The Elk Mountain pilot., 1924-02-28
"PAPERING- FIELDS
INCREASES CROPS


duction of pineapples in the Hawaiian
islands by more than 40 per cent.
Laid in field of sun-grown Sumatra
tobacco. in Florida, says Popular Me-
chanics, the same kind of paper in
creased production more than so per
cent. Papering fields of tomatoes in
California raised their yield by some
go per cent, while strawberries, their
roots so protected, produced 40 per
cent more berries than the same va
rieties planted in neighboring and
unpapered field.
For Is months or more, prior to
1923, experiments in papering of pine
apple fields in Hawaii were carried
on with uniformly the same results.
This year, more than 4,250 miles Of
paper were laid, at cost of approx
mately S250,000, on the pineapple
| plantations of Hawaii. The result is
an increase of from 25 to 60 per cent
in the production of the pineapple
plants, an average of at least 40 per
cent; the elimination of wedding,
which costs on the average of s45 per
acre; the conservation of moisture;
the prevention of baking the soil, and
the removal of the necessity for cul-
tivation thruout the crop life of the
pineapple, which is about five years.
The device is the discovery of C. F.
Echart, the Burbank of the Hawaiian
! islands. 1t consists of the laying of
mulch paper, made of asphalt
treated felt, not dissimilar to thin
roofing paper, in rows across the
field. In this paper, six inches from
each edge, and, therefore, "a inches
; apart in the center, holes are punched
with trowel, and the pineapple cut
tings sratoons", are set in these holes.
As the paper is laid, the earth is
turned up over the edges, to hold it
flat, and to prevent it from blowing
away. The plants are set "stagger-
ing" in adjacent lines, so that while
the rows along the paper. are even,
those across the field are not.
The same method used in the plant
ing of the pineapples is adopted in
the setting out of tobacco, tomato
cabbage or other plants. Expert
ments are now being conducted on
the use of the paper with grapes, and
with Towering plants, in short, with
all crops which have high value per
acre. 1t also has been applied with
success to sugar cane in the Hawaiian
islands. Not only does it increase the
amount of production of each plant,
but it increases the size of the fruits
or vegetables or the number and size
of the leaves.
The paper virtually puts every
plant root into forcing hothouse.
The roots are kept shaded, heat is
retained as is also moisture, the COM
bination necessary to the greatest
root and plant growth, and weeds, be-
ing unable to pierce the paper
covering, cannot grow. The use of
the paper, by this combination of re-
tanned heat and moisture, has extend
ed the area in which pineapples can
be produced profitably to higher al
titudes and colder temperatures in
the Hawaiian islands than ever be-
fore In Florida, the increase in in
dividual fields of sun-grown tobacco
has reached as high as II per cent,
but this is above the average. In the
culture of tomatoes, the increase in
yield ranged from 81 per cent to 1853
per cent, under widely varying condi-
| tions. ~ 81
Surface evaporation from the area
covered with the paper is SO greatly
reduced that it is virtually negligible,
the moisture being conserved entirely
for the use of the plants. This re-
duction of surface evaporation to a
minimum eliminates the undesirable
and often disastrous caking and crack
ing of the soil. Heat loss by evapo-
ration of surface moisture also is pre-
vented, producing and maintaining
additional warmth in the soil. The
paper receives the direct impact of
the raindrops and SO prevents the soil
from packing. Some of the papers
used are perforated with many small
holes, SO as to allow moisture from
rain, dew and fogs to seep slowly
through, increasing the moisture SO
stored in the soil beneath the paper.
The paper is applied by hand, with
men carrying the rolls on steel rods,
and other men following behind with
hoes to cover the edges with binder
of earth; by machine layers, drawn
by horses with special devices for the
turning in of the binder of earth;
and, on level fields, by double ma
chimes, laying two rows at time,