The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-12-17
PLANEERSBEG|N
ANNUAL session
Technical Reports VIII Be Main
Feature Of Big Yearly Con
Vention Here
Conference Opens Win Large
Attendance Of Delegates
From Az Islands
{ Continued from Page Sky
Basic Work At Parent station

Basic Work At Parent Station
Secretary W. o. Smith thought a sub
station for unirrigated plantations de.
sirable, as much of the work done at
Honolulu does not apply except to ir-
Tigated plantations.
L. F. Bishop asked DR.. Agee whether
IL would be advisable to duplicate ex.
periments in the two places and the
director answered that Il would hasten
results with new varieties. He stated
and repeated that at the main station
the basic ideas could DO worked ont
by research and investigation.
The practical application of these
basic ideas could be arrived at sooner
If experiments were carried on under
scientific supervision Mt more than one
center. e. +. Eckart said the expert.
ment station work is a guide only and
that each plantation must still settldi
its own peculiar problems and main
tain Individual trial plots and expert
ments. "r =, 90
one-Year Ratoons
Passing TO the subject of one-year
ratoons, DR.. Agee thought the superior
results from May to May cane over
January TO January, surprising. G. +.
Renton asked, whyf Director Agee
confessed Ne did not know unless 1t
was matter of soil tempefatures. In
March and May the soil is getting
warmer while in January the ground
is cold and growth is slow. On this
point George. Ewart said "this is moth.
ing new. IF You had lived In Kohala
thirty-seven years ago, you would re.
member that we always practised
harvesting one.year ratOons from March
TO May"
Mr.. Renton repeated that he could
not see why eight month old ratoons
should be better than twelve month
cane. E. X. Bull thought it might be
question of varieties. Mr.. Agee
thought the rule applied to all varie.
ties. Taselling may be controlling
factor, he said. James Glib, G. F.
RentOn and J. r Moir talked tasselling
and raised the point that often only
one stalk in a stool tasselled while
the others simply ripen without flower
ing. Dr. Agee said that point is be-
ing studied and in time a report can
be made on the percentage Of stalks
that flower in the stool.
This concluded the discussion of the
director report.
Flowing In Trash
H. d. OuhdhOW1 mum VI WV
committee on cultivation, fertilization
and irrigation on irrigated plantations
then read his report. The question of
what disposition to make of the trash.
whether to plow or burn was strongly
debated.
In opening the discussion Mr.. Pen
haIlow said that the water saving
where trash has been plowed under on
irrigated plantations is very evident
G. F. Renton said the trash question is
labor proposition pure and simple. If
there are plenty cutters and leaders
the trash can be left on the field, other
wise the only thing to do is to burn
To this, Mr.. Penhaliow replied that
leaving the trash costs more labor ia
harvest but the saving on hoeing equal
Lies losses. Cutting costs thirty pel
cent more If the cane is unburned but
the men work S5 per cent of the time
now since the bonus system was start
ed, as against IS per cent of their time
formerly.
w. o. Smith reminisced on Kaua
praetises In the old days. awe never
used to burn until the came bOrel
came" he said, "but in those days In
horers were paid five dollars a month
If IL costs less now to harvest afte
burning, the cost must govern prac
tise." Manager Rentol added that h
was conviHeea the trash ought to g
into the soil, But--."
Fallow Better Than Trash
l.. Weinzheimer compared former KO
loa prac tise where the trash was pillow
ed under until they had TO discontinue
the practise on account of the bOrTeI
to his immediate problem at Pioneer
81 have reduced my plant cane are
from $500 to 1000 acres since | CON
menced bnrning,' he said. ] beliey
in following instead of trashing.
puts the soil in better sh0pe and W
get bigger crops. The plantation tina
burns its cane can grow all ratoOns."
Wv. Goodale said his practise is t
burn only once, before harvest. ECU
ting and loading are trades now and "
have to burn to get the cane harveste
at ALL" +. X Bull said conditions dii
fer on different plantations. 81 Oppos
burning because when you burn fel
Won burn sugar, ~ he said cat Oah
we have fields that have never bee
plOwed since the plantation was fir
established in 1897. These fields hay
been fatooned year after year and ST.
Weld nine tons of sugar per acre
Trash WARNS the Sol
+. r, Baldwin said he tried the tras
experiment on a new field Of plant can
AT the end of the crop the trash wi
over three feet deep and it almo
broke the whole plantation to haTve
fifteen acres Of ratoons. 1t all dePen'
ON tho, cane,i' he said. "a forty'tt
field conld have the trash left on Il
ground but an eighty ton field won
be swamped."
II. A. Baldwin spoke of the Difficult
of getting labor to cut and load u
burned cane. "There is one advanta
of blowing under the trash and that
that it makes the soil warmer. V
kept a record of soil temperatures ii
wear. he said, "and the land whore t
trash laid averaged two degrees war
er throughout the season than whe
there was no trash cover
DR.. Agee in answer to questi
said the anomala beetle original
in a family of insects that did not G
live plants. Therefore If the trash