The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1911-12-08


be referred 10 Tho committee on lnbor
and report 10 the trustees who could
take whatever action they deemed nee
ossary.
As 20 Forestry.
tt was In the report Of the commit.
tee ON forestry, and an address later
by Forester Hosmcr of the territorial
bureau Of agriculture, that deep inter
ested was manifested by the planters,
the report telling those present that It
was time to do something rather than
pigenhole reports, and Mr.. HosEner get.
ting down to brass tacks and telling
how and what should be done.
As a means 10 help the work Of the
forestry department, which has not
funds Co do much, it was suggested by
the committee that part of the money
now derived from water leases should
be devoted to forestry work, but this
met with opposition from some Of the
members after the discussion started
At the close of Mr.. Hosmer' Is ad-
dress he was asked by I. Give Davies
how much money was needed to do
good work in the way he thought nee
essary, and he said $4,000 per annum
for several years. The first work TO
be done was to fence the natural for
ests from the inroads of stock, and this
would cost a great deal of money.
Forest Conditions.
In part, relative TO forests, the COM
mittee reports:
s'0n most plantations the native
forests have been cut for such dis
tances mauka that the expense of
hauling makes the cost Of such wood
reach an extremely high figure. In
some cases the wood may be humed
item of cost, as the damage done to
fumes through their use for this pur
pose is extremely heavy. All over the
Territory, from one cause or another,
gradual recession of the forest line
is taking place. In some parts of Ko-
hala, where the forest extended well
down the slope of the mountain but a
few years ago, wood is being brought
from Puma in schooners for the use
of the laborers. On some plantations
on the other islands coal is supplied to
the laborers as being cheaper than
wood. To overcome this present
trouble, which is yearly growing more
serious and widespread in its effect,
your committee strongly recommend
the planting of forest trees for fire.
wood, if for no other purpose.
In many cases the use of waste
lands, such as the sides Of deep gulches,
has been recommended for such use,
but the cost Of logging in such cases
is liable to be SO heavy that little will
be gained It would seem better that
small areas, of perhaps four or i've
acres each, depending upon the number
of men to be supplied, located close to
the plantation camps, should be planted
with fast growing trees, which would
within few years assure q constant
supply of frewood close at hand and
cheap to handle. The loss sustained in
the area of cane land so used would
be repaid, with interest, through the
value of the wood SO obtained.
1t has been shown that the simple
placing of the small trees in the ground
and leaving them to care for them
selves is of little value when compared
with the system which gives the needed
care, which, as a matter of fact, is
slight, but which tends to bring good
results rather than poor or mediocre
ones.
1.-THE territorial bureau of forestry.
through Forester Hosmer, has offered
its services in this connection, both in
the giving of advice and in furnishing
Seeding trees for actual planting. The
plantation interests should avail them
selves of these offers, for they afford
most advantageous opportunity to
obtain experienced work along lines of
undoubted value.
Planters to Help.
Gin this connection the attention of
the association is called to the fact
that while the experiment station en-
ploys pathological, chemical 'entomolo-
gical agricultural and other experts,
if has no expert in the forestry line,
which, in the near future, viii become
one of the most important subjects
with which the planters will have to
deal, if not the most important Of all.
AS the territorial forestry bureau is
equipped to do this work, it is not
necessary that there should be for