The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-12-06
Bales from MOkapu on the Wharf
Marked Tor Through Passage
10 New England.
SMALL But VERY IMPORTANT
Conslgnor Gear Points Out the
Possibilities 10 Hawaifs
Small Farmer.

The first shipment Of Hawaiian cot
ton TO the mills of New England will
be made on the American. Hawaiian
freighter Alaskan which sails soon for
Hilo and Salina Cruz, the shipment to
be carried across the Tehuantepee rail
way and transported 10 New York by
the sea route. a little over 2200 pounds
of caravonica lint forms this initial
shipment which is being made by A.
V. Gear from his small plantation at
Mokapu, on the Kaneohe side Of this
island.
When the shipment arrives in New
York il win bear the stencil mark,
A. V..Mokapu 1t may puzzle the i'm
porters TO locate that name in cotton
dom, but it bids fair to become well
known IL future years as Mr.. Gear has
plans for a large development of the
estate
A little over year ago few acres
at Mokapu were planted in caravonica.
ONLY twelve months time elapsed be
tween seeding and shipment, and IN
future. lust from the seventeen acre
plantation, ton of cotton per month
can be taken off
Mr.. Gear expects to net twenty-five
cents per pound from his shipment, a
net receipt for each ton Of $780,
Acre for acre, the pioneer in cotton
industry expects that cotton will crowd
sugar. inasmuch as there is little or no
need for vast investment in mills,
machinery and general equipment such
as a sugar estate requires.
On the MOkapu estate a cotton gin,
which cost sixty dollars, has been used
to prepare the cotton lint from the
pickings, but a larger gin has been
ordered. AS more acres are to be cul-
tivated steadily, the new gin will be
necessary before the end Of the coming
year TO take care of the entire output.
Keep on the Sunny Side.
Sunny South never had a better
meaning than at Mokapu," said Mr..
Gear Yesterday. "Our plantation is
out on WIDE stretch of land near the
seashore. The cotton does not require
irrigation, but needs plenty of sun. We
get it there and our trees have grown
remarkably fast and the cotton Dolls
are big and luxuriant. There is cotton
planted near the foot of the pail, but
the shadow of the clouds and bad
weather has prevented this from being
brought to a head as well.
''The cotton industry is the small
farmers opportunity. There never was
a better opportunity for a small farmer
to utilize forty acres, than with cotton
He will deprive a big profit and he doef
not have to wait years to get his re
turns. We have been in operation only
wear and here is our first shipment
of a ton, and every month we will have
ton ready for shipment. The cost
of shipment to New York is very small
and the cost of bringing it over the
pail to the shipping wharf is very small
too.
"Strange as it may seem our cotton
plckers are Hawaiian, three of them
women. That is, we have three Hawai-
ians women and one Hawaiian man and
Korean couple. They receive so mucf
per pound, and the women make about
seventy cents a day, the men mucf
more. They do the work well and il
is an opportunity for Hawaiians in tina
district TO get a little pin money
cit looks as If there will be STEADY
picking for as soon as we have picked
one section and then work in another
the first section seems ready for pick
ing again. Oh, yes, the Hawaiians gel
pretty good pickings from our industry
ffWe have brought more than tor
of cotton seeds TO town and these are
being put through Renear's maeeratinf
machine to test the product out as fooC
for animals. We have no machinery
for extracting the oil from the seed
yet, but maybe in time we will,
HHowever, the important thing il
that Hawaii. for the first time, is ship
ping cotton, the best quality, too, to the
New York and New England cotton
mills"