The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1893-02-20
COFFEE PLANTING IN KoNA.
Written for the BuLLETtN.l
THE SOIL.

THE SOIL.
The coffee industry was, to within
the last few years, almost entirely in
the hands of natives. The patches
of coffee dispersed all through the
district are, with the exception of
the plantation at Napoopoo, merely !
the remains of hundreds of acres
planted some fifty years ago. These !
patches having survived the blight !
and years of drought may be pre-
sumed to stand in soil and under
conditions most suitable for coffee. |
AS these ancient trees are found in |
pahoehoe land as well as in aa land,
the theory that aa is a sine qua non
for coffee is exploded Yet it is a
fact that by far the greater portion
is found on aa lands, and the surviv-
ing patches here are larger and more
uniform.
From the foregoing it must be in
ferred that the superiority of the aa
over the pahoehoe is to be attribut
ed not to a chemical difference in
their composition, but rather to some
other necessary properties found
more largely in the former than in
in the latter. What these properties
are may be readily seen in the differ
ence of the nature of these two dis
trict lava flows.
The pahoehoe is of more solid
substance and sheds the water; it be-
gins to disintegrate ut the surface, the
soil thus formed accumulates in the
lower places, which accounts for the
fact that the depth of soil on these
lands is not at all uniform. 1t is in
these so-called pockets that some
healthy old coffee trees are found.
The a-a is of light and porous
substance, and owing to it's great
J rapidity in cooling has tendency
to pile up in greatly broken-up
masses. Most aa flows are therefore
of great depth. 1t also allows the
water freely to enter and hence be-
gins to disintegrate at the bottom, thus
forming in time soil of great and
{ uniform depth.
: In pahoehoe land you dig through
soil and find rock-in "a land you
, dig through rock and find soil. This
, soil being of gravelly charac-
{ ter allows the water to sink through
and retains moisture through
months of dry weather.
The rocks or stones invariably
found on the surface of such lands
aid in keeping it clean of grass and
also retain the warmth so necessary
to young trees. Some of our most
uninvitingly rough lands will, [ be-
lieve, prove our best coffee lands.
: THE PLANTS.
, Different opinions have been held
f by various planters as to the kind Of
, plants preferred for planting. The
old style of merely digging up half
grown trees of a spontaneous growth
and transplanting them is, | believe,
practiced at present by natives only.
The other modes are, transplanting
from nurseries, stump planting, and
:, transplanting very young Cwo-
leaved) plants of "a spontaneous
i growth.
Equally good results seemed to be
! achieved by these three modes OF
t planting; but as practical men seem
e to learn more toward stump plant.
" ing, l shall explain it further.
S Young trees of about half an inch
5. diameter are carefully dug up, the
stems cut off couple of inches from
j. the roots, and these stumps, that is
t the roots with the short stems, are
e then planted trife deeper thar
l, they stood before. OF the several
g shoots that will sprout from the
It stems only one is left to develop into
& tree.
n These trees should bear within
l. two years. l cannot refrain from
> saying here that the success of ;
1. coffee plantation depends not SC
70 much on the mode of planting as OIL
g. the all-important matter, the right
6 kind of soil.
- DISTANCE APART.
IS 1t is with ditfidence that l toucl
J. upon this question. Scarcely an,
If two planters agree on it, and l be
@ lieve that on differently situated
,r lands different distances should b
n adopted. 1t will be safe not to g
le beyond eight feet.
I'd COST.
lie On aa land such as [ have de
1T scribed the cost of planting and tax
g. ing care OF the young trees till bear
t. ing time should not exceed $50 pc
le acre. w. MULLER.
IN Limit to Canal Cost.
''' H;rr;ns inf trpdunad in tho SaDat