The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-11-01
AGRICULTURE
IN MOLOKA|
RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS
Clarence Cooke Tells of What Is
Being Done Along Line of
Diversified Farming.

Clarence H. Cooke has ranged him
self on the side of those who believ,
that the best results in the develop
ment Of this Territory can be obtained
by the encouragement Of diversified
agriculture, Mr.. Cooke was in HiIc
last week and while there was inter
! viewed by the Hilo Tribune. which, a:
a result of the interview, has the fol
lowing:
At Kaunakakai on Molokai. the
old American Sugar Company planta,
ton, where my brother George Cooke
IS manager, some interesting expert
ments are being made TO see what can
be done there with cotton, corn, alfalfa
and other crops that are new to that
island, and most of them to the Terri.
tory
Success With Alfalfa.
Thus, Clarence H. Cooke. manager OF
the Bank of Hawaii, prefaeed some very
interesting remarks last week, show
ing that he was a believer in testing
the soil Of some parts of these Islands
at least, with crops other than sugar
He continued:
tWith alfalfa we first planted al
most an acre, using an old well for
irrigation and pumping the water from
it with five-inch gas pump. It did
well and, in eighteen days from the
time the first crop was cut, the alfalfa
was towering for the second crop.
Usually alfalfa is cut once a month.
Department of Agriculture.
Arrangements were also made with
the department of agriculture to allow
it the use of our land for experimental
purposes with cotton, corn and other
farm products, they supplying the seed
and we furnishing the labor; they get
ting the benefit of the theoretical re-
suits, while we take the products Both
Professor Wilcox and Mr.. Krauss super
wise for the department of agriculture,
and Mr.. Nevin, formerly of Wahiawa,
acts as our superintendent in this de-
partment.
Cotton Is Tested.
For experimentation in cotton we
have Just cleared the lands of Paalau
on one of the old American Sugar Com
pany' S cane fields. Seven acres have
been plowed for cotton EXPERIMENTATION
in that section and it is being tried
at different elevations to see which is
best suited for the crop. If successful
there is quite large area that can be
used for cotton growing.
Corn and Vegetables
Sat Kaunakakai the company is ex.
perimenting at three different distances
with corn, near the sea level, at the
ranch house 1900 feet above sea level
and also near the pail on the way to
the settlement at an elevation of 1000
feet. Later it win be known which
section is the best adapted for corn and
we intend to use it, with the alfalfa,
for raising fine pork. Vegetables do
well at the higher elevation near the
ranch house, especially artiehokes, the
only supply of which comes from San
Francisco by steamer.
Sheep for Mutton.
professor Wilcox, Of the depart
ment of agriculture, recently made a
trip to the Southern States for the pur-
pose of studying the best and latest
method of growing cotton. While
away, he picked out for us fifty sheep
of the Tunis breed which blood ought
to make an increase in the size of our
mutton. as the Tunis is well adapted
for our low elevation and is, primarily,
a mutton, not a wool growing breed of
sheep.
Cattle and the Kiawe.
''Tbe growth of the algaroba tree
has made marked change on the Is
land of Molokai in dry seasons. Dur
ing the two last summers, when pas
ture was short, we have been able to
turn the cattle among the kiawe trees,
thus holding them in condition in spite
of the drouth.