The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-09-18

| would ask for his corn. This place is
at the IL mile post; one mile above the
point wehere scientific men will tell
you coffee growing can be made profit
able. Potatoes grow in abundance in
Olaa, some of them weigh two or three
pounds, but they are not potatoes
such as you could recommend to your
friends, because they are soggy. Pump
kins and corn grow to an alarming
extent At Fulchers pumpkins weigh
ing eighty and ninety pounds are COM
mon but they do not size up we'll in
Thanksgiving pie. So with the corn.
Ears of corn will measure fourteen
INCHES in length and two inches in
diameter but the kernels do not fill
out as we'll as a farmer would wish.
clearings of a dozen acres and grow
corn and pumpkins to feed to hogs
which they could raise economically,
they would run better chances of be-
coming wealthy than by putting all
their eggs in one basket.
Go down below fourteen miles and
the enthusiastic coffee grower has the
| same chance as his Olaa neighbor in
side speculations and better one in
raising coffee for the simple reason
that the average precipitation and
rainfall is less than at higher eleva-
ton. The plantation of Eldart, Sr.
neglected though it may appear is
filled with stocky trees we'll loaded with
berries. A little higher up VIM. Ship
| man has a place entirely in the open
that looks like a garden, inviting in
appearance and with good indications
for the future. The cost of clearing
the land here must certainly be less
! than further up the road and if proper
| ly started, the expense of keeping
clean will not be more than half what
it is in Olaa.
At eleven miles, and adjoining the
plantation of Mr.. Shipman is the small
plot of Peter Lee of Volcano House
fame.
This gentleman has 27 acres planted
| in the open and in measure exposed
| to the wind, and objection which may
be overcome at any time by making
a windbreak of strawberry guava or
banana trees. The owner paid, by con-
tract, $21.30 per acre for clearing, hol-
| ing, filing and planting and the holes
were 1S inches wide and the same
number deep. He has today three men
| taking care of the 27 acres and this
| includes wedding, and whatever else
may be necessary, at a cost of 81 per
acre per month.
| Mr. Lee has adopted different me-
| thods from most coffee men in that he
| uses a Planet Jr. cultivator, treating
| his field in exactly the same manner
as the Eastern farmer does his field of
corn The character of his soil is
adapted to it and without the cultiva-
! tor the expense would have been much
greater and with less satisfactory re-
suits. The average days work in hand
wedding is one hundred trees, with a
| cultivator Mr.. Lee has cleaned five
rows on land never before cultivated.
| This shows that he may do in five
hours with his cultivator what would
require Is men one entire day to ac-
complish.
There seems to be no doubt that the
constant stirring of the soil, exposing
it to sunlight must be conducive tC
good results. 1t keeps it free from
weeds and adds strength and life tc
the trees. AS protection to the later
al roots, Mr. Lee has placed around
each tree three or four pieces of ferr
trunks, the action of the weather dur.
ing the first three years will cause
these to rot and become capital fertl
lizer, and at the end of that time the
weeds will be killed off.
If by any chance, however, occasion
al weeds should spring up after tn
trees have assumed a growth that vii
interfere with the working OF the cul
tivator they may be easily removed
by hand at a comparatively slight cost
Mr.. Lees coffee trees average L
months since planting and range II
height from feet to feet lnche
the lowest and poorest being in patel
of an acre where he adopted the Koni
method of ferning between the trees
a plan which is satisfactory in kon
where bright sunshine is the rule rath
! er than the exception and where art1
fetal means are necessary to retail
the moisture around the trees.
At the present rate Mr.. Lee estimate
the cost of his trees at the expiration
of five years TO be $3.50 per acre. Fo
the same period in certain parts O
Olaa the cost may run fifty per cent
above this for reason that the soil
not adapted to the use of the cultivate
: and wedding must be done entirely b
hand.