The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-02-26

Change From Coal to
Oil Fuel Will Be
in May.
Waimea Plantation Holds Annual
Meeting and Elects
Officers.

At the meeting of Kahuku plantation
yesterday a regular quarterly dividend
of two per cent was announced to be
gin March 91st. The directors elected
were: J. B. Castle, W. r. Castle. T. C
Davies, C. Bolte and j. P Cooke.
In his report Manager Adams says:
THE crop of 1902 amounted to 6447. %
tons of sugar, of which 2S7.125 tons was
/ Kahuku's share Of Laie's sugar. The
produce from the Kahuku fields, 616O12j
of which 315 acres were plant cane, SEQ
acres long ratoons and 537 acres short
ratoons. The total crop was 624.75 tons
less than the 1901 crop. This was due
from Laie's fields was less than half
Laie's 1901 crnn, Some of nur nvn cane
suffered very materially from lack of
cultivation in 1901 owing to the extreme
shortage of labor during nearly the
whole of that year.
CROP OF 1903
The crop of 1908, now being milled,
will be taken from 557 acres of plant
cane, sos acres of long ratoons, and
S0S acres of short ratoons''
The manager reports that the change
to oil as fuel will be made during May
which will effect material reduction.
He speaks also of the new wells ad-
ded, and of the increased area of Gull
tivation and the report concludes:
Thus far there has been no great
amount of cane cropped that has been
badly injured by Kahuku's greatest in
sect pest, the borer. This was striking
ly noticeable in the 104 acres of plant
cane which was cropped in January,
eighteen months after planting. Thor
ough stripping of the cane has been
partly responsible for the healthy con-
dition of the cane Early cropping, as
followed out during the last two years,
and carrying on large acreage of
short ratoons have great influence to-
wards minimizing the depredations of
this pest.
During the year the leaf-hopper APP
peared in unusually large numbers on
the cane and attacked first the short
ratoons and later the plant cane. While
it seems reasonable to believe that this
insect must injure the cane, no ma
terial damage from this source has been
noticed thus far.
The crop of 1904 will be taken from
1873 acres; $50 acres of plant cane, $40
acres of long ratoons. and 523 acres of
short ratoons
Drainage bitches were constructed
during the year through two of the
fields which were formerly flooded with
storm water in the rainy season. These
bitches prevented great damage to their
respective fields during the December
storm.
Labor is not plentiful. and the best
cultivation of the care and the proper
of all the plantation prop
erty is, therefore, not possible, but
there is no shortage in the number of
cutters and leaders and the mill is kept
supplied with cane.
Were there a sufficient number of field
aborers in the country to make a selec-
ton possible, a good proportion of the
men who are now urged and permitted
to take up the so-calIed profit-sharing
cane cultivation contracts would be re-
iected as unfit for that work ~Under
he existing uncertainty of the supply
# labor almost any man who has physi-
eal strength and presents a good APP
Dearance is accepted as a proft-sharer
by the plantation. primarily for the as
that the cane will be Guilt
gated to maturity, and secondariIy for
number OF men on the plantation who
n case of an emergency, could be shift
ID from one class of work to another
Many Of these men are not agricultur-
SITS. Some of them have never welded
L hoe or a shovel until they arrive, and
yet the plantation is obliged from very
TO intrust its most valuable
asset. its growing crops. to their care.
The selection of agriculturists at the
,ases of supply for field 1aborers for
he plantations is as important in Sc
curing an Intelligent and economical
cultivation OF the cane, as is the en-
ieavor of designing and constructing
engineers to secure the greatest eff
,iency and economy in pump and mill
machinery.