The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1903-11-24
Continued from page 80

Auditor-G. H. Robertson.
Mr.. Tenney then took the chair max
ing a brief address in which he thank
ed the trustees and the association for
the honor conferred upon him and
promised to use his best efforts to fur
ther the objects for which the asSocia-
ton is organized and for the promo
ton of the sugar industry of Hawaii.
LABOR REPORT POSTPONED.
w. NJ. Giffard, chairman Of the COM
mittee on labor, asked for further time,
saving that the statistics were not all
in and he was therefore unable to pre-
sent his report. The report will prob
ably be made today at the executive
session of the association, where there
will be ample opportunity for discus
sion.
REPORT ON CULTIVATION.
Geo. F. Renton reported for the COM
| mittee on cultivation. He said that
| it was difficult to make a new report,
| as in the past the subject had been so
| fully and ably presented. In addition
| he was restricted, as other committees
| would report on fertilization and irri-
| CATION. Mr.. Renton's report dealt
with the preparation of the soil, plant
| ing of cane, the cultivation of unirri-
| gated lands, etc. One of the greatest
| difficulties in securing statistics was
| the fact that there was no uniformity
| of accounts, to which was added the
! complication of local conditions, diff
| ferences in temperature, in rainfall,
class of lands. gulches and hills, winds,
rich soils and poor soils, deep and
| shallow soils, etc. Fifty-two circulars
| nI,,,,
and answers had been received from
thirty-six of them to the questions ask
| ed. Sixteen of the replies were from
unirrigated plantations and nineteen
/ from those using irrigation. One gen.
eral principle Mr.. Renton states is to
| plough as deep as possible, to loosen
| the sub-soil. OF the replies received,
| twenty managers use steam imple-
ments, five breakers, and eleven disc
| plows and sub-soil plows. With the
| report a paper was also submitted by
j. NJ. Horner on the advantages of the
| disc plow. Mr.. Renton in his report
| suggested that the disc principle could
be carried out in steam implements,
where the land was free from rocks,
and said that it would be only ques-
| ton of the strength of material before
this could be accomplished. He sug-
gested that the subject was one worthy
| of study. Mr.. Renton stated that the
steam plow is used wherever possible,
and that the soil is titled better.
| The report also went into methods
Of planting and gave some statistics
regarding the practice of stripping
cane, saying this was subject which
might well be gone into at the Expert
ment station.
| VARIETIES OF CANE.
| The report also favored long ratoon-
ing, and gave statistics showing that
| eight out of the thirty-six managers
| replying did not favorably consider the
practice of ratooning. Killing up cane
on irrigated plantations is in general
favor on Maui and Kauai AS to va
| rieties of cane, the committee found
| that the Lahaina cane is the old stand
| by on irrigated plantations, other va
| rieties being tested, had not been gem
| orally established. The Yellow Gale
donia is found to be the best variety on
the unirrigated plantations, having re-
placed the rose bamboo. The commit
! tee made the prediction that the yell
| low Caledonia would be replaced in
years to come, by some of the canes
now being tested at the Experiment
| Station. Mr.. Eckart of the station,
advises that the Demerara is the best
variety for the irrigated plantations.
FERTILIZATION.
| c. F. Eckart of the Planters Experi-
| ment Station reported for the commit
tee on fertilization. From replies to a
circular letter he gave interesting
statistics in regard to the use of fer
tilizers on plantations. The average
use of fertilizers per acre has increased
| from $50 pounds in 1902 to $40 hounds
i'll 1903. The percentages of fertilizer
| in. the two years was as follows:
1902-Phosphoric acid, s per cent;
potash. per cent; nitrogen. per cent.
1909-Phosphoric acid, IL per cent;
potash, 101 per cent; nitrogen, per
| cent.
On the 10000 acres of cane in cultiva-
ton 41,000 tons of fertilizer had been
| used in 1903. The cost of the constit-
uents given above was s1,646, 500, which
with other fertilizer, ETC., made the to-
l1tal expenditure in excess of two mil
lion dollars. With this enormous ex-
pendirure for fertilizers so much great
er than any other sugar producing
country, the committee thought it wise
to consider whether the gain is COM
mensurate with the expenditure The
use of the fertilizer during the year had
increased the sugar production about
2S,110 tons in the islands, a gain of sew
en- per cent, and the committee thought
it was reasonable to suppose that the
gain had been much more. The aver
age yield per acre was Al tons of sugar.
The tendency during the year has been
| to reduce the phosphoric acid and in
crease the potash in the fertilizer. The
| increase in potash has been one per
cent, and the decrease in the use of
| phosphoric acids the same percentage.
| The committee found that good results
are obtained in the reduction of phos-
4 pilates and increase in potash.
VALUE OF FERTILIZERS.
Mr.. Eckart also found that the value
of fertilizers was lessened if used too
early or too late. The practice of ap-
plying it to the seed bed is falling into
disuse. Also fertilizer should not be
| used so much during the winter rainy
season as during spring and summer
when the cane is growing rapidly In