The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1914-07-21
Plantations
ARE Seeking
FERTILIZER
Jack Bean Found to Meet Re
quirements for Enriching Soil
Seed Now in Demand at Prices
Ranging From $50 to 500 Per
Ton.


$50 to 800 per ton.
DIR. Il. v. Wilcox states that the ter.
ritorial marketing division has had calls
for ton lots from some of the planta.
tion managers.
This new demand comes as result
of the green manuring experiments that
have been conducted by the Honolulu
Sugar Hlanters' Association Experiment
Station. Many trials have been made
in growing fallow crops of the different
legumes and also in planting various
species of beans and clovers between
the rows in both plant and rattoon cane.
Where fallow crops are grown the beans
are turned under. Where they are
planted in the cane rows they are sim
ply allowed TO stand until the cane
overtops and crowds them out when the
surface soil is enriched by rottinI
mulch of leaves and stems.
The one big problem to the solution
Of which the entire energies Of the ex.
pertinent station STAFF are being directed
is how to increase the cropping capac
ity of the soil. Far too much depend.
ficacy of commercial fertilizers as a
means of insuring fertility
Much Judgment Needed,
Commercial fertilizers are good, but
the planter who rests his entire conf
denee in them can be compared TO the
man who becomes obsessed with the
idea that he can make race horae out
of any scrub horse by feeding him a
certain brand of condition powders and
properly training the animal As il
takes good many generations of fast
runners to make a breed of race horses
that can be depended on to give re-
suits for time and money spent on train
ing them, SO farmers and planters must
build up a soil and make it rich and
strong and capable of making the best
use of the commercial fertilizers that
are then added TO promote the rapid
growth of crops, w.. ~. Wv
Physical 1snlitios Of Soil, I
The richness and staying qualities of
a soil depend on its physical condition
and the amount of organic matter
which ii contains quite as much as upon
the actual mineral elements of plant
food which chemists find in the soil or
can add to it. The continual applca-
tion of chemical fertilizers tends to de.
crease its cropping capacity. On the
other hand, the cumulative application
of organic manures produces tendency
to increase the use that can be made
by crops of all the plant food in the soil.
The point is that chemical fertilizers
are like the condition powders and oats
that a trainer feeds his ponies Tney
serve to get speed and freshness out
of plug scrub, but they don't break
any worlds records, The increased
speed does not pay the cost of getting
il and after the race he only has a
scrub that is going to require more and
more training to even develop speed
enough to haul the family carriage
The Hawaiian planters have been
growing cane year after year on the
same land, putting their trust in eondi.
ton powder and oats until now the good
old Lahaina cane no longer responds,
and they say the variety has run out.
Lahaina Cane Still Good.
AS matter Of fact when they plant
Lahaina cane on new land that hash I
been dosed up with commercial fcrtil'
izers for twenty years the crops are
as good as they used TO be and both
cane and soil respond with pristine
vigor to the condition powders. " The
local scientific experts believe from long
observation and experiment. that the
fundamental cause of this Getting
down. of Lahaina and other standard
cane varieties is that it is the soil aud
not the cane that is getting 'played
out. A number of plot experiments
that have been made in the last ten
years prove this pretty eonclusively.
Wherever care has been taken to add to
the organic constituents of the soil by
| blowing under green manure and trash
the soils have grown richer and strong.
er year after year. The crops have be-
come heavier and better from year to
year instead of showing decreasing
averages. .,ts~.
Jack Bean Great Aid.
Getting back to jack beans and small
farmers, the experiment station workers
have found that this plant is about the
most satisfactory legume that has been
tried in the cane fields on account of
its erect habit Of growth and its heavy
LEAKAGE. The cowpea would be ideal
except that it is a runner and would not
be crowded out by the cane. There are
two species of jack beans, the. white
seeded Cannavalia ensiformis aud the
brown seeded Cuban form, @. gladiatus
The white seeded Jack bean il the one
that has given the best results in the
cane fields. From the small farmers
standpoint this crop yields about 1906
to 2000 pounds of clean beans per acre
and requires about seven months to
mature The method of cultivation
win have to be worked out by the farm
! ers.' ..rt #... s.
DR.. Il. V, Wilcox said that the iacH
bean is remarkably free from the at
taeks of plant lice and Japanese beetle
pests which sometimes ruin the ,cowpeS
crop. Farmers should not rush into
this cultivation or tackle the crop ex
cept in an experimental way, until it il
determined where and how II can b'
grown for seed production to the hcst
advantage. ....., ..''.