The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1907-02-08

o. | NNNNt ~ tuih tfalitls
n Fruits rot. Timber decays. II II Otter
assumed that these occurrences are ~.
, to Inherent tendencies OF the thing
that rot or decay.
, IL II true that all living things hav'
I definite period beyond which the,
cannot continue in the form of one In
dividual our own limit has been Sc
at three score and ten years 10 fou
score years. or thereabouts. Reaching
this limit the human organism rum
down. Appetite fails. and foo1 ceasei
TO nourish as IL formerly did. TIL,
muscles become enfeebled and tn,
nerves no longer respond to the ole
stimuli Recollection fades. and as Il
has been beautifully phrased we "fal
on sleep"
But this contamination Is remarkable
on account OF its rarity rather than It's
commonness. AS a rule before n man
can live out his allotted span he is car
ried OFF by some accident or disease
He dies not because OF some inherent
quality but because of some outside
cause. He loses his life by accident
or is carried of by some parasitic or
ganism such as that of consumption,
cancer, plague or smallpox.
Wishing to combat an erroneous no
tion by drawing a parallel I take our
own life history as one part of the IL
lustration because 1t is one with which
all are more less familiar. 1 think
you will have little difficulty in as
senting to the statements I have made.
Now what Is true of mankind in this
| respect is equally true OF all things or
ganic The losses due to rot and decay
L. g.. IL. -
was inherent in the organic matter that
rotted or decayed. In other words It
was due to the attack of some organ
ism or to some accident, and was not
something that was at that time in
evitable These organic things rot, de-
cay or otherwise perish, as rule, long
before their allotted span, just as we
do. And 1t is just as true OF these
things that their life can be prolonged
as 1t is that we could prolong human
life much beyond the present statistical
limit IL we would only live up to what the
more advanced among us wildly real
ize to be demonstrated fact. No one
doubts that II all the individuals Of this
or any other community would live up
to the standard of cleanliness and mod
Grafton easily shown to be best for us
altered. The amount Of suffering
would be much less. and the sum Of
human happiness would be SO much the
greater.
In the much humber sphere to which
invite your attention for a few min
utes the same holds true. The various
parts of cultivated plants such as flow
ers. fruits, stems, foliage, and roots
which we value for various reasons are
by no means so inherently frail as they
are often assumed to be. There is real
ly nothing in a piece of sound fruit
that can cause 1t to decay. When 1t
decays it is usually because Of some
accident or some destructive organism.
Because we do not fully understand
what is taking place we say, "Oh, 1t
just rots." And as the occurrence is
very common one we have grown to
look upon 1t as unavoidable. Neverthe-
less within limitations the very oppo-
site is true. So far as anything in It
self is concerned almost any piece of
sound fruit, even the most perishable
kind, might remain sound for a long
period. Give 1t the necessary condi-
lions and you may see this at any time.
Tin a pineapple or place 1t in cold stor-
age and 1t will last for long time, and
| II the operations be carried out In the
right way, for a very long time indeed.
The essence of this preservation is pre-
venting the access of outside destruc-
tive organisms, or so lowering their vi
tality that they are comparatively
harmless.
So with timber. There is no cause
within itself why a post set in the
ground should not last for centuries.
The other day friend showed me a
piece Of timber that had served in the
foundation of an English house for over
700 years. 1t appeared perfectly sound.
The beams in certain substantially
built European chateaux have lasted
for centuries and are today as sound
as ever in fact appear to possess VAL
liable properties that less aged timber
does not possess, as is evidenced by
the fact that makers OF musical in
struments pay high prices to be allow
ed to dismantle these buildings and re-
move the old timber for use in the
construction OF wooden parts of music
al instruments,
In the course Of the few moments de-
voted this evening to the blights of
our crops 1t will therefore be profitable
to note the extent to which the pre-
vious remarks hold true, for II 1t
prove true that in most instances our
crop products are carried off before
their time, 1t behoves us to inquire in
to the causes. with the object of ascer-
tanning whether some OF the losses are
not preventable. You will observe that
in many instances commercially val
liable remedies are at once suggested
as result of an investigation into the
causes OF what were once looked upon
as Just common rot such as we have
always had"
Just rot may be as old as time.
but no matter how aged It be 1t must
| not simply on that account escape re-
examination in the light OF the new
truths made known in recent times
through the Investigations of scientific
men. We must beware of thinking that
because a thing always has been it
therefore always will be,
am wholly unprepared at the pres
ent time to give anything like complete
observations on Hawaiian crop blights.
l can give only few notes on some
of them. One of my objects will be to
call attention to the way in which
anyone so disposed may assist in the
work of collecting information on this
subject.
The sending of specimens of leaves,
| tWipS Stpp1S roots ~. frttitG ~ II m q