The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-05-04
MADE THE DESERT BLOOM
IRRIGATION AND THE BIG SUGAR
PLANTATIONS OF HAWAII.

IRRIGATION AND THE BIG SUGAR
PLANTATIONS OF HAWAII.
Life on the Islands - Description Of
the Government Buildings, the
Churches and Schools.
ooLONEL ALEXANDER CAMP
I bell, of West Virginia, who
~ was United States Commissioner
to the Centennial at Melbourne,
Australia, during the year of 1855, and
in 1889 was appointed Commissioner to
all the Australian colonies, including
New Zealand, in the interest of the
Worlds Fair, made three visits to the
| colonies and the Hawaiian Islands dur
ing 1888, 1889 and 1891. In reply to
questions as to his experience and the
climate of the Hawaiian Islands, the
| Colonel said esI have lived in Louisiana,
and visited Cuba and Mexico, and none
of those places in any way compare with
the islands. I have never heard or seen
any one who could describe and do their
climate full Justice. While on the island
had a conversation with Mr. Irwin, the
agent of Claus Sprcckles, the great
sugar king MI. Irwin said
"eThe largest sugar estate in the world
is located on this island. The capital
invested is principally owned In the
United States. 1t is on the sandy isthmus
connecting East and West Maui, and on
plain which was formerly an arid des-
ert, where neither tree or blade Of
grass could formerly be found can now
be seen green pastures, beautiful Hover
gardens, avenues of trees, and 12,00O
acres of growing sugar cane.s Each
acre will produce three times as much to
the acre as can be raised in Louisiana.
We produce as high as six tons to the
acre, which is considered very ordinary
Weld, while two tons to the acre Is con-
sidered very fair crop in Louisiana.
"'This great change has been brought
about BY storing the rain water from the
clouds which had fallen on barren rocks,
forty miles distant, and for numberless
ages has run to waste in the sea below.
The work of transferring this water f-om
the mountains to these fertile plains was
an immense undertaking, and it was by
far the graudest piece of engineering the
island can boast. Some idea OF its mag
nitude NAV be learned from the fact
that it took the best talent that could be
secured to construct it. The difficulties
to be surmounted were numberless.
First, there were thirty gulches to DC
crossed. some of them being over 200U
feet wide and 400 feet deep, and it took
for this purpose alone q, 600 feet offorty-
two inch pipe. There are also twenty
eight tunnels, three by eight feet, cut
through solid rock, some OF them being
over 500 feet long.
{" There are five reservoirs, the
largest capable of holding o,ooO cubic
feet of water, and if they were all full 1t
is supposed there would be enough to
irrigate the whole plantation for several
months. The Waihee ditch is the same
size as the other, and is twenty-one miles
long; has an average grade OF three ieet
per mile, and delivers at weir from
| twenty to seventy cubic feet of water per
second. These two bitches deliver
5000, 900 cubic feet Of water per day
Z" The plantation contains 4o,ooo
acres. In one body OF this tract there
are 25, 900 acres of tirst-class cane land,
of which 1900 acres are constantly
under cultivation. These cane fields
extend more than fifteen miles In one
direction and several in width. There
are this year 2000 acres OF plant cane
from a few inches to SIX feet In height
There are $500 acres of matured cane
ready for the mill, and it will yield i've
tons of sugar to the acre. 1t is divided
into seven camps. Each Of these camps
is fitted with tables, cookhouses, and
buildings for housing the overseers and
workmen.
"sTo be successful in our crops we
have had to irrlgate. The water On this
plantation has to be applied artihcially.
We also find that the stored water has
advantages over the regular rain. 1t is
found that irrigated land usually yields
one or TWO tons of sugar to the acre more
than lands supplied with only the regular
rainfall. The stored water acts as tertl-
lzer to the land by bringing down from
the mountain waste debris, which keeps
the soil IN better condition. Our fields
are known according to the number OF
camps in which they are located. The
irrigations are repeated every eight days
on plant cane
sThe Kings palace" continued
Colonel Campbell, sis situated opposite
Palace Square. It is of concrete, l4o
feet long and 100 feet wide. 1t con-
tains forty rooms in all, and cost some
what over $500, 900. The furnishing is
of ordinary modern type. The palace
grounds are some ten acres In extent
They are surrounded by wall three feet
in height, and are laid out with grass
and dotted with trees aud 'shrubbery
"The Aliionani Hall, or the Govern
meut buildings, are opposite the palace.
The grounds in which the buildings
stand are neatly kept aud planted with