The Hawaiian gazette., 1903-01-27
A COMING
INDUSTRY

bermuda slsal" they call a. although
The best authorities assert that % IL
native to the Everglades Of Florida. and
10 contains within its sN0rd-shapcd
leaves so.rething OF tie ~ lure OF Great
cr Hawaii.
-. +. Dillingham;. president 81 the oahu
Railway, took "A party In his special car
down over the road yesterday To Sisal
station, just on the far side OF the Eva
plantation, to see the beginning of the
sisal Industry in the Islands. 1t Is but
beginning. although a most promising
one. The special, leaving the city sta
ton at half past one In the afternoon.
ran down fast through a rarely beau
tiful country = all the country here
abouts is beautful-until the station for
Oahu sugar plantation was reached, the
station under the picturesque cocoanut
trees that has been made famous be-
cause no amateur with kodak has ever
been known to pass II by without
shot. ii~.
The party was shown over the Oahu
sugar mill first, and. although most of
them were old residents of the Islands,
some were there who had never seen
the golden wealth of the land turned
out as II Is turned out there. Then
busy little plantation locomotive came
along, putting, and took the special car
out over the plantation roads to one of
the big pumping plants, where from
100000 to 100000 gallons of water
are raised every day to the top of bluff
over 400 feet high. and to another sta
ton where the big steam pump has been
sunk into the earth to meet the rising
artesian water-and that was a thing
many of the party had not seen before.
The plantation locomotive went off
about it's regular business after that,
and the special went whirling across
the level land skirting Pearl Harbor.
past the little Chinese rice fields and the
great broad fields of waving cane like
oceans rustling with life, to Sisal
Presently the road led into a region of
what seemed to be century plants, thou
sands and thousands of them standing
stark upright in their thorny dignity,
set out in straight rows and topping the
weeds that they seemed to set them
selves above as something exclusive and
apart in the line of vegetation. And
that was the sisal Those spny leaves,
crushed for the fiber in them and dried,
are worth just So cents pound in the
market of San Francisco, and there Is
demand for all that can be produced.
That is why the sisal holds in its heart
a part of the future of Greater Hawaii,
and probably a large part.
The sisal plantation and the small
mill upon 1t are in charge of Superin-
tendent A. b. Turner, and he is a man
who knows his business and talks intel
ligently upon it. The little mill, the
first of many large ones Of the future,
perhaps, was crushing the cut leaves of
the plant, which were delivered at the
the door in carefully tied bundles of
fifty by Japanese laborers. Each leaf
went into the jaws of the crusher just
as 1t came from the field. 1t came out
in the form of bundles of glossy green
ism fiber, which went out to hang on
lines with thousands of it's fellows until
the sun had bleached it white, when it
would be spread on the ground for fur
Their bleaching, to be finally gathered
and baled, as hay is baled, in which
form it will go to the ends of the earth
TO be made into ropes and cordage and
binding twine and all the things for
which tough fiber is used in the hurry
of modern life. For the sisal fiber is
one of the toughest that is known, and
ropes made from it might well be used
to hold weight for a mans life.
THE sisal natures to the cutting
stage in from three and a half to four
years" said Superintendent Turner, ex-
planning the plant and the process to
Mr.. Dillingham's guests yesterday.
The plant grows for from six to fifteen
years before 1t flowers, as the century
plant does. 1t is one OF the aloes. After
it flowers 1t dies, but it gives birth to
many bulbs in Towering, and has pro-
duced much fiber before 1t reaches the
stage OF uselessness. We begin cutting
it at the age OF from three and half to
four years. Then. once we begin, the
plant yields constantly. All the leaves
are not taken at once, you understand.
We take only those leaves from each
plant that have reached the proper
length. and then the remaining leaves
on that plant take straighter form until
the time comes to cut that plant again.
Thus, when a plant begins to yield fibre
IL keeps on producing until it dies.
There is constant succession of crops
from II, and no cessation in the yield,
because there are always plants in the
cutting stage. A producing plantation
produces all the time. and the men go
about from plant to plant, always
bringing on crop.
The sisal has the further recommen-
dalton that 1t grows on land too poor
To produce sugar In fact, sisal does
not do best on land that is too rich.
The fiber is too coarse, the growth being
rank. We have 600 acres in this planta-
! tion, the plants being set out about $50
to the acre. ! figure that we have about
100000 mother plants, and about one
million coming on from bulbs and
sprouts. So that We can replace all our
plants that die as fast as they succumb
To age Also, we viii eventually have
lots of plants 10 sell. We are getting,
as the plants stand now. about 1000
pounds Of nber to the acre. which IL
good for the second crop. We will pro-
duce' this year, 100 tons OF fiber. and
VIII double that next Al the present
price OF hber, the income should come
rot far from $4,000. our mill has a ca
pncity Of 1000 pounds daily. but IL now