Agricultural education and 'organization.

The land-grant or Morrill act has not yet been extended to Porto Rico for the purpose of founding an agricultural school. There is a federal Experiment Station located at Mayaguez, which is conducted along lines similar to those in the States. It receives from the national funds $15,000 annually. However, instead of be

of Interior has in charge a fertilizer law; there is also a law covering the importation of certain plants. There is an agricultural department connected with the University of Porto Rico, at Rio Piedras. Among the fruitgrowers there is an organization called the Old Town Planters' Association, organized mainly for the purpose of furthering certain coöperative measures relating especially to shipping. The Experiment Station holds a number of farmers' institutes from time to time and also takes part in an agricultural society which has recently been organized.

ing under local control, it is administered through the Office of Experiment Stations, of the United States Department of Agriculture. There is no insular department of agriculture. The Commissioner

The two striking features of Hawaiian agriculture are the extreme variety of products; and, in contrast with this, the fact that since the islands began to play a part in the world's agriculture, the main dependence at any one time has usually been on a single crop. Sandalwood, wheat and potatoes for the California miners of 1849, coffee and sugar have each in turn been almost the sole export of importance, and yet no equally small area in the United States could produce so great a variety of crops. All tropical and nearly all temperate crops can be successfully grown. This is due to geographical position and a highly diversified conformation of volcanic origin. In some of the elevated districts the climate approaches that of the cooler parts of the temperate zone, while in other districts it is truly tropical. In general character, the climate is warm-temperate rather than subtropical. The greatest hindrance to the growth of cold-temperate crops is the unchanging character of the conditions of any one place. There is no such marked change of seasons as cold-temperate plants prefer.

The rainfall is derived from the moist tradewinds that blow three-fourths of the time from the northeast. High central mountains intercept these air currents, so that the windward districts have, for the most part, an abundant rainfall throughout the year (up to 30 in. per mo.), while the leeward shores are often somewhat dry, or almost rainless.

Geologically, the islands are of recent origin, and nearly all the useful plants have been introduced from older lands. This has led to striking results. All the plants that have been introduced by seed have arrived without the greater part of their natural enemies. The isolation of the country has in the past tended to preserve this happy condition, so that the vegetation was noticeably free from pests. Unfortunately, in more recent times the connection with other countries has been so

intimate that a number of pests have been introduced. This has led to government inspection directed toward the exclusion of plant products likely to introduce any further evils. The fewness of the ports renders it possible to do really effective work of this character. It is doubtful whether any territorial funds are better spent than those devoted to this purpose, so long as the inspection remains thorough, impartial and unrelenting. The history of the pests that have been introduced is such as to lead to the belief that they find an unusual stimulus in the genial climate, so that they become exceedingly virulent.

There is a growing feeling that the agriculture of the territory should become more diversified, and already the forces are at work that will eventually make it so. The keynote of the work of the federal Experiment Station is diversification. The territorial Department of Agriculture has entered on a system of forestry that will do much to maintain, or even increase, the conservation of the water that must be forthcoming to render the leeward districts productive. Many of the sugarplanters realize the necessity, or advisability, of an increase in the variety of staple products, such as will give less predominance to sugar.

Of very great importance to Hawaiian agriculture is the preservation and extension of good forests. In the past, too little attention has been paid to this matter, but the increasing demand for irrigation water has at last opened the eyes of all to the necessity of water conservation through some system of forest management. A territorial forestry branch has been established as a division of the territorial Department of Agriculture. So far, its work has been largely confined to setting aside, by proclamation of the governor, territorial lands to be reserved as forests. In addition, certain other lands, with or without government advice and assistance, are being similarly set aside. In this

Fig. 128. Map of the Territory of Hawaii, to scale, showing latitude and longitude, location of the leading districts of each island, and the principal continental trade routes. certain kinds, and collects local seeds of forest trees and sells the same at cost price.

In the past, forest plantations have been made by government agencies, notably on the island of Oahu, of eucalyptus, wattle and ironwood, all introduced from Australia. These trees have grown well and are remarkably free from pests. The wattle bark has proved to be of good quality, and the wood makes fairly good fence-posts, while the smaller growth is used by coopers.

The so-called algaroba (a species of Prosopis of the family Leguminosa), is a tree of great importance in the drier parts of the territory (Fig. 136). It grows where few other trees will survive, and furnishes, especially during the dry summer months, thousands of tons of sweet, nutritious pods that are readily eaten by all sorts of stock. The pods are shed gradually, so that stock pasturing underneath is fed economically. As fodder for dairy cattle, the pods can be had in Honolulu at about $8.50 per ton, as against three to five times that amount for imported fodder of like feeding value. If dry, the pods may be stored for several months. Experiments are being made in grinding them, so that the seeds also may become digestible, by which means, it is hoped, the food value would be much enhanced. The indigestibility of the seeds causes the plant to be spread in the

Castilloa. Most of the seed came from Ceylon and Singapore. The plantations are all young, and, though promising, have not as yet turned out any rubber.

Sugar-cane. (By C. F. Eckart.)

Following the ratification of the reciprocity treaty between the Kingdom of Hawaii and the United States of America, a marked advance of the staple industry of these islands was manifested; labor was plentiful and comparatively cheap, prevailing prices were high, and conditions in general favored a rapid increase in the production and exportation of sugar.

In late years, however, the cost of labor has risen and the prices of sugar have decreased, and periods of industrial depression have at times affected the industry to a very large extent. The planters have had their prosperous years, and have also suffered from lack of labor, droughts, low prices for their product, and other conditions, during which times they have manufactured their sugar at such expense that there has been no profit. The unfavorable conditions, however, have been met with the progressive spirit of American farmers and business men, and improved methods of cultivation and manufacture have been adopted.

Twenty years ago the average yield of commercial sugar was about ten pounds per hundred pounds of cane, and the average