The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1904-04-28
KEA AND STARTLING
ARE NOT WANTED
BOARD OF AGRICULTURE Is AT
HIS COLLECTING INDUSTRY.

HIS COLLECTING INDUSTRY.
The Board of Agriculture and Fores-
| try yesterday afternoon decided to ask
! the Department Of Agriculture to re-
woke the permit given to Professor
| Brigham of the Bishop Museum all
| lowing him to import museum speci-
mems, on account of his bringing a Kea,
or sheep killing bird here. The board
does not accept the professors idea
that the bird lives only in icy mountain
! Businesses and never attacks sheep at
all.
A report was received from A. w
| Carter and L. A. Thurston, setting
forth the law on the subject, and re-
commencing that the board ask for
the revocation of Brigham's permit.
The report was adopted and on motion
of Holloway the board passed resolu-
ton to ask for the appointment of a
federal inspector, under the authority
of the board, to watch such importa-
tons.
The Startling also came in for un-
favorable criticism. A report from
I
red a proposal to import the Startling
as an enemy to the Japanese beetle
and other insects was as follows:
with regard to the letter of Mr..
Munro referred to me to report on,
concerning the introduction of the
British Startling" I may say that the
introduction of this bird into the Unit
ed States is absolutely prohibited. The
bird in question is somewhat allied to
the "minah" but in my opinion, in this
country, if it should thrive, would be
vastly superior to the latter. The
reason why the starting is prohibited
is clearly because it is partly frugi-
vorous, being particularly fond of
cherries and some varieties of pear mot
alligator pears); but the majority of
fruits it leaves alone. AS it has the
habit of digging into the soil after cut
worms etc, Mr.. Munro is perfectly
correct in saying it would be most bene-
fetal against these and against Jap
anese beetle, the larvae of the latter
being subterannean. l cannot remem-
Der. although 1 have dissected scores
of these birds, ever seeing beneficial in
sects in the stomach of the starting,
but with this or any other bird the full
est investigation on this point would
have to be made before importation is
effected if it could be legalized.
The minah for instance, in certain
localities, destroys thousands of the
most beneficial insects we have, and
if the starting or any other imported
bird should do likewise, the damage
done this way might far outweigh any
advantage. All these points should be
carefully considered and investigated
here before any liberation of such birds
is made Yours Obediently,
r. c. L. PERKINS.
Forester Hosmer made a report of
his investigation of the Waianae range
arl The Eva basin, giving also the
GeI.u @ the work at the government
nursery and the Nuuanu forest
A letter was received from Jared q.
Smith stating that the United States
experiment station had leased five acres
of land near Hilo for the purposes of a
banana and cacao experiment He de-
sired the permission of the board to
import cacao pods from Samoa for eX-
detrimental purposes. Samoa was stated
to be the nearest place from which the
seeds could be imported and cacao
trees in Ceylon, Trinidad and other
places were affected with disease
w. M. Giffard told of the results he
had obtained from cacao seed, obtain
ed from Samoa through Theodore
Wores and planted eighteen months
ago on Tantalus. The tree was covered
with fungus which had Slapped out It's
life and 1t was very much stunted. lie
said that a mistake had been made by
Smith, as there was really no reg
ulation on the part of the board pro-
hibiting the importation of seed from
Samoa, Java being the place mentioned
in the order.
Upon motion of Carter permit was
granted Smith to import the cacao
seeds, provided that the proper precau-
tionary measures were taken.
A letter was received from Costa
Rica, containing a number of questions
about the banana industry here and
was referred to a committee for inVes-
tigation. 1t contained the following
inquiries:
l. Which of the islands of the group
is best adapted to the cultivation OF
bananas?
2. What is the average value of the
land, virgin soil?
SWhat is the average rate of wages
per man? What labor is it? Chinese
Japanese, coolie?
l. Is labor plentiful, or is there
scarcity Tor plantation work?
D. What are the facilities for trans
portation frorn the plantations to Homo
luluT
g. What is the average freight rate
per bunch of fruit from Honolulu to
San Francisco?
7. What is the average weight of
bunch of bananas?
g. Can you kindly furnish me
rough analysis Of the soil?
g. What height above the sea level
are the best localities for bananas?
10. Is the climate malarial?
II. What is the average yearly rain
fail?
p. Is there much swamp land in the
islands?
10. What distance from Honolulu
ghI