The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-02-15
'Ot0NALB.FEEESBAD.
EFFECT Or DROUGHT
Despite Bad Weather Estimate
Is Less Than Ten Percent
Below That OF Last Year

/
Manager Alex Valentine Of the Olo
wam Company estimates the 1913 crop
AT 100 tons as against a preliminary
estimate of 1850 tons for last years
Crop'w hich actually amounted TO 1914
tons. These figures we're given to the
stockholders at the annual meeting of
the company at the Offices Of its agent,
G. Brewer & Company Wednesday. e.
! Last year Olowalu began harvesting
the crop January 26 and finished the
grind August 10. This year the grind
started January II and thus far all
operations have proceeded smoothly.
the crop suffered severely from the
drought, the manager says in his re
port and continues;
Effect of Drought
"For several months we could not
give the cane sufficient water to pro-
mote normal growth, and on some of
the gravelly fields il was hard to keep
the cane from drying up. The short
ratOOns were late on account of late
: harvesting of the previous crop, and
shortage Of water gave little opoortun.
ity to force the growth. Since the
rains in December the cane has n ade
some growth which win Increase as the
weather becomes warmer. A s"rns If
short thunder storms throughout this
month has kept the cane too gr""h FOR
harvesting. and has had a bad effect
on the juices. The area harvested to
date has given q good Pair yield, but
not the yield.i il should have been under
normal growing conditions.
Our estimate for the crop is 100 tons
of sugar.
Crop 1919
This crop consists of:
"Plant caue ............. "a acres
Long ratOou cane. .......l3f
"Planters' cane (Plant... Az
Total E, .225h acres
"In addfaoh to the above we viii
have -aboutd.the usual urea Of short
ratoonG
| "On account of the drought some
! of the fields were planted very late.
! Since the rains in December the cane
las come along very well and With fav
orable weather conditions this year
should give good average crop.
"FOurteen acres of new land have
| been planted for this crop, thirteen of
which is part of land purchased in the
course of 'the' year.
! Mil and Boiling House
"The extensive improvements made
! in the boiling house in the latter part
of 1916, "a detailed in my last annual
! report, proved very satisfactory in OPP.
| ha ~
"In the past few months we have
installed an additional 7'x20' boiler,
and rebuilt the furnaces Of the existing
two boilers; the evaporators have been
raised three feet, g. belt added to the
last cell, and the vapOr piping to the
condenser increased in size from -" to
~" A new condenser for the CvapOFa
tors has also been installed. In the
short time we have been grinding we
| have found that these Improvements
are improving the work Of both t -
mill and the boiling house.
Ditch Improvements
! "SiDee last July we have relocated
the main irrigation bitches in the OlO
alu gulch, raised the power strtion in
the gulch two feet, and built new con
crete main water heads in both Gulches
The east side ditch is 1000 feet long
and is lined with 21a inches of concrete
and the sides and bottom. This ditch was
put in use late in December. The wtst
side ditch at Owalua is 1900 feet long. II
! is opened the full length and the con
crete lining is completed to 200 feet
A smaller ditch, 1850 feet long. has
also been ding TO connect with the east
side ditch for the purpose Of irrigati NJ
the pail fields, and fhis'wiH be concrete
lined when the Awalua ditch is finish
ed. These IMPROVEMENTS will effect q
great saving of water especially al
times when the streams are low.
Labor
tstFnr. several months during the har
vesting season we were short OF labor
Weather ~ -. -
ga prolonged drought, the worst il
many years. lasted from April tin lat'
FItn December The rainfall at the Olo
walu waterhead was AZ inches, and a
the mill $500 inches, most of the rain
fall being in the first three months
and the last two months Of the wear.
'NThe rainfall this year to date ha
been Ills inches"
Dividends Of twenty four percen
were paid in the year out of a ne
profit Of $S3,S 0S.07 and $57, 70s,07 add
ed to the balance carried forward will
the federal income taxes and "War Elk
cess Profits ,Taxes" to be paid.
Olowalu 5 estimate for next year i
above the average crop Of the pas
; twelve years.