The Hawaiian Islands

[Music] the Hawaiian Islands although they are 2,000 miles away from our Western Sea Coast occupy an important place in American [Music] life these Tropical Islands because of their climate furnish us a large part of two of our important foods one of these Foods is sugar the other is pineapple Hawaii has no commercial minerals such as Iron Coal or oil and there's little manufacturing of goods so Hawaii has to depend upon agriculture for the chief support of the half a million people who live there sugar cane was growing wild in Hawaii when captain discovered the islands in 1778 later a few people grew it as a crop the first Machinery was crude like these handmade Stone grinding wheels the first commercial sugar Plantation was started at this place over a hundred years ago today growing sugar cane is the leading industry of the islands and provides a large share of Hawaii's income sugar cane is grown by planting short pieces of stock New Growth starts from the small buds planting is done by a huge machine which places the stocks in the ground the planting machine drops fertilizer at the same time sugar cane plants take up a huge quantity of water in some areas there is heavy rainfall and plenty of water most of the year but where the rainfall is light the cane fields are irrigated by means of a network of ditches flumes bring water from streams or from the main ditches into the fields it takes as much water as a person drinks in a year to grow one pound of sugar keeping weeds out is very important this is done mainly by using chemicals spread from tanks on tractors or from airplanes or by men who go into the fields with spray tanks on their backs sugar cane in Hawaii grows from a year and a year and a half to 2 years years before it is ready to harvest the canes grow in a thick mass called a stool when ripe the stocks are full of a juicy substance from which sugar is obtained at this time the cane stocks average about 14 ft in length before Harvest fires are started in the fields to burn off most of the leaves this makes it easier to cut and gather the stocks the fire does not harm the sugar substance inside the stock sugar cane is gathered in a number of ways on steep hillsides the stocks are raked out of the ground and downhill where they'll be loaded into trucks some cane is brought down from the high fields in water flumes in other places a tractor is used to push the stocks into piles for loading where this method is employed a big crane lifts the piles of heavy cane to trucks or to small Railway cars elsewhere large harvesting machines are used to cut off the stocks and pile them up this method leaves most of the the roots in the ground and does not disturb the valuable top soil some cane goes to the mill by train but most of it is hauled in by large trucks it is unloaded at the Mill by other heavy machinery the cane stocks are washed on the way into the mill powerful Machinery is used to crush out the juice the juice is boiled down in large tanks and turned into crystals of raw sugar later processing will make it ready to eat Hawaiian Mills turn out a good share of the sugar we use pineapples are the next most important crop in Hawaii the pineapple fields are seen on five of the Hawaiian Islands an unusual feature of growing pineapples is the manner in which the fields are planted first a machine lays strips of heavy paper in the field rows the paper AIDS in holding moisture in the top soil slips from older plants are harvested and then distributed over the fields then the slips are planted through the paper in even spacings during the time that the plants are maturing the use of chemical sprays is important part of the spraying is to keep weeds out spraying is also done to distribute plant food in liquid form the liquid is taken in by the plants through the leaves while the fruit is forming the plants put out New Growth which will bear a second crop the following year the ripe crop has to be gathered as quickly as possible in order to rush it to the canaries where most of it will be canned as sliced pineapple or pineapple juice some is brought to the canaries from other Islands in boats some comes in by trucks from fields nearby to get sugar and pineapple to Market requires a fleet of ships back and forth to the United States 2,000 M away some of the pineapple crop is sent to Market as fresh whole fruit in refriger at ships but most of the pineapple goes aboard in packing cases filled with cans of sliced fruit or juice some of the sugar is sent out in bags these are loaded from the dock by slings at one of the sugar ports it is necessary for ships to Anchor off shore and here the bags are taken out to the ship in small boats but at other ports the sugar is brought from the Mills to large warehouses in loose form by trucks it is moved from the warehouse on a long conveyor belt to the deck of the ship and poured into the hold which will be filled with raw sugar thus sugar go to the Pacific coast where further processing will change it into completely purified sugar ready to eat the same ships that carry these Shores on their return take back the things which Hawaii has to have all the food clothing Lumber Machinery steel oil and household goods used in Hawaii are brought from mainland United States thus shipping back and forth has been called the lifeline of Hawaii because without it the island people could not get along so we see how the products of Hawaii's agriculture furnish much of the Li and make Hawaii's communities prosperous and up toate l