The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-06-02
SMALL FARMERS
AND CUT WORMS
HOMESTEAD PROPOSITION MENA-
CED BY SWARMING
INSECTS.
JARED SMITH APPROVES PARKER
RANCH.
Big Ranches on Hawaii Present First
Glass Propositions as Cattle and
Horse Ranges and Dairy Farms.

The small farmer in Hawaii has a
| hard row to hoe, he Is. in common par
| lance "up against it," says Jared Smith
who has just returned from a visit to
| Hawaii where he has been styling b.
invitation on the Parker and Homer
ranches.
There are two things which make
the existence of the small farmer very
doubtful proposition in this territory.
One is the potato blight. the same rot
that blackens the leaves of acres upon
acres of growing crops all over the
world, and the other, more serious pro-
blem yet, is the swarms of myriads of
cut worms, or poker worms, which eat
up every living green thing and in
many sections make the plants alive
with their crawling.
1T is probable that they eat up near
ly half the grass on the cattle ranches
but the stock has an equal chance with
the worms to eat the pasture but on
the homesteads around Waimea, where
there are a number Of small twenty
acre farms they render the agricultu-
rists' chances of raising a satisfactory
crop very remote. l have picked fifty
of them from a single stalk and in one
place where corral was surrounded by
turf the posts of the corral and the
edge of the turf were swarming with
the plaques. You could have taken a
cart load of them away easily IL you
had the wagon and team ready. The
worms were there.
The cut worms are not confined to
Hawaii of course, but are prevalent on
all the islands. They seem to flourish
better on the dry lands than where
there Is natural precipitation. The va
rieties have been apparently brought
from China and Japan. The Chinese
variety is the most predominant, there
are two or three Japanese species and
possible one or two from the mainland.
They have been brought here while
their natural enemies have remained
behind. The quail which are quite
plantitul in certain sections destroy
some Of them and the wild pigeons some
/ but the numerous monEOoss l. ~ the
ground birds from propagating very
largely and there are at present few
etfectual means of fighting the cut
worm. One means, that of sprinkling
poisoned brine on the ground, is a good
one, but every rain will wash off the
brine and resprinkling is an expensive
affair If it has to be INDUCED in very
often. The poker worm lives in the
ground at night and comes out in the
day time looking for anything green
that 1t may devOur. Even plants that
have been declared to be so distasteful
to 1t that it will avoid crawling over
them, seem to be taken with a relish.
81 am going to take up the cut worm
problem this year, in an endeavOr to
cOunteTaCt the destruction, but at the
present outlook 1T represents a menace
to small farming that practically prohi-
bits the industry. While there are of
course, the drawbacks that you find
everywhere small farming has produced
excellent results as far as promises
are concerned but the disheaTtening ef-
feet of coming out one morning to find
your crops literally alive with the
worms eating everything in sight
makes the pursuit of agriculture as
typifled by the small farmer almost
hopeless unless some remedy presents
| itself.
The Parker ranch is much more
cheerful subject. 1t is a splendid ranch
that has made rapid strides in the last
two years and which represents at the
present moment first class proposition
with most excellent prospects.
THE ranch consists of some four hun
dred and fifty thousand acres over
which Craze twenty thousand head of
cattle from imported Durham and
! Hereford stock, Eleven hundred odd
! head off these We're brought into the
| fattening pastures while ! was there,
| three year olds, grass fed averaging
L
beef They will average heavier when
they have bred up little more.
The problem of the ranch Is of
course water. pipe line has been run
down to the feeding pactules into Sc
| ries of tanks but the cattle on the
range get along with dew. On certain
| portions there is regular rainfall. Great
| efforts have been made of late years
| by Mr.. Parker and his manager. Fred
| w. Carter to introduce various grasses
| on the ranch and they have been in
! the main very successful. l rode with
| Mr.. Carter over acres of splendid Ken
lucky blue grass, the surroundings gem
| orally in that particular district re-
! minding me considerably of middle
| first class winter feed and several other
! varieties of good grazing grasses have
! got along famOusly There is OF course
| as on all ranges much ground that is
! barren but the ranch is in excellent
| shape and is producing splendid cattle
| Mr.. Parker gets believe a regular price
| for his dressed beef all the year round
| and, besides shipping a thousand head
| To Honolulu annually, supplies the nei-
| ghbOring ranches to large extent
| The demand will of course Increase and
there is big future ahead of the
| ranch"
| There are some two thousand head
Of horses also on the range. The round
up comes, | think, after June II when
/ the regular branding Is done and the
mavericks come into camp. These wild
! cattle are called by the Parker cowboys
| Horner's Holsteins while Horner's boys
| retaliate by calling them parkers' Jer-
| seys. They do resemble Jerseys hav-
| ing apparently reverted to that original
! type. Several of them came in with the
! last lot that they drove into the fat
| tenlng pens, Like HOrners ranch, the
| Parker range possesses an excellent
! dairy and both concerns make first
| class butter I rode with Mr.. Carter
| over a considerable portion Of the rench
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