The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-06-19
HAWAIIAN TOBACCO
| OUTLOOK ISBR|GBT
Those Attempting To Revive In
dustry Anticipate Good Re-
turns For Product


Those who are attempting to revive
the tobacco industry in Hawaii antici.
pate exceptionally good returns FOR
an the cured leaf they can produce.
Weather conditions have been exeep.
tionally favorable and there is prob.
ably a larger number Of unemployed
laborers in South Kona than in any
other district in Hawaii. This is so
because the coffee crop has been below
normal for three years so that there
has been neither work nor money in
the district. The rapidity with which
tobacco grows is illustrated at the new
plantation Of the South Kona Tobacco
Company where the tobacco harvest
commenced May 3, ripe leaf having
been cut on lands heavily covered
with lantana and guava only last Janu.
AIRY. Ripe tobacco is being taken In
less than sixty days from transplant.
ing, and recent visitors to the fields at
Honaunau tell of tobacco plants nine
feet high, with leaves twenty,four
inches long. :.
The, seed now being planted Is OF
two types, one being a Seeding strain
developed by the tobacco specialists of
the department of agriculture at Wash.
.lngtoD, who pronounce 1t one Of the
'Rnest wrapper tobaccos ever grown,
and the other Cuban type now be.
ing grown almost to the exclusion of
other tobnccos by the big Connecticut
plantations, Both varieties are heavy
yielders. E".
s The outlook for the establishment of
a prosperosis 'new, industry Is very
bright. The operations are being con.
Quoted under a system of rigid econ
'ofny but nothing is spared that is ne
eessary to make the crop a good one,
and the fields, now make a splendid
showing. Cigar tobacco is SO high
in price. that almost all the larger man
ufaetprers have cut down the sizes of
popular brands of cigars as well as
raising. the wholesale prices of their
product, There are good reasons why
these conditions have arisen. In 1915
and 1916 much land in Cuba previously
devoted to- tobacco was planted in
cane, because of the spectacular rise in
sugar prices The revolution has dis
.bnrhed. labor conditions seriously and
the 1917 crop will also, II Is feared,
IaIi, so far, below the usual require
jdieRts that cigar ptfees win again have
TO, be materially. increased because Of
The shortage Of both filler and wrap.
per. . "
NJ sumatra tobacco stocks in bonded
.warehouses have. practically disappear
ed. Submarine warfare and the block
ade Of Dutch, ports have almost wiped
out the, great tobacco .eonscriptions,
or. public auctions under government
supervision formerly held in Amster-
dam and Rotterdam, and buyers for
the American trade are securing par
Hal supplies by direct shipments via
San Francisco, Here again high
freight rates and increased costs all
along the line are raising prices to
both manufacturers and consumers.
\. Tobacco growing concerns in Con-
.necticut and Florida are prohting huge
ly because Of these abnormal condi-
5tions. The American-Sumatra com
pany, which operates many planta-
tions in Florida, has recently made ap.
Shange to have it's stock " listed,o al.
,hough ten years ago, the concern hung
n the, ragged edge Of bankruptcy. The
'ecnrities of all the concerns that are
growing cigar tobaccos, especially
wrapper leaf, have doubled and trebled
m value. since the. commencement of
he war. ttr ,".r e.
The United States government week.
~ weather and crop report for the
week ending May 10, says of the Am
sricanr outlook; 1.-THE weather condi-
lions are generally nnfayorable for to.
haeeo plants, and the transplanting was
Delayed The Financial and Com,
mercial, Chrpniele Of May l2 com.
ments on the lack Of agricultural labor
in the, tobacco fields in all sections.
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