The Hawaiian gazette., 1903-08-04

seven thousand yards of the special
ly prepared muslin. and we will put
In about an acre in Sumatra tobacco.
The lumber for the frames has also
been ordered and will be sent over the
coming week Mr.. Confer and will
go over soon to start the work. Mr..
Confer will remain there In charge Of
the experiment.
HOME GROWN TOBACCO.
I'VE intend to send to Washington
by the next steamer about fifty pounds
of tobacco which was grown at the
experiment station. Most of 1t is Su-
matra tobacco and we have one sam
pie Of native tobacco. The plants were
not grown on very good soil, but did
very well. The native tobacco Is not
good. II Is too strong, and was left
entirely without care, growing wild.
"The shelter for the tobacco Is
stretched over frame work which Is
nine feet high. This leaves plenty of
room to work under. Then the posts
are placed twenty-four and twenty
feet apart, so n pillow can be used for
cultivation II necessary. In places
where tobacco is grown upon an ex-
tensive scale machinery and horse la
Dor IL used wherever possible. We
will only put an acre under shelter.
NO PRIVATE TESTS.
1.-THE seed to be used in our expert
ment / brought direct from Sumatra
year ago. 1t is of RAM tobacco. We
also have seed plants of our own which
we got from the plants grown on the
station. 1 also intend to try some OF
the Cuban tobaccos but we will not
put them under shelter. The seeds
we have are not for free distribution
though l have Sumatra seeds which
/ am ready to give out. / should think
1t would be better though to let the
Department first make the test, then
II 1t is successful others can try 1t. 1t
will be rather expensive to start with
and as one crop will decide whether
1t Is practical or not there will be no
harm I'm waiting. 1t only takes four
months for one crop to mature any
way. Seedlings are not set out until
after six weeks and then four months
after that the tobacco crop natures.
Then the stems may be cut, and rat
toons will spring up, but this new
crop is not as large, nor is the tobac-
co of as good quality as the first crop
''If we have good luck we ought to
get three crops n year, and 1 am
quite sure 1t will be a success. We
ought to get three crops Of tobacco
without a renewal of the cloth. and
the framework should last for years.
So you see that the largest outlay is
Mt the beginning.
oil nf
is required to grow tobacco but 1t is
an extremely profitable crop in suit
able localities and on the right soil.
An examination of the soil is the first
requisite and no tobacco should be
planted until the quality of this is as
certained. There Is lots OF land in
the islands that is suitable for the
of tobacco-there is a big
stretch in lower Kula on Maui.
Tobacco also requires a moist at
The shelter conserves the
moisture that falls. No one should
start the cultivation of tobacco until
he knows that the soil is In proper
shape and in good state of cultiva-
ton. Much of 1t probably needs some
sort of tobacco fertilizer.
CURING PROCESS.
''The most difficult work Is in the
curing and drying tobacco. We in
tend to cure our own tobacco from
our Hamaku;. experiment but as
general thing 1t does not pay to at
tempt to cure small quantities. That
which we grew here Will be sent to
DIR. Whitney at Washington and he
will have it cured. When 1t comes
to the curing barns must be built es-
pecially for the purpose to keep out
the light and to keep in the moisture.
Then there must be a fermenting
house. The kind used in Florida and
and Connecticut are ar
ranged so that the moisture can be
controlled. They must be made air
tight and the Temperature and hui
mildly both be controlled. This is i'm
perative in the fermenting process,
and requires expert knowledge. II
tobacco is grown extensively in these
islands 1t will pay those on a small
scale to send their product to a CEN
trail fermenting house, as Is done with
the sugar cane and mills now. Fer
menting is long process and to pro-
duce the best quality tobacco every
step must be carefully watched"