The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-11-13

In September, 1907, I measured
of a rectangular piece of land contain
ing exactly four acres. One acre fur
rowed out, and "kipikuaedn holes six
feet each way. The other three acres
l plowed and narrowed twice, and as
the manienie sod was very heavy / had
to hand-work the whole piece, going
over it with "kipikuas" and packing
out what wouldn t burn; as the weather
was quite wet L could not get fire on
the grass prior to blowing; this, of
course, made the preparation of the
three acres very expensive. l selected
the spot especially, as 1 thought it
would be good place to determine the
maximum cost of preparing land for
planting trees in this style.
The Seeding trees | selected were
Eucalyptus amygdalina, L. botryoides,
E. corymbosa, L. corynocalyx, L. leu
coxylon, L. paniculata, and L. rudis,
which were recommended to me by the
Australian forestry service as being
considered by them to be among the
best Of their trees for railroad ties and
fenceposts. The cost of the two pieces
is as follows:
'One-acre lot-Furrowing, $3.50;
ing to date (twice), $3.50. Total, $3.50.
Three-acre lot-Plowing, 5000;
narrowing, 1915; kipikua work and
wedding twice, $l02.70; holing, $l7.44;
planting, 1882. Total, $145.90 OF
$4S.97 per acre.
The holing of the three-acre piece
cost more than it should have done, as
owing to running out of Seeding trees,
planting of about half this lot had to
be postponed, and the holes dug over
again.
To Offset to certain extent the
cost of the three-acre lot, L thought it
would be as well to try some quick
growing crop that would not take up
too much room, and would to as small
an extent as possible retard the growth
of the trees. l selected California po-
tatoes, and treated the seed to bath
of sulphate of copper, to see if that
would prevent the rot that is SO preva.
lent in Kula.
Last July Notwithstanding the rot
that did attack them, and the excep.
tionally dry weather that we have had
all this year, l took off crop of pota-
toes that melted me $500 10. This amount
deducted from the cost, $4,000, left
$7771 or say $3.50 per acre for the
three-acre piece, as against $3.50 for
the uncultivated acre.
Results.
One year from planting the trees
the following measurements were made.
The tallest trees in the uncultvated
lot was 5 feet 3 inches, a Eucalyptus
botryoides, and the average height of
the whole of that piece was feet. In
the cultivated lot the tallest tree meas.
ured 10 feet, Euc. rudis, the other tall
ones being:' Euc. botryoides, 10 feet;
Euc. corynocalyx, IL feet; Euc. leu.
coxylon, IL feet; Euc. paniculata, 10
feet, and Euc. corymbosa, feet.
The best average height, and the
evenest grown lot or trees was the Euc.
botryoides; the poorest being the Euc.
corymbosa. The average height of the
whole three-acre lot was over ten feet.
One stray (Blue Gum) Euc: globuIus,
that was accidentally planted in the
cultivated lot measured IL feet in
height. This tree had exactly the same
treatment the Others had, which goes
to show pretty well, that both Rudis
and Botryoides, are faster growers than
the Globulus; and as both these species
are ranked very highly in Australia for
railroad ties, and fence posts; this is
well to be known, especially as the
Globulus, or Blue Gum, is the EucaIyp,
tus most commonly grown at the Is
lands, and, except for firewood, is the
poorest for any purpose.
Considering the unusually dry
weather we have had for the last
twelve months, consider the growth
of the trees in the cultivated lot re.
markable.
Under normal conditions, that is,
where there is not n heavy growth
of manienie to contend with, the cu-
tivation of the trees should cost very
much less than the amount above
shown.
'The difference in favor of the cul.
tivated as against the uncultivated
trees is so great in favor of the former,
that / shall favor the cultivation of all
trees hereafter planted on the ranch,
wherever the location is such as to
make it possible.
:" AS showing what the possibilities
are of fence post production, / would
call attention to figures heretofore re.
ported, viz: That last year / cut Pa
good fence posts, five to twelve inches
in diameter, from 3s second growth
Eucalyptus rostrata trees, twelve years
old. Some of these posts have been
put in the ground plain and the balance
subjected to Creosote treatment by the
Kahului Railroad Company. All of
these posts will have the date stamped
on them, and the place of use recorded
in the ranch forestry book; SO that
their respective life in the ground can
be ascertained accurately
Results Warrant Work.
"The foregoing results, 1 submit, are
such as to more than warrant all plan
tations, especially those which use rail
roads and have large amounts of fene.
ing TO do, experimenting with cultivat-
ed forestry.
Reforesting for Conservation Purposes.
"This subject, like the poor, is al
ways with us. What has been said and