The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-10-02
FRUITS Of
THE ISLANDS
,From sundays AdvertIsep

Possibilities OF Embarrassing in Ha
waii not only for the local markets but
for thosc of the mainland as well were
described and discussed last evening Mt
the regular meeting of the Farmers In.
stitutc Of Hawaii held Mt the library of
the Territorial Bureau of Forestry and
Agriculture. The papers read on this
subject were of unusual interest as they
bore directly upon the question of which
fruits were the best to raise here and
best adapted for consumption both
here and elsewhere.
A fair audience was present includ-
ing many people who have always been
interested in fruit development in the
islands. Among these were Judge Dole,
U. Thompson, Mr.. Thomas of Wahia-
wa, DR.. Clark, Mrs. Nakuina, Prof.
Krause, d. l.. Van Dine, Prof. Hosmer,
Prof. Craw, DR.. Brigham.
In the absence of the president, Mr..
Weinrich of Sisal opened the meeting.
President Jared Smith came in later
and presided.
DR.. w. r. Brigham. curator of the
Bishop Museum, was introduced to
read paper on Hawaiian Fruits. He
had prepared list of one hundred
fruits that were either raised or known
here or ought to be raised in the is
lands The list comprised exotic fruits
with which the doctor appeared to be
quite familiar from personal observa-
tion in his travels about the world. He
said that majority of the fruits named
had been cultivated at one time or an
other in the islands, but many had died
out altogether.
DR., Brigham spoke of the difficulty Of
obtaining the best of the island fruits
in the public markets. Where" he
asked. ''can you get good banana
outside your own garden?" There was
an absence of fine tropical fruits in
the local markets where they ought to
be on sale.
He spoke of mangoes and while Ha-
waii should produce the best he thought
the Manila mangoes were much better
and he put those of Hawaii into the
second class
Why should lemons he imported in
such quantities when they could be
grown so well here, he asked. Oranges,
too, of several varieties could easily be
grown but their cultivation is neg
lected
IOIty years hHO III tuC EdluCu VI a
Frenchman at Kalihi DR.. Brigham had
eaten almonds grown there and they
were of excellent quality.
The speaker had some fine fruit trees
years ago but was finally led to cut
them down because "the police were
powerlcss to protect me from fruit
thives, the curse of this place."
The best strawberries, DIR. Brigham
thought, were those from Wahiawa.
The guava tree is being chiefly look
ell after by Japanese because 1t could
be transformed ints the finest of char
coal.
AS to olives the palm goes to Wahi
ava, fine fruit being developed there
Figs are desirable and could be
grown here proftably.
Grapes, it had been shown, could
easily be grown here with proper care
All varieties in recent years seemed tt
have given way to the Isabella al
though some fine lunches of Tokay
were to be had.
Following the reading of this paper
a bag of dried fruit was passed around
The fruit proved to be strips of the
mango dried in the sun, most palata
bic and delicious edible, almost in q
candied form, although no foreign
agents had been used in preparing it
This is a product which Mr.. Thomai
of Wahiawa brought to the meeting
He said the strips were dried in the
sun for three days. The delicacy OF
the fruit was revelation to those pres
ent and the opinion was expressed that
dried mangoes would be profitable
industry and could easily replace dried
apples.
Jared Smith read a paper on Fruit
Culture as an Industry in the Hawaiian
Islands" He told of the vast possiblli-
ties of fruit raising and the great
and increasing demand for tropical
fruits on the mainland. Already $2,-
100000 worth of fruits are imported
from Hawaii and Porto Rico. There
could be no overproduction in Hawaii
The development of the fruit trade
here depended upon the quality, the
packing and the efficiency of the trans.
portation facilities. and, last but not
least, the advertising given it. Two
years ago the Hawaii Experiment Sta
tion had experimental in shipping ALI.
gator pears to the New York market
and successfully. The pears were pro-
nounced of the finest quality. The
experiment last year did not turn out
so well because the shipment was held
at Sacramento for two weeks and the
fruit spoiled.
Mr.. Smith told of the experiment in
packing and transporting fruits com
prising bananas. pineapples. etc. which
were taken to the Coast bv Mr.. Hig-
gins few weeks ago. All the cases
for Oregon, Washington, Idaho and
Utah, arrived in perfect condition.
The fruit trade in the northwest
copld be increased indefinitely.
Other interesting papers were read
bv DR.. f. G. Shorey on "Tropical
Fruits as Food" and by D. L. Van Dine
on horticultural Insect Enemies, -
the latter illustrated by specimens.
n0Nrr