The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-05-13
IN
HAWAII
The Plant Suitable To
Climate and
Soil.

4
and the wise ones in America and Eu
| rope said there was no danger Of a re
versal for two years many sugar planter
OF the southern states began to conside
the feasibility of turning a part of thei
cane fields into cotton fields. They wer'
encouraged by the cotton buyers of New
| Orleans, Galveston and Mobile, wht
agreed to furnish them with gins, anc
by the cotton-seed mill men, who Offered
to take their seed at high figures. L
the slump had not come when it die
thousands of acres of land in Louisiana
and other states would now be covered
with cotton plants where cane lately
grew. What the commercial effect would
have been to the planters it is difficult
to estimate If the planters of Hawaii
could suddenly change their sugar in
terests into fields of growing cotton with
gins and other necessary machinery, to-
gether with facilities for shipping their
cotton to Japan, they might be better off
This conjecture NAV sound like treason
IN land that sugar has so bountifully
enriched and if it be treason it comes
OF the change of mood thar the existing
Cotton is one of the abandoned indus
at Hama, Maui, and in parts of Hawaii;
In 1887 Governor Kuakini erected a
stone cotton factory at Kailua and some
very durable fabrics were produced by
the simple machinery of that period. Dur
ing the civil war, forty years ago, when
the seaportS of the southern states were
blockaded and cotton was made a very
costly staple, the Hawaiian growers ex-
ported hundreds of bales to Boston. Gins
were located near the present postoffice
in Honolulu The Sea Island, Georgia
and Peruvian varieties were cultivated
then. 1t was not long after this, how
ever, when sugar asserted almost COM
plete sway over the planting interests
of the Islands and fields of cotton be-
came only a memory.
A gentleman residing in this city pro-
cured some Sea Island cotton seeds at the
coast about five years ago and has been
experimenting with cotton in his garden
ever since. His land is at a low eleva
ton, not far from the center of town,
and the soil in which the plants grow
is rich. In four months after the seeds
sprout cotton may be picked from the
plant First comes the white blossom,
which bears the appearance of half
grown hibiscus. This gradually turns
to purple hue and then the fluffy little
white ball of cotton takes the place of
the flower. He has not discovered any
serious blight. Occasionally he finds
ladybugs on the leaves, and these he be-
lieves are combating what inconspicuous
blight may exist His FIVE years expert
ence gives some weight to his views of
cotton growing. He IS of the opinion
that half ton of cotton per annum can
be grown on an acre anywhere on the
lowlands of the Islands, unless the loca-
ton is subj ected to extraordinary strong
winds 1t will grow at an elevation of
5000 feet, if necessary, said he, and
there are vast tracts of land covered with
lantana and other useless shrubbery all
over the Islands that could be turned
into cotton fields 1t could be made the
ideal occupation for the small farmer
The gin is a simple matter of $500 or
$500 and a ready market for the seeds
can oe secured at home Absorbing con-
siderable nitrogen from the atmosphere
they make, when ground, capital food for
dairy and beet stock, as every stockman
will tell you. They are put to many
other uses. Yet while there might be
very rosy prospect observed in one direc-
ton we are confronted by the shipping
problem. Steamers calling here on their
way TO Yokohama are always loaded and
have no room for bales of cotton. San
Francisco would not be a profitable mar
ket; neither would Sydney. Japanese
buyers IN Yokohama are now paying 10
cents u. S. gold per pound for a medium
quality, and there would be our market.
am not steamboat man and cannot
surmise what could be practically effected
in the way of speedy transportation II
The cotton industry should attain even
quarter of the present proportions OF the
sugar business doubtless ways and means
would be provided for facilitating the !
export to Japan or any other country |
At first there would not be much ditfl-
.ulty in securing sailing vessels for the
raffic. The Fiji cotton merchants ship
o Japan via Sydney. They produce a |
superior quality of cotton in hotter
.ountry than ours. you must know. our /
emperature is something between that
# Mississippi and Fiji and | am con-
ident there is nothing the matter with i
,ur climate" !. /
1t would require an expenditure OF
10000 TO start and equip an ordinary
'lantation A cleaner, gin, press, GER
ain other machinery, miscellaneous tools
nd warehouses wouId be needed a
water supply would have to be secured
nd irrigating bitches constructed. Cot
on will thrive with far less water than
ugar. but it would suffer during the
unmer months without irrigation Inc
armer with few acres of cotton would
e better off in a certain respect tnan
he small cane cultiyator, though the
after is disappearing from the land He
would be independent of the mill, ana
the buyer refused to pay his price ne
ould warehouse his product TIL the
market reached the right figure Inc
ane grower must dispose OF his cane
when it is ripe or let it spoil. One adj
-antage of raising this staple in Hawaii
$ that it will grow all the year round.
The n,atured cotton and the blossoms
nnear on the same plant at the same
irne and the plant viii continue to y1eia
OF several years.
The individual planter in the cotton
'eit of America generally varlega at 1is
pac.1oSs cotton he Will nave