The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-08-05
Che @ailg 3Mlletin,
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 5, 1885,
VEGETABLE RAISING.

EDITOR BULLETIN Having seen
in a late issue of yours an article
answering to something published
by the 1dUertiscr, which l have not
read, | think l can adduce some
practical information on the subject,
which will probably serve to show that
both the ADVERTISER and "Vegeta-
BILE" were partly right and partly
wrong.
Vegetable growing did pay here,
but it docs not pay now, or pays
very little even TO the extra frugal
and over working Cinnamon, so that
it is absurd, as Vegetable" says,
to ask any white man or Hawaiian to
go into that industry at present.
That it did pay, could prove by
many examples, but l shall only
refer to one company of six Celes-
tials, with whom l had business
transactions, and which, in garden
of about six acres, used, l know, to
realize, in a medium space of two
years. labor, from 200 to 800 dollars
net earnings each, after which they
used to sell their shares and go back
to China.
That it pays no more is shown by
the fact that the same parties, on
the same land, can now hardly man.
age to pay their expenses, their
living, and their rent, which is the
con,n nc forp,nrl,-
Moreover, rs l wanted to get at
the reason of the difference, | inter-
viewed one of the company, and
here is his answer, modified only by
being Transcribed into not exactly
the same English as he spoke:--
''Formerly-1S months, 2 years,
and further back-therc were many
less gardens-in fact gardens were
very few-and people were more
prosperous, more rich, and willing
to spend more literally for their
daily wants. To-day the white po-
pulation, principal consumers, is IA
pidly diminishing in number and
every one of our residents has
screwed down to bedrock economy,
all pinch themselves even in neces-
sites, whilst the number of vegeta-
bic gardens is about ten times what
it used to be, stimulated as that in
dustry has been by the success of
artesian well-boring.'
Further, as q specific example and
argument, melons used to bring
in from 81 to So, fine melon COM
handing easily up to 80 cents; now
the same quantity of melons only
brings from 81 to 50, small fruit
being worth five or ten cents apiece,
or two for 10 cents, the finest only
selling for 20 cents. In the same
way, a very small bunch of vegeta-
bles and herbs for soup formerly
currently brought 10 cents; now
people exact four times as much in
quantity for 5 cents. The same
decrease in value is noted in bana-
mas and sugar cane.
In toto, then, it can be asserted
that even Chinese garden growers
are feeling-just as much as other
traders and perhaps more so-the
weight of '!dull tines" and of the
much wanted present "prosperity
of the country" Competition and
production, in this line, as probably
in others, have been too great, just
at the time when consumers have
been decreasing, and those who re-
main have become more saving.
The result of which is that, as
vegetable" very justly says, quite
a number of vegetable-growers have
ceased that industry during the past
year, as others will cease in the
near future. But it is not, as your
correspondent thinks, on account of
the prices of rents, which are the
same now, generally, as they were at
the time when gardens paid, year
after year, two or three hundred
percent net profits. With this ex-
ception, I agree with vegetable"
on all points and especially in one,
viz: that people who speak Or
write on matters they do not know
practically, are bound to make very
| erroneous assertions.
A. MARQUES,