Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1899-07-27
From hiIo, Hawaii.

From hiIo, Hawaii.
HMo, 81. l., Juno Is, '99.
GRI0Gs COURIER:
As my letters seem to be appreciated
by your readers, and as promised
to tell you something of the soil and
productions of this part which is
called Kaiwihi. In this, as we'll as
other tropical countries. every half
mile has some name peculiar to itself.
And as I live in Kaiwihi I shall write
from there in the future; but remember
Hilo is the postoffice.
Well, in the first place the soil is
decomposed lava. In Kaiwihi it is
from 10 to Is feet, and nowhere less
than 3 to 4 feet. Then you come to
the lava proper which looks like a
ledge of blueish stone and not very
hard. Soil of this kind contains
neither sand or lime, and looks some-
thing like red earth paint; for all
tropical plants it is very fertile rs
they have very little lime in their
composition. but for temperate pro-
ducts this deficiency has to be sup
piled by some featilizer. But rs a
whole the soil is considered quite
fertile Now I will name some of the
products of Kaiwiki. They are sugar
cane, coffee, bananas, oranges,
lemons, lines, citron tree, figs,
guavas, pine-apples, pomegranates,
water-melons, avocadopear, mangoes,
loquota and last but not least in my
estimation comes what is known here
as the Kaiwiki berry, but is known in
the estates" as the strawberry-rasp-
berry-strawberry by its taste and
raspberry by its looks. The bush it
grows on is very large and beautiful,
1t is just little finer than either the
strawberry or raspberry. And an
other great feature of it is that it has
no season. 1t is prolific bearer and
the bushes are hanging loaded all the
year around with large red berries.
am planting quite large patch just
outside my kitchen door.
Well. as this ends the tropical, will
tell you something of the temperate
fruits that are raised without fertiliz-
ing. First comes peaches, they grow
and bear lots of fruit, but lack the
flavor of the peaches in the estates. "
Next comes grapes, they are prolific
bearers and of extra good flavor. they
have to be seen and tasted in order to
be appreciated. They sell in Hilo at
from Is to 25 cents per pound. I guess
they are not generally grown on the
island, but here in Kaiwiki one can
have them all the year around. l
have two large arbors set out and
now have some grapes nearly ripe.
Now as to potatoes and garden truck.
Potatoes grow we'll here in Kaiwiki,
and have an extra fine flavor. Think
they taste as good as North Dakota
potatoes and you know that is saying
a good deal, but you have to use
fertilizer. They seem to want alkaloids
of some kind. Common wood ashes
are good and those that don't have
ashes use potash Or bone-meal. They
always sell readily at from II to 2
cents per pound, commonly at 81 per
bushel. And it is easy to produce 200
bushels per acre. Cabbage, cauli-
flower, radishes, onions, beans, and
in fact all Kind of garden truck does
we'll here, by supplying the kind of
fertilizer it needs. Nothing ever wants
for rain here and none of these things
have any particular season, just plant
any time. If you don't get it done to
day (no Pilikia) plant it tomorrow.
The word "Pilikia'' is used her to ex-
press trouble, or as we would say "no
difference. In fact anything you
would want it to mean. The health
of my family and myself continues
good. I will send temperature for
May and June, up to the present date
taken as before.
Temperature taken at a. M, u M,
Mo, 6a.7n.Ra Nav 90 GO.7O.f8.