Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1897-07-13
w. q. IRWIN on COFFEE.
Continued from 1st Page.

can De grown IN tne hHWdiidu
Islands. Under all circumstances
the industry requires great care,
and with the best success crop
cannot be produced until the third
year, but it will require until the
/ fifth year to make proper profit
on the investment.
A recent report from the For.
eign Department of the Hawaiian
Government states that experience
has shown that the berries grow
best at an elevation of from 500
to 1900 feet above the sea level,
though there are cases where they
have done we'll close to the sea.
1t is evident from the most ca
sual examination of the soil of the
islands that nature has done much
for the coffee industry. Coffee
grows better in a loose, porous
soil and never thrives in heavy,
| clayey ground or in other soil that
holds water. There is very little
of such heavy soil in any of the
islands. The volcanic character
of the soil throughout the country
has rendered vast areas peculiarly
fit for raising coffee to good ad-
vantage.
The report of the Foreign Office
gives the following interesting ac-
count of coffee in the islands:
at is very evident that coffee
will thrive and give good results
in varying conditions of soil and
degrees of heat. In these islands
it grows and produces from very
nearly at the sea level to the eleva.
ton of 1900 feet. The highest
elevation of bearing coffee known
here is twenty five miles from the
town of Hilo and in the celebrated
Olaa district.
with such a range it is evident
that iu tropical climate the cult
walton of coffee presents greater
opportunities for all investor than
other tropical products.
For years it was thought that
coffee would only grow to adj
vantage in the Kona district Of
Hawaii. Practical experiment
has shown that it can be grown
with success in almost any part
of the islands.
1.-The opening up of the Olaa
portion of the Puma district by a
well-macadamized road leading
from Hilo to the volcano may be
regarded as the commencement of
the coffee industry on large
scale on the Hawaiian Islands.
There are now over fifty planta-
tons where six years ago there
was nothing but tangled and
dense forest.
"The' Olaa land is Government
property and can be acquired un-
der the land law. There are still
10000 acres not taken up. The
location 10 very desirable, as there
is direct communication with Hilo
by an excellent road, and the crop
can be readily taken to the ship
ping point. Indeed, it cannot be
long before a railroad will be
built; when this takes place far
larger extent of land will be avail.
able for coffee growing in this Sec
ton of the country. The soil in the
Olaa district is deep and wonder
fully prolific.
"Other portions of Puma also
present many fertile lands, and
coffee plantations in those parts
are coming to the front showing
excellent results. A considera-
BILE number of investors have
opened up coffee plantations in
them, all of which are doing ex.
cellently. These plantations, to
the knowledge of the writer, are
many OF them carried on out of
the savings made by workers in
Honolulu, who are thus preparing
for themselves provision for
their early middle age. On the
island of Hawaii are the great
coffee districts of Olaa, Puma,
Kons and Hamakua, in each of
which thriving coffee plantations
are established, while tens of
thousands of acres of the very
finest lands are yet undisturbed.
Government lands in these dis
tricts are being opened up for
settlement as fast as circumstances
will permit"
On the island of Maui there is a
large area of excellent coffee
lands nuailahla for cultivation