The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-12-29
STEAMER LOAD Of
bLUEF|ELDS FREE
United Fruit Company Offers to
Send Cargo of Suckers for
Hawai-; Planters.
LANAI QUARANTINE STATION !
Banana Nursery Might Be Es-
tabIished There to Supply
Territory With Plants.

The United Fruit Company, to show
its earnestness in the matter of estab-
fishing d banana trade for these Islands,
has filed an offer with the local federal
, experiment station officials and with
the board of agriculture and forestry
to bring to Hawaii full steamer load
of Bluefield banana suckers, in their
own special steamer. the cargo to be
distributed free of cost to all who will
agree to plant them The offer is to
bring from Central America one hun
dre9 and twenty thousand banana
plants, sufficient to plant four hundred
acres and furnish future suckers for the
whole Territory.
| There is but one obstacle in the way
/ of carrying out this plan. that being
the fact that the Central American
Bluetelds are infested with a plant
pest and can not be landed under the
regulations of the territorial board of
agriculture. To get around this a way
has been suggested which is now under
discussion and which will probably be
carried out
This is to have the island of Lanai
made plant quarantine station, have
the cargo of Buefield suckers landed
there direct and planted. While they
grow they can be watched. Those that
show signs of blight can be destroyed,
leaving the healthy plants to develop
and form the nucleus of a territorial
banana nursery, from which suckers for
the rest of the group can be obtained
| The local hackers of the United Fruit
Company's scheme have already talked
| this matter over with officials of the
Lanai company, the latter expressing
their perfect willingness to set aside
a portion of the lands of Palawai for
the cultivation of the plants. This land
is said TO be suitable for the purpose
while it is as much out of the way for
a quarantine station as necessary.
A Big Plan.
The more that is learned of the offer
of the United Fruit Company and the
manner in which it has been received
by many in a position to consider it.
the bigger are the possibilities for Ha-
wall seen to be. The company is will
ing to enter into agreements with any
one who Will grow suitable bananas
for their grade offering to paw on de
lively at inc AdtlONS iduQlu2S ii HILL
mum of thirty five cents and a maxi
mum of sixty-fve cents a bunch for all
that can be supplied. The payment
will be made by a ships receipt, ne
gotiable at any territorial bank.
If it is seen that the slpply here
is sufficient. two fast steamers will be
put on the run between Hawaiian port.
and the Coast, to make the passage
down III SIX days and return in five
Later. if the supply iustifes it, other
fast steamers will be put on.
The presence on the run of vessels
on a six and five days run will mean
more tourists and more business, in.
dependent of the big business that Will
be created through banana industry
twenty times greater than Hawaii now
has.
Many Ready to Plant.
Since the visit of the representative
of the United Fruit Company to Homo.
lulu and HiIo. a number of corpora,
tions and individuals have offered to
grow bananas on a large scale. 1t Is
proposed to plant several hundred acres
in Koua and several extensive patches
in Puma and the Hilo and Hamakua
! districts. The Nahiku Rubber Compa-
ny is also said to have agreed to plant
a good many acres. while the Oahu
banana fields would be considerably en-,
larged il the market for the product
was in sight
The main difficulty in the immediate
CARRYING out Of any such extensive
paintings is the fact that the supply
of suckers of the right kind is limited.
From this fact comes the offer of the
fruit company to supply the suckers
direct from Central America.
The matter of the importation Of
these suckers came up At the meeting
Of the board Of agriculture and for
estry yesterday.