The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-20
MAKING WASTE
PLACES FRUITFUL

ON April 10 there will begin a
tour days session Of the National
| Drainage Congress at New Orleans.
10 is an appropriate point for the
gathering for Louisiana is more
awake to the opportunities of which
drainage enterprises give promise
than any other state because of the
| immense territory now waste. or
/ worse. which can be reclaimed BY
this process and opened up to al
most limitless production" says tn
Boston Transcript What this pro
mise is can be made more impress
sive by comparison. Let us imagine
proposition to make a tract as large
as the whole state of Massachusetts
hitherto worthless of extraordinary
fertility by processes entirely prac-
teal and, considering the value of
the results, comparatively inexpensive
That would promptly appeal tot the
imagination of the public ami the
pccketbooks of the capitalists. But
Louisiana not only has such a tract
hut one four.fifths as large again. In
other words, there are nine million
acres inviting reclamation. Were the
enterprises contemplated completed.
they would transform the agricultu-
raj activities of that state and bring
in a new industrial class that would
add greatly to its population, its rev
enues and it's Importance, political
as well as economic
"The people of that state claim
that if alluvial louisiana were drain
eG and as intensely cultivated as it
then might be, it would mean an an
nual addition OF billion dollars
worth Of products to the food sup
ply of the nation We may mark
of perhaps half of that amount in
recognition of popular enthusiasm
and the magnifying power of promot-
ers' spectacles; but it is none the
less obvious that the placing of such
vast eXpanse of phenomenallv fer
tile soil under cultivation would mean
a very great increment of our an
nuEl national assets. Cotton, corn,
sugar cane and rice have been the
main crops of the state, but the new
alluvial lands would give opportunity
for almost Infinite diversity and make
i one of the leading fruit and veget-
able producing sections of the coun-
try. But the congress is not to be
held to glorify louisiana. AS it's
name indicates, it is national in it's
scope and interests, and there are
few states that can fail to profit from
its object lessons, if the practical
methods there working toward new
prosperity are applied 20 them.
There are many rundown farms
with neglected marsh land that could
be made more valuable than that
now depended upon for the years
scanty crop. But it is not by piece
meal that the best results can be
obtained. Drainage means the ex.
penditure Of money, and work can be
carried forward with greater econ
omy on large scale than on small
one. The everglades of Florida are
nearly as large as our own state
in fact larger, if we eliminate the
rocks and the woodland that can new
err be brought under cultivation-and
science will find a way to rescue them
from their present worthlessness even
if suspicious circumstances do at pre-
sent attach to them. 1t is estimat-
co that there are more than $4,000
600 acres of wet land in the UnIte3
States that might be drained and
made valuable That means a total
of unrivaled fertility over more than
twice the extent of all New England.
The outlook is reassuring and even