The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-22

lions on the east side of Hawaii, where
water is plentiful, they have a system
of fumes constructed ont of the mill
At harvest time they need but to turn
the water into these fumes and dump
the cane into the streams. The current
will do the rest. A system of long
lines Of these fumes, carried by long
and high trestles over gulches and hol-
lows, makes very characteristic fea-
ture III the landscape. The process of
extracting the sugar at the mill is in
many features similar to that used in
the beet sugar factories The Juice is
pressed out, and by boiling down in
vacuum pans made to crystalline.
From these mills nearly all the sugar
is sent to the mainland at California.
or elsewhere, for refining
Rice Culture.
Considerable rice is produced on the
islands, almost exclusively by the Chi
Dese. This crop requires much water.
The field is kept covered with water to
the depth of several inches until the
crop is nearly mature, when the water
is drawn off and the ground allowed
to dry off somewhat before harvesting.
What is very odd in the culture of rice
is the large amount of hand labor
which is done on it. and the antiquated
methods used. Instead of sowing the
seed where it is to grow to maturity.
it is soWn very thick in small beds, and
thenfi after the plans are eight or ten
inches high, they are set out in hills
about eight inches apart each way.
with three or four plants in
each hill. BY this method of setting out
the plants, they ecOnomize time on the
larger areas necessary TO mature a crop
and also inRrnq =
Careful observations made by the rice
specialist at the government experiment
station indicate that for the prevailing
conditions, with cheap labor, cOntinu-
Gus growing seasons, and valua BILE
land, 1t pays to transplant thus. and
he even questions whether il would not
also pay in the rice regions of the MAIN
land of the United States. The harvest
ing is done with sickIes and the thresh-
ing, as rule, on floors with cattle, wa
ter buffaloes, or horses to tramp it out.
In the early stages of the rice's growth
in the fields, the Chinese from time to
time wade through and with the fingers
weed it and loosen up the soil. Birds,
principally the English sparrow, have
become very obnoxious pests, and in
the ripening fields we may frequently
see a Chinaman with a shotgun. scar
ing them off by much yelling and occa-
sional shooting. On some patches they
had system of tin cans strung on
wires so that the workman at any part
of the field could reach up and jerk the
wire, starting the tin cans all over the
field to. making a racket sufficient to
scare off anything.
Pine Apple Culture.
Next in order of Importance to sugar
cane and rice is the pineapple. This
crop is raised in small patches in nearly
all parts of the islands. but the main
center for it is in the interior of Oahu,
at Wahiawa, about twenty-five, miles
from Honolulu. Here, at an elevation
of about 1000 feet, some thousands of
acres of fine land is almost exclusively
devoted to pineapple culture. Excel
lent fruit is produced here and the Wa
hiawa pineapples are eagerly sought in
both local and distant markets. This
is also crop that requires much hand
labor to prepare the sprouts from old
plants or tops of fruits to set out for
new areas to keep them we'll cultivated
and free from weeds. and to harvest
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