The Hawaiian Islands: Their Resources, Agricultural, Commercial and FinancialHawaii. Department of Foreign Affairs
History
The Hawaiian Islands: Their Resources, Agricultural, Commercial and Financial
Hawaii. Department of Foreign Affairs
Hawaii; Hawaii -- Economic conditions
We will now take a look at the condition of our three years old trees.
They have all been topped and are carrying from thirty-six to forty
primaries, of which all except the upper six or eight are carrying four
or five secondaries that are well advanced and which will bear the crop
for the fourth year. There will also be four or five secondaries, that
are one or two months old, which are intended to bear the fifth year's
crop. All other growth should be removed as before up to the time of
blossoming for the fourth year's crop. This may be estimated as follows:
There should be at least twenty-four primaries that have on each of them
say, four bearing secondaries. At thirty berries to each secondary, the
yield would be close to three pounds of clean coffee to each tree. This
again has been exceeded in this country for four year old trees, but it
must be borne in mind, that in order to obtain these results, proper
cultivation, handling and pruning must be done. Without proper care such
results would be impossible, the coffee cannot grow an abundance of wood
and coffee at the same time. As soon as the crop of the fourth year is
gathered the work of pruning must commence without delay. This consists
of cutting off with a sharp knife the secondaries that have borne the
crop. They must not be cut so close as to injure the eye or bud. About
three-sixteenths of an inch from the stem of the primary will be quite
safe, and the secondaries for the fifth year's crop will soon make their
appearance. Care should be taken to leave the stem of the tree clear of
shoots and foliage for a space of six inches from the stem; the tree
will want all the light it can get. The coffee tree can be said to be in
full bearing when all the primaries are carrying bearing secondaries.
During the life of the coffee tree, the planter must keep a close watch
on his trees and restrict their wood-bearing propensities to the wood
that is to bear his crops; nothing else should be allowed to grow. If
the work is commenced rightly and carried on systematically, the work
will not be difficult and no crops will be lost. But on the other hand,
if the work is neglected, the trees will become matted and all the lower
primaries die off. These, if once lost, will not grow again. The tree
under these conditions will only bear a tithe of the crop it would bear
with proper attention, and furthermore it is a most difficult matter to
bring a neglected tree into proper shape and it can only be done at a
loss of one and perhaps two years' time. There are many minor details
connected with the care of the coffee tree which would occupy too much
space to describe here, and which the coffee planter can easily learn as
he carries on the work of coffee planting. Without doubt coffee planting
in this country is destined to become a great industry. We have large
tracts of the finest coffee lands in the world, only waiting to be
cultivated to make prosperous and happy homes. One parting word to the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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