The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-08-03
T H 4
TUESDAY
IMMIGRATION AND IRRIGATION.

To increase and sustain immigration
successfully in Hawaii we must deal
practically at the outset with the prob
lem OF irrigation. We do not speak Of
the old, tiresome and expensive meth
obs of irrigation, which at best have
always proved partial failures, but Of the
practical, fertilizing methods, based
upon scientific observation and expert
ment, such as have reclaimed the arid
and barren plains of California from
desolation.
There is no reason why Il practical
system OF irrigation, entered into judi
ciously here, cannot do much more pro-
portionately in developing the agricul-
tural resources of Hawaii than has been
done throughout the Pacific Slope upon
a large scale. The irrigation of Califor
MIA is an improvement in some respects
upon the old Moorish system, after
which it is modelled The Spaniards in
troduced the system into the Pacific
Coast region and the Americans adopted
the process from the Indians and Span
iards of Mexico.
OF course the water supply is the first
question to be settled, but assuming that
water supply can be secured in most
places throughout these Islands by
means of artesian borings and the dam
ming of natural reservoirs, which has
been practically illustrated upon small
scale already, we wish to point out some
OF the benefits arising from irrigation
when properly carried out. The ques-
ton with us at present is not so much
one of retaining desert lands and bring
ing them under profitable state of cul-
tivation, as it is,one of developing our
natural resources by turning large tracts
of available land into small farms, each
of which will support its family and yield
surplus tor further agricultural invest
ment. Such system means rural com
fort and increased revenue.
To retain the immigration which
reaches our shores we must provide the
means of livelihood. To do this we
must discover the surest and most profit
able means of agricultural development.
The results of practical irrigation on the
Pacific Slope proves the method used
there to be profitable, and bears testi-
mony that irrigation can also be made
an artificial means for fertilizing the
soil, to prevent it from becoming effete.
An average illustration of the results OF
such irrigation will suffice. The arid
plains of the State of Colorado have
been opened to irrigation by utilizing the
water supply of the Rocky Mountains.
The district under cultivation has pro
duced large and increasing crops for the
past ten years upon land that has been
repeatedly sown without rest and with
out manure. These results are brought
about by passing through the land the
salts, acids and other mineral matters
in solution which furnish plant food and
keep the soil in continual state of fer
tility.
lie same system can be used much
more advantageously in Hawaii, where
our soils only require the necessary
moisture to yield enormously. But the
production OF our lands can be greatly
increased by irrigation, and made tc
support population increased tenfold
There is no good reason why such re,
suits should not be reached here, and
when the people once become awake tc
the importance OF the matter and begin
thinking practically about it, the con-
summation will soon be brought about
When once the start is made the imme-
date results will be felt through the in
crease OF market values. The question
of a ready market will be practically
settled by making Honolulu free port