The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-05-15

edies when the enemy was yet in its
incipient stage. In many instances
| communities which have become en-
riched by a successful industry have
| become utterly impoverished in a few
seasons by the failure OF their staple
| crop under the attack of disease. Cof-
fee. vanilla, the grape vine, and many
| other industries have both made and
ruined the fortunes of countries, and
the latter phase has unquestionably
been due to the lack of proper scien~
tif1c knowledge and a lively sense OF
the impending danger. Referring
again to more local conditions, it does
not take great observation to discern
that even with all our boosted scien-
| tific knowledge, the mango crop of the
islands is in danger of suffering ma
terially unless the continual applica-
ton of modern knowledge be exerted
on its behalf. Our taro crop, essen
tally a primitive industry and one at
first thought which should be immune
IIOHI SuNu udIlScES dS nave
ferred to. is threatened with more than
one disease. The condition of our rice
industry was lately so precarious that
the cooperation of both local and Fed
eral assistance was enlisted to discover
suitable remedies, to re.nstate it among
our remunerative Agricultural pursuits.
1t is only by recourse to the accumu-
lated knowledge of the sciences as un-
derstood and intelligently applied by
modern experiment and practise that
substantial and permanent improve
ment can be achieved in this industry.
But by these helps, an almost double
yield of improved grain can be pre-
dicted, at smaller cost than that
necessary to produce our present crop.
The welfare of a rapidly-increasing
part of our inhabitants is more or less
closely associated with the pineapple
industry. yet here is a condition or
affairs which has obtained before in
many countries and which contains
within itself the factors for its own
destruction from disease. The prompt
application of approved methods Is
necessary to ward off the threatened
enemy. and here again we look to SCI
ence for a solution. Before these on
sIaughts. the individual, however hard
working, however energetic and
intelligent is absolutely helpless, with
out a scientific ira ming acquired in
modern agricultural college.
Among the external influences which
have been at work to accumulate the
sum of knowledge necessary TO sue
cessful husbandry may be mentioned
the development of market demands,
the intensified competition among pro-
ducers. the general raising of the stan
dard of living in progressive countries
and the dissem nation of educatlon.
This latter factor has acted as an es-
peciaI stimulus in this direction, as IL
has been seen that of two men endowed
in other respects alike, success has fol-
lowed the one who possessed the
greater store of suitable learning 10
draw upon. With the factors alluded
to at work has come the necessity OIL
larger crop production and of more &C.
onomicaI methods of tillage and mar
yesting. To assisting the enhancement
of harvest yield have come, among
others. the chemist and the soil expert,
who have determined the proper con-
stituents of plant food, and the sclen- |
tific plant breeder, with special knoWl-
edge of the laws determining the
of varieties and the eVo-
luton of new breeds. The question OF /
economic harvesting has been very
solved by the mechan cal de-
vices of the engineer.
1t is not alone in the plant crops OF /
the farm that this special knowledge
to which we have been abiding ap-
plies. but the same is necessary 10 the
breeder of all farm stock. With these
after, whether the object aimed at De
the profitable production of horses OF
sheep. or even the more lowly feather
ed stock. the most successful operator
VIII be the one who has the greatest
store of suitable knowledge to draw
1pon. The chicken breeder Will nave
more opportunity to succeed VINO mas
the principles of Mendells laws OF
leredity to assist him, than he VINO Is
cropping in the dark, as must he whose
ore has been learned by merely op-
erving local conditions.
1t is to be noted that the Ieglsld-
i've appropriation tn which we nave
alluded does not confipe it's operation
o agricultural education alone, put
embraces in its scope the wide feid
covered by the mechanic arts. The
LIBERAL policy of making provision Tor
Instruction in other departments or