The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-02-17
AN AGRICULTURAL PARALLEL.

Tho people who carp ~ tho agricul
tufal capacity Of Hawaii have their
prototypes IN the early annals u Cali
fornia. when the minors noekcd there
In 1870 and for some years later, they
! regarded California ns % desert in
which any form Of agriculture would
te necessarily frutless. Coming from
the vcrdant East and knowing nothing
OF irrigation. they looked nskance &c
the treeless and arid mcsas, the sum
mor's drouth. the sand and adobe, Mt
the buneh.grass and prickly pear. To
them California was merely mining
country to which ones daily bread
must be imported; and for a good
while they brought wheat, fruits, vege-
tables and even soft.flling for then
beds from Hawaii.
Necessity. in due time, drove them
to the cultivation of wheat-in which
the mission fathers had. indeed, pre-
coded thcm-and of fruit and garden
truck. They were amazed TO find,
even in the valley of the San Joaquin,
that when they "tickled the earth
with hoe it laughed harvest. OF
all places the San Joaquin had been
the most unpromising; and in 1857 a
Government survey had pronounced
its case hopeless. IL was part of the
Great American Desert we used to see
on the maps; a spot inhabitable only
by the Indian, the rattlesnake and the
horned toad. Indeed, all of Califor-
mia was so maligned by no less a per-
sonage than Daniel Webster who, rls-
ing in his place in the Senate to discuss
the proposed annexation of California,
said:
What do we want of this vast,
worthless area, this region of savages
ana wild beasts. of deserts, of shift
ing sands and whirlwinds, of dust, of
cactus and prairie dogsi To what use
could we ever hope to put these great
deserts or these endless mountain
ranges, impenetrabe or covered to
their bases with eternal snow? What
can we ever hope to do with the west
ern coast, a coast of three thousand
lhiles, rockbound, cherries and unin-
viting, with not harbor in itf What
use have we for such a countryi Mr..
President, l will never vote one cent
from the public treasury to place the
Pacific coast one inch nearer Boston
than it is To-Day"
But California gradually, but surely,
unfolded itself. First vegetables and
cereals were raised; then fruit and
wine were added to the resources of
the new State; and today there is lit
tie grown IN the north temperate zone
which does not find in California a
natural habitat. And new agricultural
merits are all the time being discov-
cred. Observe this in recent num-
Der of the Los Angeles Times:
"The possibilities of the soil in
California are constantly widening.
Fifty years ago, the pioneers doubted
whether California would ever be able
to raise enough wheat for home con-
sumption. Ten years ago, it was gen.
orally understood that we could not
raise good apples in Southern Califor-
MIA A display of Southern California
apples, made at the Los Angeles Cham
Der of Commerce last year, opened the
eyes of many people on this subject.
1t is true that apples cannot be sue
cessfully grown all over Southern Cal
iforna-nor can oranges for that mat
ter-but in section which possesses
such n remarkable variety of climate
anu soii, i'phi hhS
belts of the foothills to mountain val
leys, where there is snow for several
months of the year, it would be strange
if some localities were not found where
the apple, regarded by some as the
king of fruits, fourishes.
Had the early miners found in Cal
fornia country like Hawaii the
question of agricultural capacity would
not have been raised. One glance at
the Hawaiian lands would have been
enough to teach them, coming as they
did from eastern and southern farms,
that these islands were the natural
home of the husbandman. Singularly
enough, however, it is our own people
who, in so many cases, remain to be
convinced, despite the opulent results
of sugar planting, the truck farm sue
cesses of the Asiatics, the lusty growth
of banana, pineapple and sisal and the
encouraging news about tobacco and
vanilla. In time, of course, Hawan
ans will wake rp to their opportuni-
ties, rs Californians have done; but
it is pity that their eyes are not
open now.