The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1896-11-13

Dy lack CT roads The Government has
entered upon an active course of con-
struction of first-class macadam roads.
in order TO open such lands to settle
ment. They can be supplied as fast as
they are AT present likely to be wanted.
There are at least 300,000 acres of good
coffee lands on Hawaii, oprobably 10
times as much as on the smaller is
lands. The very best of these lands
now available are those in the up
lapfs of Kona, which has given its
name to cur choicest coffee. Perhaps
not inferior in quality will be the cof-
fee raised in the web forests along the
new Volcano road in the district of
Olaa. Neighboring districts in Puma
are now being opened by new roads.
FOR SMALL FARMERS.
On this island of Oahu are tracts of
small extent where coffee fiourishes.
IN sufficiently moist localities the trade
winds generally drive too steadily. A
fine plantation of 60 acres is now be-
ginning to bear abundantly in Wal
amaze under the lee of high mountain,
and 1000 feet up its slope. Other
small plantations are starting in the
same district For the ordinary farm
er, who raises most of his household
supplies, coffee will abundantly furnish
his needed cash resources. Ten acres
will be little fortune to such set
tier, and all he can handle without
great outlay for hired labor. Six acres
of coffee trees will be as much as he
and his family can keep in order, pick
and prepare for market. The other
four acres will keep his cows, pigs and
poultry, and furnish garden supplies
for the household. From the six acres
the gross yield will be from $500 to
81 900 per annum. Most of the labor
after planting is very light, well suit
ed to women and children.
For his food, in district moist
enough for coffee, the settler can al
ways depend on an abundant yield of
| corn, sweet potatoes, tara, squashes,
poultry, pork and dairy products, with
more or less beef and mutton. Irish
potatoes do well only on the higher
uplands, and, together with wheat
| flour, will have to be imported from
the Pacific Coast. Cabbages, onions,
string beans, tomatoes, beets, turnips,
thrive in gardens everywhere.
1t seems quite safe to say that coffee
will always be the export product most
available for the Independent small
! farmer in Hawaii. 1t is easily pro-
duced, by reasonable skill and care,
and comparatively sure crop. The
| yield on a small space is highly re-
| munerative. For a large area the
amount of light manual labor needed
is a drawback. With from three to
five acres most of the picking and weed
ing can be done by the wife and chill
dren of the settler. Being worth 20
cents a pound, the cost of transporta-
tion is small percentage. Compared
with the toll and hardship of set
tiers life in Dakota or Washington,
the labor of farmer in Kona or Oiaa
| is light and easy, and his bodily COM
fort great. Nowhere else can sooner
or more easily be created a home,
charming outside with trees and flow
ers or pleasant within with apartments
open to the balmy air. On the coffee
uplands the nights are invariably cool,
often needing stove warmth in the
evening. Mosquitoes are apt to give
trouble at night; never in daytime.
| But we sleep under MEETINGS. Then we
! get used to the little wretches and do
not mind them.
Three hundred thousand acres of
coffee lands give room for 10000 fam
| lilies, or population of 100000. 1t
seems probable that in 20 years after
the annexation of these islands there
would be population of over 100000
thus supported. Added to this would
be town population of storekeepers,
mechanics, ETC., TO meet the wants of
the rural people. Altogether, with
commercial interestes, sugar and cot
fee, as means of support, aside from
many minor resources, we easily fig
ure out employment for over 100000
of American population to settle here
within 20 years after annexation. This
estimate seems a very conservative
one, and could easily be stretched to 80
or even 100 per cent more. Altogether,
it is not unreasonable to anticipate
that by 1920 there would be prosper
Gus white population of $1,000, in ad-
dition to what remained of the present
$4,000 native and $4,000 Asiatics.
FRUIT RAISING.
Much will be done in producing ruiz
here for expectation. We are now ex-
porting bananas and pineapples. The
latter fruit has been taken up only
within five years. A considerable
quantity of pines have been shipped
green to California at small profit, on
account of duties. This year a can
merry makes an output of 5000 cases of
sliced, as well as of grated, pineapples
for expectation. This fruit thrives |
here wonderfully. 1t needs a very |
moderate amount of moisture and |
fiourishes on drier lands where other |
staples will not Five thousand pines |
will be raised on one acre, year after |