The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-08-30
COFFEE INDUSTRY
". R. Castle Predicts a Great
Future for 1t on Hawaii.
HIS VISIT TO KAU AND K0NA
Facts and Figures from Actual Re-
suits Show Coffee Culture
to be Success.
HIS VISIT TO KAU AND KONA

Have you any objection to being in
terviewed, Mr.. Castle, on your recent
trip to Hawaii?''
None whatever, only there is not
much to say about the volcano, for l
wrote quite fully of the eruption on
the return of our party from the source
of the flow, all of which the public has
seen, as we'll as Mr. Rhodes very en-
tertaining account published in the
Star. l hear from visitors just down
from Hawaii that earthquakes still
continue. One resident of Hilo says he
every thirty-siX hours. 1t certainly
looks as though the volcanic activity
is not yet spent. 1 believe that there
will be further eruptions and not un-
likely "a heavy flow of pahoehoe. Tour
lists will yet see something we'll worth
a journey from the East or even fur
ther away
You did not return with most of
your party. Where did you go after
they left?''
Il had business in Kona, so rode
overland from Kilauea to Kailua. talk
ing about ten days on the trip. | have
heard so much about the failure of
coffee as possible industry at the
Islands that | made special examina-
Of
ton among those who are planting. A
little has been planted in Kau AS you
know that is very windy district and
many have predicted failure from that
cause. But 1 found not only consider
able amounts of what is called wild
coffee, which looked clean and healthy
and bearing a good crop this season,
but learned that a number of persons
have set out small lots with coffee and
where it has been planted in valleys
or other sheltered spots it is doing re-
markably well. The deep gorges and
recesses back of Hilea, especially on
those homesteads which were set off in
Ninole, have been utilized to quite an
extent for the purpose"
mo one doubts, Mr.. Castle" said
the reporter, that coffee will grow
most anywhere in the Islands, but can
it be grown so as to pay, at present
prices? Can poor man go into that
industry and support family?''
Yes, unquestionably. Let me go on
and tell simply what L saw and what
cultivators tell me. l believe that Ko-
ma is prominently the place for sue
cessful coffee-growing in these ISL
ands, but hear this from Kau: One
planter said: My field of about ten
acres gave me its first crop (more than
a few stray berries) last year. 1t was
picked. l rejected all green
or partly ripe berries, so my pickers
learned that they lost money to pick |
contrary to orders. My total crop was
bags. Fourteen of these, |
after careful sorting, 1 kept here and |
sold for what L could get, ranging from |
to II cents. Seventy bags went to |
California and / got Is cents a pound |
for it, and the brokers say that for |
such coffee they will guarantee always |
he best price. Yes, it paid me. After /
leducting all expenses, shall have be-
,ween $500 and $400 clear profit over
Ill expenses for the year, and believe
hat a larger field will do correspond
ngly well. This year there will be a
,uller crop. For the first year my
ield cost me $40 for price of land and
encing per acre; clearing the land S25;
loleing and planting SIS, and wedding
md pruning, S24, so that aside from
cost Of the land it cost S64 per acre.
The next year the expense was, of
course, much less, and it will be so
Zach year. This planter regards cof-
zee as an assured success.
I'm South Kona I found Mr.. Buch-
lolz' farm at Papa one of the prettiest
nd most inviting places in the Islands.
lie has a beautiful home with tasteful
The house-lot is love-
Y picture. Roses and other flowers
ire growing with great luXuriance.
fruit has begun to repay his expert
nents in tree-planting, and by his in
work problem is likely to
De solved; that is, can the fruits OF (
he temperate zones be grown here ad-
7antageously? But his is a coffee
arm, and his fields are refreshing TO
he eye There can be no doubt that
le will be absolutely successful. His