The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-12-11
LAND COLONIZATION AND SETTLE
MENT.

v
the subject OF land colonization
and production, with special refer
ence to tine project of planting !
producing and homogeneous popu- |
lation upon the fertile lands OF HOnouli- |
uli and Kahuka, on this island. The |
communication in question evinced a |
thorough knowledge of the subject and |
considerable research. 1t certainly sheds |
a new and hopeful light upon the entire
question. II is impossible to read it
and it will bear reading many times
without becoming impressed with the
conviction that the writer has furnished
the key to the solution of the problem
of industrial colonization in this country,
and at the same time also has shown
capitalists the direction in which they
may, at one and at the same time, secure
large returns upon their investments
while increasing production, stimulating
trade, and promoting the settlement and
cultivation OF the country.
These are points which cannot be too
frequently dwelt upon, because they meet
objections so often raised to progressive
policy of immigration and colonization.
Time was when the dry lands of these
Islands were not accounted valuable ex-
cept for the raising of stock, and when
that most thriftless plan of grazing with
out fencing was generally pursued. The
consequence was over-stocking and
heavy loss in dry seasons. By degrees
fences were erected. 1t was then dis
covered that the same land fenced pro-
duced far better results than when it
was unfenced. Nevertheless, the want
of surface water was deemed to be a
barrier to profitable agriculture, which
circumstances had narrowed down to
the production of sugar and rice. The
experience of the Pahala sugar planta-
ton, however, on the dry side of the
Island of Hawaii, should convince the
most skeptical of the agricultural capa-
bilities of the soil of the entire group
without irrigation. This plantation is
cultivated with sugar cane with
out irrigation, the rainfall being much
less than on the honolulu and
Kahuka lands, on the island of Oahu,
which it is proposed to colonize, the
average character of the soil Of Pahala
being also poorer. Yet the Pahala
plantation yields Sd tons of sugar per
acre, and according to a recently pub
lished description of its management
( and operations the net income this season
will average $4,000 per month. Ii this
can be done at Pahala, OF dry land with
sugar cane without irrigation, what may
not be accomplished with the superior
natural advantages OF honolulu and
Kahuka under similar conditions?
But our correspondent shews convinc-
ingly that abundance of water may be
obtained to irrigate II 900 acres of sugar
cane land at Honolulu and 5000 to
5000 acres of similar land at Kahuka,
by constructing storage dams in the
natural drainage channels of the country,
or where this may not be available, by
sinking artesian wells. The conservancy
of water by dams, and its increased sup
ply by means of artesian wells, are not
experiments in this country, and they
are in successful operation in the very
districts named We have no doubt
whatever that abundance of water foI
irrigation may be had on the properties
named by an intelligent application Of
scientific methods; but even without
this powerful adjunct, were the land cul
tivated in small-farm sections, there
would be no need whatever for any great
outlay in this direction. Water may be
had anywhere on the belt of country in
Dictated, by sinking to moderate depth
This done, windmils would do the
balance of the work Any one who has
seen the results of irrigating gardens and
small farms by the aid of windmills il
Europe and on the Coast will under
stand the force Of our remark.
1t is quite within the power of any
man in sound physical health, with {
small sum of money at command, t.
cultivate from five to ten acres of sugar
cane, upon the terms suggested by oul
correspondent, and with the aid of one
or two windmills, and ordinary surface
wells, which he could sink himself, tC
produce on the rich virgin soil of Homo
uliuh and Kahuka from five to six tons
of sugar an acre, instead of four tons as
estimated in the communication re
ferred to. For it should always be borne
in mind that the productiveness of LAND
is in exact proportion to the amount o
cultivation it receives, and that small
holdings always yield far heavier ant
better returns than large areas put under
a similar crop. And this will apply tC
sugar cultivation equally with any Other
product.
We need not go into detailed calcu
lation of profit to be derived from such
an experiment, so far as individual cult
vators are concerned. Suffice it to say
that there are tens of thousands OF
farmers in the Eastern and Northwestern
States OF the Union, in Canada, the
British Isles and Northern Europe, who
apply unwearied industry, intelligence
and skill to the task of farming poor soil
in an inhospitable climate, with the re-
suit that they barely make ends meet,
who might in few years attain to COM
parative independence in this country,