The Hawaiian gazette., 1903-08-04
CAN GROW
TOBACCO
Jared Smith Talks
Of Proposed
Industry.

of Hawaii l believe Sumatra tobac.
CO can be grown in many places-ir
the district of Hamakua, on the Wal.
kola lands and in Kula on Maui, and
at a profit" said Jared G.. Smith, d.
station yesterday.
The material for the beginning OF
the experiment on the Louisson place
has already been ordered. and both
Mr.. Smith and Frank e. Confer will
leave for there within a short time to
begin tobacco cultivation.
"Sumatra tobacco Is plant that
grows to a height of from seven to
eight feet" continued Mr.. Smith. 1T
has been cultivated on the island Of
Sumatra for :. good many years, and
the Dutch have had n monopoly of the
business. All of the Sumatra wrap
pers used in the United States were
imported up to four years ago. when
experiments were begun in the Con-
necticut Valley to ascertain whether
that quality OF tobacco, which was
worth a good deal of money, could be
produced in the United States. There
used to be a good deal CT it imported.
to 1900 there was an average of four
and a half million pounds imported
every year, valued at five million dol
lars, without the duty, which is I
think dollar and half pound. AS
late as 1900 the percentage of Suma-
ira wrappers imported formed SS.55
per cent Of the entire amount used.
FIRST EXPERIMENTS.
well these experiments We're made
and the results were extremely fav-
orable. OF course in no part OF the
United States does the climate at 80,
resemble that of the island of Suma-
ira, which lies directly under the
equator. Experiments were made al
so in Florida with various fruits
under cover to protect them from
frost, and the idea was also seized
upon, for an attempt to cultivate
tobacco under similar shelters. as had
been used in protecting garden truck,
small fruits, etc. Thin muslin and
cheese cloth were used as shelter for
Sumatra tobacco, not 20 keep out
frost but to maintain more even
temperature.
"The first experiments with grow
ing tobacco under shelter were so sue
cessful that parties at once UNDER
took the growth Oh Sumatra wrapper
and Cuban filler tobacco on a COM
mercial basis. The cloth manufac-
turing companies who had been max
ing a cheese cloth only yard wide
also prepared a special kind OF cloth
| for this purpose, as the narrow cloth
- = G a
The special cloth was made in widths
Of 144, 200 and 2sS inches and as long
as is wanted, and a Hartford manu-
facturer from whom I recently receiv-
ed a letter states that last season he
sold between one and two million
square yards of this cloth. And that
firm hasn't a monopoly of the busi-
ness either.
NEEDS SKILL.
The quality Of a tobacco crop de-
ponds quite largely upon the panipu-
lation 1t receives after 1t has been
harvested. The physical texture OF the
soil upon which the plant Is grown
absolutely fixes the class Of tobacco
I don't mean by this the quality, but
the class, whether it Is wrapper, filler
pipe, or plug, depends entirely upon
the soil. incidentally 1t may be said
Sumatra tobacco isn't worth anything
except as a wrapper. Other tobaccos'
whether light or h,.-vy, depend upon
the soil The quality whether good
or bad, depends entirely upon the
manlpulation-the curing of 1t.
THE GUOD SOILS.
1--WE have made a tentative exam
nation of some of the soils of the ISL
ands and l believe there are regions
especially on the islands of Maui and
Hawaii, which are eminently fitted for
the production of the better qualities
of tobacco, not only the wrapper leaf
but the filler and other sorts as well
ITO produce the higher grades OF
tobacco requires soil which is very
light in texture and that has n good
deal of fine sand and silt in 1t.
heavy clay soil, like that OF good
many of the sugar plantations in Ha-
wall, Is probably not at all suited
for the production OF tobacco of the
better grades, but / should say, leav-
ing out other things, and neglecting
the matter of climate. winds. rain
fall, ETC., that the MIDDLE forest belt
of the Hamakua district and good
many soils of the Waimea district on
Hawaii, and quite stretch around
Mana, where the soil is beautiful and
rich. will grow good tobacco. Then
there are the Waikola lands on Ha-
wall, and I believe the lower Kula
belt on Maui below twenty-five hun
dred feet elevation and stretch back
of Kihel are suitable for the cultiva-
ton OF tobacco. or course am only
speaking from my own observations
and there are undoubtedly other soils
in Kauai and on Molokai which are
fitted for the same purpose. The soils
here OIL Oahu believe are all toe
heavy. I haven't seen any tobacco
soil on this island and haven't been
on Kauai yet
HAMAKUA EXPERIMENT.
"Mr. Frank e. Confer of the Exper-
iment station made a trip to Hawaii
this spring and brought back good
many samples of soil. He has chosen
a little valley or gully On the Louis
son place above Honokaa which he
thinks should do to start the work In
the Islands. / have already ordered