The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1905-02-07
FARMERS
MEETING
(From Saturdays Advertiser)

(FrOm SaturdayS AuVeruser)
The Farmers Institute meeting held
at the Kamehameha schools last night
was largely attended and proved very
instructive. The meeting was held in
the large assembly room of the Boys
School, and nearly every seat was filed
when the Kamehameha Glee Club open
ed the program with one of their char
acteristic selections. A large part OF
the audience was made up Of the school
boys and girls, most of whom remained
until the end. After the song Jared
Q. Smith. president of the institute,
introduced President Perley l.. Horne
of the Kamehameha schools, who made
a few welcoming remarks. After an
other song by the glee club came the
first paper of the evening.
This took the form of an informal
talk by d. l.. Van Dine on the subject
of Insects illustrated with lantern
slides. No attempt was made to make
the talk technical, but Nj. Van Dine
showed pictures of different classes of
insects, OF beneficial and harmful in
sects, and the more common appli-
ances for the determination of pests.
An endeavor was made to interest those
present in the study of insect life, at
least. enough study to enable them
to distinguish the harmful from the
harmless Representations of the COM
mon house and store pests were shown,
as well as agricultural pests and their
remedies. Altogether the talk was an
intensely interesting and able practical
presentation of a subject much neglect
ed by the layman. Following the talk
Mr.. Kotinsky made few apt remarks
urging people to become interested in
at least the rudiments of entomology.
The next topic OF discussion was the
avocado or alligator pear. Mr.. Henry
Davis read an able paper on the sub
ject. He traced the history OF the fruit,
which probably originally came from
Mexico. 1T has spread to all sub-tropi-
cal countries. Probably no individual
introduced the trees into these islands,
but it came rather in several importa-
tions. Mr. Davis was of the opinion
that the pear was a little out of its
climate in Hawaii but that 1t would
be very profitable export. He told of
pears shipped in egg cases from the
West Indies to New York that sold for
81 per fruit. Mr.. Davis told of his own
experience in growing the trees. He
was followed by Mr.. Brigham, who
showed some specimen models of the
fruit that he had raised. He laid spe-
ciai emphasis on the need of careful
cultivation and fertilization.
In the discussion which followed diff
ferent members laid stress on cultiva-
tion, of proper selection and breeding,
and on the location of the trees. One
member was of the opinion that trees
did better at sea level than at 1000 feet
elevation. 1t was stated that pears had
been shipped to New York and had ar
rived in good condition, and that they
had been kept in cold storage for seven
weeks here. Alexander Craw said that
the fruit had often brought twenty-five
cents apiece ir San Francisco and
urged its cultivation as one of the best
things a small farmer could do. He
advised that only about a half an inch
of stem be left on each fruit and that
the fruit be cut from the tree and not
pulled.
The last address was on the sub
ject. Some Modern Dairy Farms by
Mr.. f. G.. Krauss of Kamehameha
schools. BY means of lantern slides
and descriptions he showed some of the
great dairies of California and told of
the possibilities for the industry in Ha-
wall. He told of one of the cows at
the Kamehameha dairy which netted
SS45 In one year, and urged an extern
sion OF the local dairy industry.