The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-10-16
Chas F Herrick Carriage Company Ltd.

limited to about one ton at most, there
fore the price of rental to be paid for
land must not be compared with that
paid for sugar, rice or other land of like
character. Should growth of kulu cover
the land the roots must be grubbed to
six inches below the surface or the sec
ond growth of sprouts will completely
submerge the young sisal plants before
they start to grow. A cluster of brush
or weeds hanging over the young plants
is positively detrimental to their growth
One wedding year on the kind of land
mentioned above is necessary Qf much
rain more weeding) until the sisal is of
a size to take possession. which it will
do in time. Young plants should be
twelve inches high when planted out into
the field, otherwise an extra wedding be-
fore the first crop the cost of which
must reduce the profits. The Sisal plant
never gets too large to transplant with
safety, but such plants are, on account of
/ their thorny leaves, difficult to handle
and expensive to move long distances.
Unless the suckers are needed for plant
ing new fields, they should also be re-
moved as soon they show themselves
! above the surface. On wedding or re-
moving the suckers, care should be exer-
cised or the fibre when milled will show
brown spots from the bruises the long
leaves get from the laborers' hoe. A few
| DaleS Oh HDTe SHOWING THESE 5pOtS VIII
sometimes prevent whole shipment from
passing as first grade. 1t is said that
weeds can be kept down by pasturing
sisal fields. This may be true in the case
of sheep but cattle will surely bite off
i the leaves when there is a shortage Of
Eother vegetation.
Young plants should be set in straight
rows if possible, and not less than seven
feet apart, with twenty foot space left
Ioaa ,,oIIx
ance of these roadways may be imagined
when it is known that as much as twenty
tons of green leaves are sometimes grown
on single acre, which must be carted
or railroaded to the mill.
In regard to machinery, it is well to
know that any sisal plantation, however
small, must have at least one decorticator
together with baling press and sufficient
power to operate them. While this out
lay for cleaning plant is also small when
compared with other island industries. it
is yet quite an obstacle to the small
grower Less than five hundred acres of
sisal would hardly justify the cash out
lay required for decorticating plant
This difficulty, however, may be over
come by cooperation.
Only 5 per cent of the gross weight be-
ing fibre, it can readily be seen that to
transfer the leaves long distances would
be Improbable We have no knowledge
of the bagasse or waste matter having
any value, though in some recent press
reports the ashes from the bagasse when
burnt are said to be valuable as a fer
tiliZer
Since the beginning of 1898 the prices
of sisal fibre have ranged from to q
cents per pound. Growers in the West
Indies have estimated the cost to produce
sisal as low as 21s cents per 10. A de-
duction from these figures would show
enormous profits, but the cost to grow
and market fibre is so dependent upon
locality and various other conditions that
a statement on that subject will be OF
little value until the culture of sisal in
Hawaii has become more general. Present
prices (nine cents per pound would seem
to justify a very liberal expenditure, but
the time required for returns in the sisa
business demands the practice of strict
economy in order to meet any possible
changes in price that may come about
during it's progress.
A. II. TURNER.