The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-05-15

| ducinG nothing but scanty grass
| among its rocks, is now an almost
impenetrable forest, from which
| thousands of cords of firewood have
been taken without serious diminu-
! tion.
During the first half of the century
after the discovery of these islands,
! the manienie grass was the greatest
| boon to these islands; during the
second half, the algaroha must take
the honor. But the algaroba will
not grow everywhere. 1t will not
thrive anywhere on these islands
where it is exposed to the trade winds
freshly blowing from the sea, nor at
any altitude much above the sea
| level. In furnishing firewood and
thus checking the wasting of our ma
tural forests it has been OF incalcula.
| BILE service.
The sol" is foreigner. 1t is one of
| the misunderstanding
dichotoma. 1t ran rapidly over the
| pasture lands of this kingdom, but
ran its race and is but little seen at
| present. Another oi, called the 'Hilo
| OH has had something of career in
some localities, but it is easily eradi-
| Gated and is not much of pest. The
appearance and rapid spread of the
indigo plant was phenomenal, which
was only equalled by its disappear
ance. Only now and then, in fields
left to fallow and kept free of stock,
| can it be seen. And yet thirty years
| ago it covered many of the pasture
lands, and in favored gullies grew as
! high as mans head on horseback.
! The guava is now running its course
| especially in rainy localities. Furnish
| ing both food and firewood, it has not
met with much disfayor, as it can be
| eradicated.
AS late as 1850, though introduced
| there in 1S40, the Hilo grass (Paspu-
lum conjugatum), or sedge, was only
| found in the Hilo district. The Ha-
| makua district was free from it, and it
had not at that date come over into
| the Kohala or Kau. Nothing but alb
sence of moisture is its enemy. 1t
soon got firm hold on all the wind
ward and rainy parts of Hawaii, and
the same is true of all the islands. 1t
is all through the bush of Hawaii,
even to an attitude of 5000 feet above
the sea level. 1t spreads from its
seeds in the droppings of animals.
Though it is easily exterminated when
moved down and its sod ploughed up,
it is proving more and more an enemy
to the grazing lands of the islands.
Beef fed upon 1t may be fat, but the
tissue is dark and fiavorless and the
fat pale and soft. For this reason the
Kohala cattle, heretofore much fav-
ored in the Honolulu markets, are
now in comparative disfavor and
numbers of them have to be driven to
the high lands of Kon for fattening,
where the Hilo sedge is not yet tri-
umphant.
On islands like Niihau and Lanai,
and on the lee side of the other islands
where the rainfall is not continuous
during the year but afforded mainly
by the Kona storms, this grass has to
fight its way against the manienie and
the native grasses, and so good pasture
still exists there.
The glue (not the true gum arabic
but acacia farnesiana) exists only in
quantity on this island. 1t is thorny
and impenetrable to horsemeD, but the
cattle find their way through it and,
eating its pods and the grass under it,
they are difficult to drive out from To-
calities where it has the mastery. The
glue is not generally execrated by
graziers. It does not thrive in rainy
districts. But where the algaroba
grows it will grow, and it undoubtedly
Is pest.
years ago (Dr. Hildebrand says in
1859 a much admired house plant.
With it's flowers of every hue, it is
I indeed pretty plant. In Kona, Ha-
waii, it is called the "Mikonoria' or
Missionary for, as the story goes, it
was introduced by the Rev. Mr.. Paris,
the veteran missionary. was going to
except the rainy spots like Hilo and
Hanalei, but though its favOrite habitat
is the dryer portions OF the islands, it
will thrive on the rain as on the dry.
Animals, like horned cattle, will
browse it a little as an aromatic cor
rection to dyspepsia, / imagine, but |
no animal eats 1t. It's prolific berries
are eaten by the imported birds, the |
mynahs, the pigeon and doves, and |
are scattered everywhere. l have no.
ticed it begins on the sides OF the
steepest pals of the windward sides of
Oahu and gradually spreads down.
until the little gulches then rank with |
the choice native grasses and plants !
are blanketed with it and the land |
ruined; nothing but vermin and small !
birds can go through it. Fire will not |
kill ii. If it is cut down and burned |
and the roots grubbed up, the birds |
sow the seeds again. What it's use in |
the economy of nature is, is yet a |
mystery. Will it run itself out as the |
indigo did, after it has exhausted all |
the elements in the soil essential to its |
existence 1t is presumptuous to an |
swer yea.
The "loulu," or native palm, is |
found in the wet forests OF Hawaii and |
a few other places. But it was not /
until 1850 that the royal palm was
brought here. The seeds were picked !
by slave who climbed a tree in the |
Bishops garden of Havana, Cuba,
brought to Honolulu in DR.. Judd's /
pocket, aud the only tree that was /
raised from them now stands in Mrs. |
Hobron's premises, just above the |
second bridge. This is the parent of |
all the specimens of this noble long |
lived tree, which are seen all over the |
group.
The visit of DR.. Hiliebrand to Java, |
Ceylon and India in 1866, and his |
introduction of numerous valuable |
trees and plants to this country forms |
a new departure in the botanical and |
floral annals of Hawaii nei.
The wine palm, sugar palm, Inga |