The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-01-19
CASTOR OIL CULTIVATION.
WILL NOT PROVE A PEST LIKE
LANTANA.
c. Koelling cites From Experience.
Advises Planting on Coffee Planta-
tions for Additional Income

EDITOR STAR:-Concerning the Gull
tivation of the castor bean / have been
asked as to the fears expressed that it
may prove as great a pest as lantana
let me say that though Mr.. Sinclair of
Kauai is cited to have grown them for
the market 20 years ago, l have never
heard since the enterprise was aban-
doned on account of not being able to
manufacture a marketable article. that
Mr.. Sinclair complained that the castor
bean having become a pest or a him
drance to any other farming industries.
/ do not know at what time the castor
beans We're introduced into this couu-
try but l know that 80 years ago there
were more costor beans growing wild in
this country than at present. l have
never heard any cane planter complain
of the castor bean being a hindrance or
giving trouble to the growing of cane
or of any other product nor of paying
out money for the determination of this
plant as is done to check the spread of
lantana. | do not know how the castor
trees behave in California, nor by what
means the farmers there destroy them.
To my knowledge the trees are easily
killed by cutting them close above the
tap root, while the stumps remaining
in the ground will rot away in two or
three months. 1t is not like lantana or
guava of which every small root left in
the ground will grow again. Birds and
cattle distribute lantana or guava seed
everywhere, but not so with the castor
bean. If not assisted it will only grow
in out of way places.
The cultivation of castor beans will
greatly assist the rainfall. In a short
time (say one year, it produces on good
coil fine forest and by it's mass of
foliage shadows the ground and attracts
the moisture in the atmosphere. The
dead trunks and branches are a very
good substitute for firewood.
The Commission says that in its opin-
ION II costs as much to gather as coffee
do know what it costs to gather 100
lbs. of clean castor beans. One laborer
Will in one day cut as many punches of
beans in the husk as will produce 100
lbs. clean beans. They are worth $500;
the labor at 20 cents per day, leave a
plus of $1.30. All that is necessary after
cutting the lunches is to strip them of
the stem, and expose the seeds for a
day to the sun, when they will crack
open, and, so to say, jump out of the
skin, rake off the husks, lift the seeds
China fashion, let the wind blow out
the remaining dust, and the beans are
ready for market.
1t is not necessary to sort the beans
provided they are not cut when unripe
When the green skin covering the
berries shrinks and cracks open. they
are ripe and should be cut. To COM
pare the castor bean cultivation with
coffee, l will say this much that castor
beans can be cultivated successfully
on land that would not produce coffee
in quantities to pay. Land exposed to
NRrir Il fg1x~
rich enough, is good for the cultivation
of castor beans. From 5 to months
they begin TO bear and are a source of
| income to the cultivator. The castor
| tree Will grow for at least ten years
and the crops increase from year to
year after the first harvest. There is
I but very little cultivation after the
trees are year old, provided they We're
kept clean of weeds up to that time
I am not in a position to say what the
| yield per acre would be, as the Oldest
trees on my plantation are only 10
months old, but l expect from 5000 to
1000 pounds per acre from two year old
trees. The ripe seeds are gathered at
/ least once a month. The common
| Hawaiian bean should not be culti-
waited as it does not yield as much as
| imported kinds and is not as easily
cleaned nor is the oil as good as from
/ imported seeds.
| l am willing to supply anybody wish
| ing to plant castor beans with the best
imported seeds. AS regards the market
] for the beans I am willing to purchase
/ all that are offered. great number
| of trees have been planted as shade
| trees on coffee plantations and / would
suggest to the coffee planter to have
/ the ripe beans gathered for the market
| instead of paying money to cut down
! the unripe punches. They will soon
discover that instead of being an ex-
pense to them, they would yield an in
come along side of their coffee crops,
and on young plantations for sooner
than the coffee itself.
c. KOELLING.
Kaneohe, January II.