The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-10-16
THE SISAL INDUSTRY IN
THE HAWAIIAN
ISLANDS
CONTINUED from Page s.,

the usual boundaries and invaded Florida,
discouraged most of the planters who
have since embarked in the business on
a large scale sin Lower California, which
climate they consider less treacherous.
The new district promises much for the
future but in all probability the manu-
facturers will patronize foreign growers
for many years yet to come.
The new office, which was created for
fibre investigation, seems to have done
more for the industry through the en-
enlargement given to inventors. Ameri-
can genius has since that time solved
the machinery problem, having brought
it to such state of perfection as to
command universal patronage, and having
made the question of decorticating ma
chinery no longer an obstacle as hereto
fore Since modern invention has made
it possible to readily extract the fibre
from the leaf, sisal has found its way
into many channels of trade other than
the making of large rope. OF those new
demands the largest is for twine used IN
the self-binding harvester. Formerly the
old reaper was followed by from four to
six men, who tied the sheaves of grain
with small punches of the grain straw.
The enormous crops of small grain pro-
duced in the United States are now tied
with Irvine made of sisal. One factory,
the Deering Harvester Works of Chicago
manufactures t..Irty thousand miles OF
this Irvine in a single day, besides the
immense output of other factories of like
kind Paper making is on the increase,
cotton wood furnishing the main body of
the pulp, but the paper from this pulp is
made strong enough for general use only
when a portion of sisal or other fibre is
worked in with it.
| On reviewing the history of this plant
and the important place it has taken IN
- Il
conclude that there are great possiblll-
| ties for it's successful culture in the new
tropical possessions. A large contribu-
| ton to the twenty million dollars worth
Icf fibre annually imported to the main
| land is only awaiting intelligent effort IN
| that direction on the part of the energet-
| ic men of this territory.
The Islands of Hawaii lie in about the
same latitude as do the best fibre dis
tricts of the West Indies, and are enough
alike in general character as to leave little
doubt of the conditions here being all
| that is required for its production. In
| fact anywhere below the frost line the
matter of climate has little effect on its
growth, but dry hot weather evidently
produces a fibre of somewhat better
quality.
| The sisa1 industry here has now reach
led that stage of development where to
| label it "a success is no longer an en-
barrassment to it's promoters, and thorgh
| it is yet limited to few hundred acres
on the island of Oahu its general distri-
button in an experimental way has been
such as to reach all kinds of SOIL and not
| in single instance has it failed when
properly treated. The result of these ex-
lperiments together with the prices paid
| for fibre during the past four years is
certainly sufficient to warrant the asser-
| ton that sisal will pay handsome profit
| to its cultivators, provided the average
Judgment is exercised during its develop
ment which it at least three years from
| the time of planting. Nothing seems to
discourage venture into the sisal indus
/ try so much as this long wait for the
| first crop and especially when it is under
stood (as it sometimes is) that the next
crop also requires three years. But there
| is no reason for anything but a hopeful
| view when it is known that it will yield
| one sometimes two) crops a year for
| from five to seven years, at which time
| it dies but not until it has sent up pole
bearing from two to three thousand little
| bulbs, which when set out in rows and
watered, will in a short time make ideal
plants for the regular field. 1t is said
! that coral land, or beach sand which is
of much the same chemical composition,
grows fibre of superior textile strength.
! There is nothing in our experience that
would verify this statement but admitting
! it to be true, il would have little, if any,
! influence in the success or failure of those
who have other kinds of waste land on
which they would like to grow sisal.
There is an excellent market for all the
various grades and the difference in price
may be very easily offset by economy
in the cost of production. Coral land
where it is covered with a heavy growth
| of kulu is especially hard to clear, while
f1sr~r -1.c
character, which can be prepared for sisal
at trifiing cost.
There is well defined line of eleva-
| ton, at which it fails to develop yet it
being dependent upon at least few dry
months in the year for a good quality of
| fibre fifteen hundred or two thousand
feet might be considered it's limit. The
| fibre grown where it is continually cool
and moist will most likely be brittle or
of little textile strength.
| On the sisal plantation in the Eva dis
| trict, well matured plants can be seen
growing in coral rock without any APP
parent soil. However, any rock must be
sufficiently disintegrated or porous to al
low the roots to penetrate to some depth
| into the ground.
| The fact that sisal will thrive on So
called waste land naturally gives the i'm
preston that it requires no care what
| ever. This idea has even found its way
into print. Requiring no blowing in pre-
| pairing the field for planting, or irrigation
| after it is planted, its care is very little
when compared with the general culture
| of other products. Yet from the very
beginning the man who would succeed
must exercise intelligent effort
For instance, calculations are made as
to what it must cost to put the first crop
on the market; stated prices are paid for
land and for clearing and preparing the
same for plants without any notice as
to what size the plants should be and
with the idea that without further effort
after planting, the usual time (three
years from the time of planting) should
bring full crop of marketable fibre. To
see how an enterprise based on these
principles may fail is obvious.
The yield of clean fibre per acre is