
If a hundred men with their families were landed
here tomorrow, the Hawaiian immigration Society
could through agents appointed for the purpose,
speedily provide each of them with five or six acres
of abandoned kalo land. 1t would be necessary TO
provide them with a living for the first six months,
but after that they would be independent, and prob
ably within five years they would have refunded all
expenses for passage and advances.
Sugar will, l trust, ultimately prove n success, but
in 's small farming lies the hope of the land.
Honolulu, Nov. IA, 1872. HAWAIIAN.