The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-12-27

IR 81, 1897.
as the koa and a number of native
trees grow readily from seed An or
binary laborer can dig thirty TO thirty
five holes. three feet square per day.
Put the subsoil in the bottom and fill
up the hole Let il lie a few days 10
sweeten The next man can put in
seed tthree) in four or five hundreds
OF these hills or holes day.
In six months, under proper condi-
lions, you Will have Z tree that will
not cost FIVE Ger The planters and
land owners along this highway ought
TO assist the Government in this good
work The Hiloites in particular have
received their full share of benefits in
the way of roads from our Government.
We rode thirty miles in one direction
and twenty miles in another from Hllo.
over a better road than any that we
have travelled over in the country dis
tricts of California.
On our visit to Kauai it was our
good fortune to have manager Wolters
of the Lihue plantation take us through
the new forest. There are 600 acres.
planted principally in native trees, such
as koa. kOu, hau, ohia, iron wood, gum,
etc. The trees are planted twenty feet
apart. 1t was beautiful sight to see
this new forest of young green trees
two. three and four years old. Mr..
Wolters said they plant two to three
hundred of acres year as well as
doing the work of laying out roads on
avenues forty feet wide through the
forest. These trees are planted at very
little cost. The work of common la
borer for one day is thirty-five to forty
holes, and the next man plants three
seeds each in three or four hundred
holes The seed costs nothing as they
grow on the land.
AVAILABLE LAND.
We notice with regret that on Ha-
waii as on Oahu, the Government has
so little available first-class agricul
tural land. Most of the best lands are
under long leases to plantations or
are owned by wealthy individuals and
held for speculative purposes. They
are not being cultivated or improved
as they should be; consequently they
proportion towards the expenses of
Government If this policy of large
holders continues the influx of invest
ors to Honolulu and Hilo will soon be
checked.
The Waiakea plantation has % or
"a years lease of 10000 acres or more
| from the Government The land is
within the nighbOrhood of Hilo. The
Government should not delay making
fair and honorable propositions to have
| the unimprOved land under this lease
| cancelled and divided OF course a
large area of this land is worthless. 1t
is probable, however, that there are
10000 acres now unimprOved that could
be used for horticulture.
At Piihonua there are $4,000 acres of
Government land under twenty years
lease to John Baker Mr.. Frank Win
ter took us to this land, adjoining the
Hilo Sugar Company's estate. On &C
count of the large trees and dense I'M
dergrowth we could not examine it in
detail, but we could see an immense
crater-like fiat or plateau, and we were
told by the head luna of the Hilo plan
tation and by Mr.. Winter that this
fiat contained 10000 acres or more OF
that kind of land We saw ditch run
into this Baker land by the plantation
to obtain water Here the depth Of the
soil was some eight or ten feet, and
of the richest kind. In our opinion this
land is equal to the best we saw at
Olaa, if not superior on account of its
fairness and the fact that it is only four
or five miles from the town of HilO
On the Hamakua side of the "a ZOO
acres Mr.. Baker has large cattle run
which is one of the causes of the
gradual destruction of the beautiful
forest This lease the Government
should purchase and divide up for small
settlers.
Our Land Act of 1895 is excellent
and the terms upon which land can
be obtained are most liberal and en-
cOuraging Yet, to man without
money, these lands are absolutely
valueless. In our next bulletin or in
our report to the Minister of the In.
terror, we shall give our views more
in detail concerning the working Of
the Homestead Act, Land Monopoly
etc.
We have read with great Interest
Mr.. K S. Gjerdrums able and instruc
tive article on forestry. In his report
to the forestry committee, he writes
Let this association take the initia
tory steps; let all the members of Oul
association stand one by another anG
do their share on their own lands.
We only hope Mr. Gjerdrum will fol
low Carl VOTERS example.
Tho rvritor will no ono Of fUapfy m or
who will pay the round trip passage
to Paris in 1900 of anyone who viii
Systematically plant and maintain 60'
acres of forest on his own land or or
that of the Government, under lease
on the plan on which the Lihue fores
is planted. No doubt hundred club
similar to the one suggested could By
formed. What an enviable position
such a man would have in Paris whel
introduced as the man from Hawai-
uho poodo 1Q0 0On frooc orou, or