The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-12-04
THF GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENTS WITH RICE
What Is Doing Out in
the District of
PaWaa.
BY FREDERICK C. KRAUss.

BY FREDERICK G. KRAUSS.
In Charge of Rice Experiments, L. 3
Experiment Station, Hawaii.
Ont King street, just before you turn
into Kalakaua avenue. if you happen
to be driving or walking, you will no.
ice a field of rice containing an acre
or more of different color and growth.
This is the trial field of the United
States Experiment Station and Fred
erick G.. Krauss, of the station. is en-
gagged in an effort to discover the best
rice for this market.
With the advent of the numerous
japanese in Hawaii came a demand for
japanese rice; the demand for the Ha-
yaiian variety became limited tG the
white residents mainly, and the Chi
nese The rice industry was at once
endangered and many of the growers
gave up planting. j. A. Hopper &
Son, owners of the largest rice mill in
the country, went out of business. be-
cause most of the rice used here was
imported from Japan and needed no
milling. Then came the RussanJap-
anese war, and with it the supply OF
rice from the Orient was cut off. The
variety raised in Louisiana is from
Japan seed, or the Japan seed is from
tit makes no difference-so the nifty
sea captain found way of turning an
honest dollar by bringing down to the
islands, for ships account, several hun
dred mats of the commodity that was
"grown in the United States
The United States would have the
industry flourish again, and, in order
that it may, is making these expert
ments. A careful observer into the
field will find that some of the rows
are empty of stalks; in places the
empty places may be several feet apart,
a void caused by the failure of the
seed to terminate. Other rows are
made up of short growth varieties
which appear and may be stunted. He
will notice, also. hundreds of grass
hoppers, pest which devours the seed
in the rice pods almost as thoroughly
as the rice bird. Old Chinese planters
say the hoppers appear mainly on the
edges of the field, and there is where
the damage mostly occurs.
The object of the trial grounds is to
grow all available varieties of rice side
by side, under uniform conditions. for
aric mr. cpJanfjnn nf tho most
desirable sorts for the conditions While
only one of the many and diversified
problems to be solved in these investf-
cations. the question of determining
the most desirable for the conditions
here is the most important. The ideal
for which the station is striving is one
that embodies superior culinary quail
ties, superior milling qualities and. of
course, superior in yielding and general
cultural qualities consequently affect
ing the grower. the miller and the con-
sumner While the Hawaiian rice is a
strong grower and good yielder, the
quality of the grain is not acceptable
to the largest consumers. the Japanese.
who import the bulk of their rice from
their native land at a higher price than
Hawaiian rice will bring.
Out in the trial beds the Experiment
Station has about one hundred and
thirty odd varieties for comparison
with each other and the best Hawaiian
variety. The different varieties are
growing from seed furnished by the
United States Department of Agricul-
ture. which received them through the
explorers of the department, men who
are constantly in search of new things
agricultural. and whose training has
fitted them to select varieties of eco
noTnic plants likely to prove Of benefit
to American agriculture and the fur
therfnost ends of the earth are being
explored for this purpose.
The office of Experiment Station in
Washington has Hawaii in mind and
there is seldom q mail arriving from
the mainland that fails to bring some
variety of plant seed. Just now a