The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1902-10-28

Tht coffee lands ~ Hawaii can b.
made ns productive aH any in the world
Experiments boz ths selection aud cross.
Irr of varieties 40 produce more proc
IH. ur harder trees, aud especially an
Investigation II the methods ~ curl lg
coffee. should be- made In an EFFORT o.
save this industry. Hawaiian coffee has
already made for Itself an enviable rap.
citation for quality aud flavor Of berry.
% 10 could be sold on it's merits Instead
" Ia competition with the low grade
,offees ~ Brazil and Central America.
90 would IN time prove an Immensely
profitable crop. An effort should be
made to save this industry from total
extinction. 1t is a crop especially suit
ed to the small farmer and the small
investor-the man who can build UP a
home and care for his crop himself
The establishment OF the coffee Indus
try on a successful basis would make
the Hawaiian Islands a land of small
farmers more quickly than the trans
formation could be accomplished in any
other way or through the medium Of
any other crop or Industry.
The cause of the failure of the coffee
industry In Hawaii has been primarily
the abnormally low prices of coffee, due
to overproduction In coffee growing
countries all over the world. Annexa-
ton made the sugar planters wealthy
because Hawaiian sugar was at once
admitted duty free. 1t also brought
ruin to the coffee planters because 1t
placed Hawaiian coffee I'm competition
with the South and Central American
duty-free coffee, whereas there had
been up to the time OF annexation "A
duty on foreign coffees imported into
Hawaii. II reaches its optimum devel-
opment at elevations of from 300 to
$500 feet above sea level and in this
Territory that belt is, on all the islands,
one where the climatic conditions are
ideal. If coffee can be restored by Con-
gress to the same status which IL en-
jOyed previous to American control.
Hawaii and Porto Rico can produce
within ten years all of the amount con-
sumed by the United States. A duty OF
from 2k to cents per pound on coffee
would do more toward making Hawaii
land of prosperous homesteads and
prosperous people than any other leg
islative measure which could be taken
The coffee lands lie above the cane
lands and the development of the COf-
fee industry will thus not interfere with
cane growing. But in case sugar should
even go down to such a point that its
cultivation would prove Improbable at
least a portion of the cane lands in
some portions of the islands would be
capable of profitable conversion into
coffee. There has been enough exper-
fence in coffee growing in these islands
to develop a distinctly Hawaiian sys-
/ TEN Of cultivation and treatment The
mistakes made by new, men in new
land with new and untried crop. such
for instance, as that of using Ceylor
methods in Olaa, have been costly. but
such work will not have to be done
over again There are still many mer
who believe in the future of coffee il
Hawaii These are maintaining theil
Plantations at least possible cost, blu
with view to deriving at least a liv,
ing from the land. The. low prices fol
the crop have weededH out all excep
these who We're conducting the business
on an economical basis.
There are, at a low estimate, 200, 0O
acres of coffee lands on the fou
islands, Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Ha
vail, most of it still virgin forest Anc
there is another 100O 900 acres and NOR
which would not fall within the belt o
optimum conditions, but where coffe
could undoubtedly be grown The limi
OF production would be near 10000
tons, and this yield could be reached
without converting to the purpose on,
single acre Of land on which sugar can,
Is now grown. If Congress will afforC
to coffee the same protection which II
extended to sugar it would mean no
only the building up of an industr!
among our own people and within on
own borders, but the establishment o
! this industry on a firm basis would als'
mean a marked increase in the numbe
of small landowners. From the nation
al standpoint, that state which pro
duces or can produce within it's owl
borders the greatest number OF neces
saries consumed by its own people Il
the strongest. To foster the coffee in
dustry in these islands of the Pacif
will be to make Hawaii a stronge
member of the family of States.
SUGGESTED LINES OF INQUIRY
The economic conditions OF Hawai-
are such that new industries can be es
tablished only with the greatest diff
ltullS. III COllliH'l WIFI an 'llltl wv
insular regions there has been n mul
titude of serious insect and ANNA
pests introduced, not through inten
but as a cOncomitant of commerce. II
this regard the history of Hawaiian ag
riculture is parallel with that of man,
other tropical islands, such as the FIJI
Islands and the British West Indies
Plants may be introduced without thei
insect enemies, or insects which in thei
native country are kept in check b.
natural enemies, and parasites ma
here breed in enormous numbers an
adapt themselves to new host plants
to The detriment of the farmer. Ha
waii is tull of ornamental exotics whic'
have become weeds. and of Chinese
Japanese, Australian, American, an
Old World insects which, free from a
natural check, ravage alike the nativ
vegetation and the cultivated crop!
The lot of the farmer is thus in a wa
more difficult than in continental re
g;ons. The battle is a continuous one