The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1903-09-18
- AIRS



= The hundredsof thousands Of acres Of
what is now waste land ,in Hawaii are ID
be utilized ia the cultivation Of ssisal
fiber. tobacco, Egyptian cotton and
other products which III Has been demon-
,strated can be grown in the tropical
temperature of Hawaii. Experiments
trecsntly concluded by Jared G.. Smith,
director of the United States agricul-
turA experiment station, have demon
strated that the capabilities Of the island
soilhavesnot been half realized. With
| the@aid which the territorial govern
| ment recently voted, extensive expert
ments are to be made with what it is be-
lieved will prove to be highly remuner-
alive crops. 49,
= Even the sugar planters are now be-
ginning to take an interest in something
besides sugar. They are coming to real
lie that by-crops will materially swell
profits. The government has plenty of
land at its disposal which will be ap-
pOrtioned out to those that want it for
agricultural purposes.
Just at present most of the vast
acreage in government lands is used for
grazing purposes. Science has demon
strated that the land is hundred times
more valuable for agricultural purposes
It takes about ten acres Of land for one
head of cattle, and it is pretty poor liv-
ing for the cattle at that. Experiments
are being made now with forage grasses
and on some of the ranches these grasses
are being cultivated successfully. Now
one acre is being made to furnish food
for ten COWS instead of ten acres for one
cow.
Most of this formerly barren land Is
being used in the cultivation of sisal
Three thousand or 1000 acres have al
ready been planted with the fiber cactus
and this is only beginning. The best
thing about the sisal, too is that it can
be raised on just the lands that are no
. good for cane. Every plantation has in
its vicinity thousands of acres which
cannot be planted in sugar because of the
lack of water, but sisal, which requires
barely any water, can be grown there at
a large profit. Gov. Dole, who has just
returned from a visit to the island of
Lanai, states that the entire island of
many thousands of acres will be put into
sisal. One man has applied for a lease
of the entire island, but instead the land
will be apportioned in smaller lots. It
takes five years for a sisal crop to ma
ture, which is one objection to it's cult
vation
The cultivation of Sumatra wrapper
tobacco is also to be tried. The expert
ment station agriculturists have re-
ported that the tobacco can be grown in
many parts of the island, and an ex-
pertinent on a very extensive scale is to
be tried on Hawaii in the district of
Hamakua, Sumatra and Havana filler
are both to be grown here, and under
shelter as in Florida, Connecticut and
| Porto Rico. Fifty pounds of the wrap
per leaf which was grown on the Punch
| bowl last year is to be sent to Washing
ton on to-day's steamer to be cured.
Samples also of native tobacco are being
sent, though the cultivation of the quail
| ity will be given up. 1t has been ne
elected so long that the tobacco is too
strong.
Another new enterprise will be the
cultivation of Bluef1elds bananas. Ba-
nanas now under cultivation are the Chi
nese and the apple banana. The latter
is of excellent flavor, but not very good
for export while the Chinese variety
does not bring a very high price in the
coast markets. The Hawaiian banana
brings but from IS cents to $3.50 per
bunch, while the Bluefields commands
! nearly double that price. The Bluefields
can also be shipped at a lower rate, as
the punches can be piled like a'cord of
wood, without wrapping, while the Ha<
waiian variety must be carefully cared
for en- route. It has been demonstrated
that the Bluefields will grow just as we'll
in Hawaii as the Chinese and large
quantity of cuttings have been ordered
and they will be raised here on large
scale.