The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-01-01

The yield of sugar for the Hawaiian
Islands for the crop of 1908 was 43o,o54
short tons, which quantity was harvest
ed from an area of o3,35o acres. The
following statements of yields show the
relative production on irrigated and ur1-
irrigated plantations and for the islands
as a whole.
Fields of Sugar for 1908.
Hawaiian Islands, $3.50 acres; total
sugar, 43S,o54 tons; yield per acre, o3S5
pounds.
Irrigated plantations, 4a,oo7 acres;
total sugar, 26o,525 tons; yield per acre,
1887 pounds.
Unirrigated plantations, 5T.a35 acres;
total sugar. 1850 tons; yield FER acre,
o,o27 pounds.
While the average yield of 400 tons
of sugar per acre appears high when
compared with that of other sugar
growing countries, it is a measure mis-
leading, for the fact that the Hawaiian
cane crop takes as a rule from eighteen
to twenty-five months to mature (tfir-
ty months are required on certain fields
on the uplands of Hawaii) necessitates
considerable reduction in this stated
yield before it can be brought into conf
parison with annual crops of other coun-
tries.
Reliable statistics have been recorded
since 1905 showing the yields of sugar
and acreage of all plantations in the
group and the increased production per
acre between 1895 and 1903 may be seen
from the following figures:
Under cane, acres, 1906, 47,3oo.5; 1908,
o3,35o.
Total yield of sugar, tons, 1895. 1877
4Io.5; 1908, 43S,o54.
Yield of sugar per acre, pounds, 1906,
t,472; 1903, o.385.
This. increased yield per acre during
a period of nine years may be attrib-
utad to several causes, which may be
briefly stated as follows:
Tie Expansion of the Sugar Industry
Through The Taking Over of
Ne1U Land
"A. certain gain per acre has without
doubt followed the planting of new
lands. The total area of cane harvested
in 1895 was 47,3oo.s acres. Of these
sugar lands 23,e45 acres, or practically
500 per cent, were dependent upon rain
fall for their water supply, and 23,454.5
acres, or 4o4 per cent, were irrigated.
In 1908 the area of cane harvested was
os,35o acres, of which 5I,a53 acres, or
54.8 per cent, were dependent upon rain
fall, and 1907 acres, or 45.2 per cent,
received irrigation. These figures show
that the unirrigated area has increased
over the irrigated lands by o,I56 acres
since 1895. Unless we stop to consider
the nature of the lands added to the su-
oar area in each instance we would ex-
pect to find decrease in the acre yield
for 1908 rather than an increase, other
influences being omitted from consider
ation.
New lands taken ever by the uf1irri-
gated plantations have been largely on
the higher Levels, where the soil Is thin
ner and poorer as a rule, and the sugar
yields, although at first good, are soon
reduced after harvesting one or two
crops and become hess than those OBJ
tanned from the tgNeF-ly1ng areas. On
the irrigated plahtations the new lands
which have been added to the cultivated
area have usually been richer thar those
under cultivation for some time, and
such expansion has followed the open
ing of new sources Of water supply with
the advantages of Improved irrigation
facilities. The production per acre on
the unirrigated plantations was .3o4 per
cent higher In 1908 than in 1906, and on
the irrigated plantations a gain of 6I.3
per cent was obtained during the same
period. The gain in tfe former in ;
stance must be attributed almost en- {
tirely to improved methods of cultiva-
ton and fertilization and TO the intro
duction of more thrifty varieties of i
zane, while in the latter case a greater
production due to new lands cannot be :
omitted as an important factor along {
with the gain from progressive methods
Of cane farming. A considerable part
of this gain on the irrigated plantations I
,,.,- d,,a fc ff,a xy;Afdc of thrae rfa17ta-
lions situated in favorable locality !
bordering on Pearl Harbor. The acre
sge of cane harvested from these plan a
ations in 1908 was To,4fo and the sugar c
zields. 8S.768 tons Drifting these PLAN {
ations from the list of irrigated estates t
would reduce the average yield per acre
IF irrigated plantations for 1903 from !
Z. .s7z pounds TO 1884 pounds. and of a
"a pounds Two of these plantations, !
representing 4ooo3 tons of the 1908