The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-09-16
DR.. WILCOX
IN GEORGIA
Hawali's Agricultural Experiment
Man Studies Cotton
There.

DR. f. V. Wilcox. who is director Of
the governments Hawaii experiment
station at Honolulu. is in Atlanta and
will later visit Valdosta aud Athens
for the purpose of studying cotton cul.
ture and Of seeing how Georgia farm.
ers cooperate in marketing their crops
Cotton has been introduced into the
Hawaiian Islands, and Doctor Wilcox is
endeavoring to extend its cultivation
He says that cotton in Hawaii can
never rival the cotton of the South or
have any effect on the South $ cotton
crop. There are about 10000 acres on
the Islands which are suited to cotton.
but only 1000 now are planted in cot
ton. A fancy grade of Sea Island and
Caravonica cotton is raised, which
brings from 30 to 80 cents pound. 1t
is not put to the same uses that south.
ern cotton is, and will not seek the
same markets. 1t will be sold princi.
pally to japan.
Will IT Grow Here?
Doctor Wilcox has brought with him
seed of the Caravonica cotton and he
intends to see if it can be grown in
Georgia. This cotton is perennial. 1t
needs to be planted only once, for the
stalk does not die down and bears again
each year. Doctor Wilcox says that in
Hawaii these cotton plants must be
kept pruned or they would grow to a
height of ten or twelve feet.
He finds that one of the most trou.
blesome problems in Hawaii is Japa.
nese labor. There is apprehension
among some of the settlers that an up.
rising of the Japanese is possible.
Many say that there is an organization
among the la.borers and that they are
merely waiting for an opportune time
to attempt to seize the Islands. He
doesn't believe that there is any cause
for such fears.
Drawback to Settlers.
A drawback to settlers on the Islands.
says Doctor Wilcox, is the conditions
under which land is sold. The buyer.
under the territorial law, must agree
not to sell it again for ten years.
Practically all of the farming is done
through corporations, which monopolize
the agricultural industries. Agriculture
is the only form of industry followed
on the Islands.
Inc hdWblldH lSlanuS are seven IN
number and stretch over about $50
miles. Sugar cane is the principal crop,
Doctor Wilcox says. About 100000
acres are in sugar cane and last year
100000 tons of sugar were produced;
IL, 900 acres are in rice; 5000 are in
pineapples; 5000 IN coffee; $50 in rub
Der.
Unimproved agricultural lands sell at
from $40 to $50 an acre. Lands for
raising sugar cane can not be bought at
all. These are all owned by old estates
which lease them.
Fine Opportunities.
Doctor Wilcox says that there are
good opportunities in the cultivation
of pineapples, though there is lack of
canning factories on the Islands. Tween
ty tons of pineapples can be grown to
the acre, and profit of So a ton is
practically assured.
The climate is ideal. During the three
years that Doctor Wilcox has been on
the Islands the temperature has not
been above 80 degrees or below 60.
There is no fever, but among the ma.
tives there is leprosy. Between 200
and 900 lepers are confined on the Is
land of Molokai. On one side is a steep
bluff, the other slopes down to the sea.
None can escape. They live snd Iie
there.