El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-07-10
THE

chinery, which is imported from Amer
| lea. It's first pumps came from New
! York, and it has just now put III others
made by Frazer & Chalmers, of Chicago,
at cost OF about $50 600. In another
plantation near the Eva they are put
ting in machinery built by the Worth
ingtOn Pump company, Of New York,
! and | am told that this plantation alone
will spend something like 500, 900 on its
extensions this year.
| | learn that there is little undevelopss
ed sugar land left in the islands. Such
! new plantations as are made will have
to be irrigated by means of artesian
! wells, and the cost is so great that it
will require very large capital. The
last three plantations which have been
J established have cost respectively,
$780, 100000 and $1,000, 900.
There is no room in sugar for the
S mall capitalist, and all of the planta-
tiOns are now managed by stock COM
panies. 1t takes l6 months to grow
| made in four years. Fertilizers to the
! amount of 800, 900 were used on the
cane there last year, and more than
half of this fertilizing matter was i'm
ported.
THE GUANO FIELDS OF HAWAII.
Much OF the rel ainder of the fertil-
izer came from the guano fields of the
Sandwich Islands. If the country is
annexed Uncle Sam will add to his
population an enormous colony of
birds On Layson Island, which is far
to the westward, there are thousands
and thousands of sea gulls. They COW
er the island, walking, as it were over
the beds of guano made by themselves
and their ancestors. These birds are
so thick that you have to kick them
aside as you walk about the island.
They are exceedingly tame, and by
law, no shooting is allowed there. |
There are several overseers and they
have to build little paliug fences around |
their cottages to keep the birds from |
crawling upon the porches and going |
into the houses. The young gulls are |
told that when the overseers or labor
ers want birds on toast for breakfast |
they go out with club and knock |
over couple and bring them in to the |
cook.
FORTUNES IN COFFEE RAISING.
The Hawaiians here at Washington
say that the best chance for the large |
or small investor in Hawaii just now is |
in coffee lands. There is a large amount
of such lands in the islands They lie |
just above the sugar belt, at an altitude |
of from 1000 to 5000 feet above the
sea, giving the planter the finest eli
mate in the world. Good lands can be |
bought on the market for $50 an acre,
but the government, which is very anx-
iOus TO have small investors, is selling
its government lands to home steaders |
for from $40 to $15 an acre. Fifty |
acres make a good sized plantation for |
one man to attend to. The work is |
more like orcbarding than farming.
The trees have to be carefully trimmed |
and taken care of.
They begin to bear about the third |
yrno l,fh
good crop. Then the plantation forms |
an Independent living for the remain
der of mans life, and good inheri-
lance for his children. 1t takes some |
labor, however, to make such plauta- |
ton, and man should have at least |
So, 600 ahead at the start. l have be- |
fore me an estimate of the cost of MAIN |
tanning a plantation of seventy we |
acres for seven years, including the |
purchase of the land and the construc-
ton Of all the buildings. This shows |
an expenditure of 81 900 at the close
of the third year. The fourth year
such plantation should produce 81. 900 |
pounds of coffee and bring in an income
of SlO,8 800. The fifth year should pay
200, and the sixth year, according !
to these figures, $4,000. and at that
time leave the planter $4,000 ahead.
By the close of the next year be will be |
$40, 900 ahead, and will have practically |
made a fortune, In this estimate the |
clearing of the land, fencing. the pur-
chas ng of the plants and tools, the |
salary of a manager, who gets 81 200 a |
year, the paying of nine Japanese as
laborers and the preparation of the |
coiee for the market are included. |
How close the figures are | do not |
know, but they were prepared by the |
department of foreign affairs of the |
Hawaiian government, a ffty'acre |