The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-28

lsoil and weather. We must take of
our plant cane early, as It deteriorates
SO soon after tasselling, and the wet
ter and owrse the weather the
quicker We ought to do it; SO that with
| Us we want good weather 70 ensure us
a good start for our rat0ons.
| We cultivate our rat0Ons as follows:
As soon as the trash is burnt off we
| start five plOWs between the burrows.
then when the young cane is high
| enough we fertilize with 500 10 500
| pounds Of the same fertilizer that we
use on the plant cane and with n. dou-
| bic mouldboard pillow we throw the
| dirt towards the cane, afterwards no.
| ing 1t and watering between the cane
| 1t takes a great deal Of water doing il
that way III our thin soil. and we think
| that killing up in the furrow would be
| better, and we are going TO try that
| method next year. The last few Jears
we nave cleaned out all the gulches,
| cutting deep bitches UP through the
| lowest parts, getting down below the
DOGGY places. Lined them good with
from tour TO eight barrels per acre, ac-
| cordlng 10 the condition OF the place
| we have planted them, and have had
gooa success Some parts, where it
was very sour land, the stools OF the
ratoons nave rotted the first time, but
cultivation improves that.
[ may state that with us we must
earry out the old dictum in irriga-
ton, viz: "Irrigate from the highest
points and drain from the lowest"
Every little hollow or gulch that we
plant We must put in drain ditch.
In hn
water and use it over again, and in one
gulch Of about mile long we use it
over three times. Lining the land is
good; we are trying some experiments
and will be able to give some data aft
er orr crop Of 1901. We find we can
not crop continuously; no amount of
fertilizer mineral fertilizer) applied
will give US a paying crop, say, after
the first two crops; so we let the land
to be- planted lie over one year, apply
ing all the refuse from the mill, waste
molasseS, surplus trash, sweepings
from the cane-carriers, blood from the |
slaughter-house, stable manure and |
night soil from the auarters-anything |
and everything that will improve or
make soil we put on the poor places in |
helds nearest to where the material is |
handy. II We had stable manure to |
cover. all our lands we might, with |
mineral fertilizers, plant them right |
along; as there seems to be nothing to |
equal a dressing of stable manure |
ploWed in and mineral fertilizer ap-
plleC after the cane comes. up But |
stable manure, like trash from the |
mill, is very bulky, making it very
costly to handle anywhere hut near to |
whore it is mad9.
SOILS.
Sell chemists say that fhe bacteria |
that prepare food for plants are act |
i've IS inches from the surface; that |
being so, the question of crops ought |
to be, one of arithmetic on the Islands, |
all conditions being equal-depth of |
soiE, heat and moisture Dr. Maxwell,
in his work on "Lavas and Soils"
page 1885, gives the following table:
Approximate Yield Sugar
No of Acreas Fer Acre. |
Dank r8d soils $4,000 1O.4i1 lbs |
Yellow and
light red
soils ...... $4,000 1921 lbs.
cs9dinusn ary,
soils ......~ 20,00gs, 10,301 lbs. !
Most all dark red and sedimentary
soils are deeper than IS inches, anal
I. think in tropical countries animal
life goes deeper than in temperate
ones, as cane and grass roots will be
found at greater depth than Is incl1-
IS In dark re dsoils. SO we may take
it that as eighteen inches and more of I
good soil is to 0,367 poands of sugar
(average yield of dark red and sedi-
soils) so is any number of
inches to the answer. yellow and, light
red soils produce more In proportion to
The depth Of soil than the dark red,
etc. soils, as, no dOubt, the cultivation
has to be more thoroughly done: that
will perhaps give food for thought to
some folk who sf1ink and say that cane
raising Is only a matter of fertilizers
Granting that the first six inches of
soil is better than the next six inches
and So on, thare is still big difference
in favor of the yellow and light red
soils, in spite of the fact that dark
red soils have the better climate on
the lee side. of the ISLANDS.
[ would suggest that there be expert
meats made on all kinds of soils on
all Of the Islands supervised by the
Station, the same as ag-
ricultural experimental stations and
al utiuS III Oh IIht |
world. The work could be done by
the plantations the same as farmers
are doing; but the directing and tabu-
ating Of results should be done by
trained men. This thing of having an
station where conditions
IF soil, heat and moisture are alto
5ether different TO where the greater
part Of the Islands crops are grown is
Of little use. II is known that Eva
crops are large per acre; what we want
TO know is, can it be done or ap-
preached on yellow and light red soils?
f so, how?