The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-12-06
BLOSSOM SONN, PALM
STREWN LAND Of HAWAII
Interesting Story by Los Angeles
Man About Visit to Pacific
Ocean Paradise.

! summer clothing. and the sun shine.
brightly. The line between sunshin.
and shadow is very closely defined. anC
If Jean Ingelow's miIkmaid had beer
a Honolulu girl she might, in reply t
the question, Where do You live my
pretty fair maid?" very APPROPRIATED
have answered, in the sweet Hawaiian
way, Il live mauka; makai Pail; just
three showers up Nuuanu."
! The principal industry of the Islands
| Is the growing of cane and the manu-
| facture of sugar. This is true of Oahu,
as Of all other islands of the group.
There are number of smaller indus
tries, however, which are from a tour
lists standpoint interesting, and among
them, in the vicinity of Honolulu, one
notes the growing of bananas, pine
apples, taro and rice. OF these the
culture of rice is perhaps the most
profitable. 1t forms the principal arti-
Gle of diet among the Chinese and Jap
anese, and as there are more than
$4,000 of them in the group, it will
readily be seen that there is a home
market for all the rice which can be
produced. Again, the area upon which
loWland rice may be grown in very linn
tied, as the conditions of successful
culture call for land that may be
flooded or drained as occasion may re-
quire Rice land is, therefore, quite
valuable, and some Of the best in Wal
pho Valley, in Hawaii, commands an
annual rental of $50 per acre. Very
Little of the rice grown in Hawaii ever
finds its way to a foreign market. A
shfDload was sent to San Francisco d
few years ago, as a result of a refusal
of local merchants to pay an eXorbi-
tant price, but the middlemen recon-
sidered and paid the price, plus the
freight. and the rice was returned to
HnnIfr1lIg - rt-fll hn AI,rN
the rice man has almost as good a
thing as the ice man.
In regard to most articles of diet,
Asiatics cling to the traditions of the
elders, and Insist, as far as their means
will allow, upon eating food prepared
in their native land. 1t thus happens
that upon the shores of q land wash
ed by the waves of an ocean teeming
with. millions of fish, thousands of dol
lars are expended annually for import
duties upon fish that were embalmed
in the land of the chrysanthemum. It
would be useless to try to make Jap
aneSe believe that there are as good
fish in the sea as ever were caught.
They cling to their dried fish and soy
and other edibles from Japan, while
the aChinese insist upon eating last
years eggs that have been buried in
the black mud of China's river bottoms
until the Sulphureted hydrogen has
they call good. But as to rice, they
have no conscientious scruples, and
the disciples of Confucius and Buddha
alike contribute to the wealth of the
rice man.
In the vicinity of Honolulu one sees
the familiar water buffalo of India and
the Philippines, drawing plows through
the mud and water of the rice paddles.
On Hawaii, however. the work is done
almost exclusively by hand. and the
ricel is even threshed out with fails.
on q cement floor. Let no white man
Hawaii and compete with the Chinese
and Japanese in the production of rice.
White men viii not work in the mud
and water, and no one can hire or
handle Asiatics so successfully as
those to the manner born.
Rice birds were introduced, accident
ally or otherwise, q few years ago. and
they have become a great nuisance. |
and the source of considerable eXpAnse, |
as il has become necessary to hire men
TO guard the rice while it is ripening. |
Upon descending into Waipio Valley |
me hears a terrific bombardment going |
1n. and soon learns that number of |
Cinnamon are shooting at rice birds IS !
as If the dear little things |
we're missionaries. Not killing them. |
or no shot is used, but simply firing |
IF guns. They seem bent principally |
III making Il great NOISE, ana
for they shoot, shout and beat |
in pans, gongs and triangles. The rice |
birds are not unduly disconnected, how |
,ver. They fly up in focks when the |
run goes off, only TO settle cheerfully |
Town but few rods distant, where
ice is more plentiful. 1t is really
Lmusing to see rice bird perched on
he hat brim of a scarecroW. with head
,erked to one side, looking curiously
lown into the face of the counterfeit
resentment. They don't scare worth
cent. They chitter and chatter as If
lWere no matter if guns did go off.
But devices for frightening them are
cry numerous The Chinese make lit
le windmilis and arrange them i'll
uch manner that an iron rod hits a
In pan at every revolution; they hang
p the bright pieces of tin to reflect
he sunlight, and sherdS of bright red
10th And the gongs and pans and
els and yells are frightful The Chi
aman seems to delight in shooting his
un at unexpected moments. You may
q walking along by q rice field,
roaming of sweet Halle, when ''ker-
ang goes gun just the other side
f the hedge, followed by q yell suf-
GENTLY terrific to make your bair
url. It's enough to scare anything
ut a rice bird. But the ChinamaD
'oks as innocent as a lamb.
One never knows what a good ba-
aid II tlll ne DICKS IL from the pAeiit 1
Oh and ripe. The banana Will grow
| California. but it doesn't want to.
grows in the Islands because it
ant help it. 1t scatters through the
,rest everyW here, and springs up
ong the creek bottoms. hen given at
.ntion and cultivation, the better
arieties bear politically. Banana
Ilture is not. however. particularly
rofitable, as the grower in Hawaii
'ceives on an average but so cents for
large bunch, such as retail dealers
Los Angeles pay from $3.50 to 81
T. In localities remote from shipping
cilities growers are glad to get even
cents = bunch. Banana flour is not
lly very nutritious, but a very at
active article of diet. and il was
fought a few years ago that an ex-
nded and profitable market could be O
uIid. but no systematic effort has t
-er been made 10 either manufacture s
market it. ]
The pineapple is a more staple arti- I
?, and grows to perfection in Hawaii. / I
It the area devoted to its culture is O
Iifa limited PraO-iOHG 70. D.,