The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-01-17
CASTOR BEANS
How They Can be Made
Profitable.
A Crop Which May be Easily and
Safely Cultivated on ISL
and Soil.

Editor Advertiser:-In the Pacifi,
Commercial Advertiser of Jan. 9Th is
publication under the head of SINAI
Farming Industries" especially con
corning the growing of castor beans.
am asked for correction of any error.
concerning the cultivation of castor
beans and hope the article below viii
fully explain that there is no danger
whatsoever in planting castor beans
for commercial purposes. The public i;
warned to plant them lest they might
turn out 10 be such a pest as lantana
Mr. Sinclair of Kauai is cited to have
grown them for the market twenty
years ago, but have never heard since
the enterprise was abandoned on ac-
count of not being able to manufacture
a marketable article, that Mr.. Sinclair
complained of the castor bean having
/ become a pest or hindrance to any
other farming industries. / do not
know at what time castor beans were
introduced into this country. but /
know that thirty years ago there were
more castor beans growing wild in this
country as at the present date. l have
not heard of any cane planter to com
plain Of the castor bean being a him
drance or giving trouble to the growing
Of cane or any other product, nor to
pay out money for the determination of
this plantas is done to check the spread
of lantana. l do not know how the
castor trees behaved themselves in Cal
ifornia and by what means the farmers
there destroy them. To my knowledge
the trees are easily killed by cutting
them close above the taproot, while
the stump 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 and guava seeds every where,
but not so with the castor bean. If not
assisted it will only grow in out of the
way places. The Commission deplores
the destruction of our native forests.
and justly enough, because the natural
water supply will suffer and be greatly
diminished. But to the contrary with
the cultivation of castor beans. which
greatly assists the rainfall. In short
time (say one year, il produces on good
soil a fine forest and by it's mass of
foliage shades the ground and attracts
the moisture in the atmosphere The
dead trunks and branches are a very
good substitute for firevoOd. The Com
mission also says, that in their opinion
it costs as much to gather a bag of
clean castor beans as it costs to /
gamer a bag of coffee. / do not know /
what it costs to gather one hundred /
pounds of clean coffee, but l know the /
cost of gathering one hundred pounds
of clean castor beans. One laborer will.
during a days work, cut as many
punches to produce a one hundred
pounds clean beans. They are worth
$500, the labor being at 20 cents per
day, thus leaving a plus of s13O. AL
that is necessary after cutting the
lunches is to strip them off the stem
and expose the seeds for a day to the
sun when they will crack open, and so
70 say jump out of the husk. Take off
he husk, lift the beans China fashion.
let the wind blow out the remaining
lust, and the beans are ready for mar
let. 1t is not necessary to sort the
beans. provided they are not cut when
lnripe. When the green skin covering
he berries shrinks and cracks open,
hey are ripe and should be cut.
10 compare the castor bean cultiva-
ion with coffee, / will say this much.
hat castor beans can be cultivated sue
.ejsfully on land that would not pro-
luce coffee in quantities to pay. Land
exposed to wind or only moderately
moist. if otherwise rich enough IS good
or the cultivation of castor beans. In
rom five to eight months they begin to
ear and are a source Of income to the }
uitivatOr. The castor tree will grow
or at least ten years and the crops in
rease from year to year after the first \
aryest. There is but very little cul-
lvattOn after the trees are a year old
rovided they were kept clean of weeds
p TO that time. / am not in a position
D say what the yield per acre from full
rown trees would be. as the oldest
-ees on my plantation are only fifteen
lonths old, but l expect from 5000 to
200 pounds per acre from two year old
'ees. The ripe seeds are gathered at
East once a month. The common Ha-
allan bean should not be cultivated as
does not yield as much as other i'm
Orted kinds and is not as easily clean
nor is the oil as good as from i'm
Orted seeds.
/ am willing to supply anybody who
.lshes 10 plant castor beans with the
est Imported seeds. As regards the
.arket for the beGn ms l am willing To
lrchase all that are offered. A great II
lm0er Of trees have been planted as n
lade trees on coffee plantations and I :,
ould suggest to the coffee planters to -
ave the ripe beans gathered for the
arket instead of paying out money to q.
II down the unripe punches. They II
Ih soon discover that instead Of being -
expense to them they would yield an =
come alongside OF their coffee crops W
ID on young plantations far sooner h
an the coffee itself. All that is neces- X
ry for gathering the leans are a pair X,
pruning shears and light box such
hard bread box. Men go from tree
tree cutting off the ripe punches La
I'D the seeds ny onca f-or, oer a.