The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-04-26
HAWA1rs SUGAR INDUSTRY.

Sugar culture began on the Hawaiian
Islands over sixty years ago. In 1851 the
product of sugar. with the crude wood
en- and stone horse mills and inferior
kettles, was not over one ton per acre.
In 1880 the total crop Of the Islands was
reported at only 30,V.v tons. The sugar
industry was given a tremendous impe-
tus by the reciprocity treaty with the
United States in 1876 by which all raw
sugars were admitted free of duty. The
industry moved forward by almost
leaps and bounds after the ratification
of this treaty. 1t was seriously depress-
ed by the passage of the Mckinley bill,
which permitted raw sugars to be i'm
ported free of duty, and gave bounty
upon domestic sugars 1t was claimed
by some that under the reciprocity trea-
ty the United States ought to have paid
the bounty to the Hawaiian planters. 1t
rallied again upon the removal of the
bounty and the re-establishment of du-
ty Since the adoption of the Dingley
bill 1t has enjoyed a period of unprece-
dented prosperity. Immense improve
ments have been made, consisting of up
to-date capacious machinery In the su-
gar house, steam plows and harrows In
the field. enormous pumping plants for
irrigation. etc. Annexation. which in
creased the confidence OF the public in
the future of the industry, and gave
higher values to plantation stock, has
also caused a considerable increase in
the price of labor, the latter being the
largest factor which enters into the eX-
pense of sugar-making. Sugar Is cultivat-
ed on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Kauai
and Oahu. The table lands surrounding
the islands at an elevation of from 20 to
500 feet constitute the chief sugar areas.
Nearly every acre adaptable to cane Gull
ture on these four islands Is under cul-
tivation, and the probability OF a much
larger extension of the industry Is small.
In the effort to obtain the large profits
now incident to sugar culture, extensive
sugar estates have been recently opened,
cultivated and irrigated. An experience
of two years has proven that on some
of them the water of irrigation is too
salty for sugar cane, and hence these es-
1 tates had to be closed and all prospects
| of growing sugar thereon abandoned.
There are about sixty plantations on
the islands, which yielded last year 2S9,-
544 tons of sugar. These plantations
have about 100000 acres in cane, one-half
of which is harvested every year. The
yield per acre varies greatly, according
to character of the soil, position OF the
plantation on the island, whether in the
rainy or ra'nless belts, etc. Under irri-
CATION as much as eleven tons per acre
has been the average OF one plantation.
Individual acres have given much higher
yields. Upon the rainy side of the ISL
ands the yields are less, but so are the
expenses, and the net gains from each
do not vary much.
There are sixty eight sugar companies
on the islands, of which sixty own their
sugar houses and manufacture their
cane These are distributed as follows:
Twenty-n!ne on Hawaii, twelve on Maui.
nine on oahu, and eighteen on Kauai
The sugar produced last year Is as fol
lows: Hawaii, 1l5.224 tons; Maui, 5747
tons; Oahu, 53,G25 tons Kauai, 633iS
tons; or a total of 7S9,5l4 tons,-American
Grocer.