Economy | Page 222 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

July 26, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Puakō Plantation

In Hawaiian tradition, there was a man named Puakō, “a very handsome man whose form was perfect.” At the place where he lived, he would carry “sea water and filling pools for salt making.’ (Fornander) Some suggest the name Puakō is associated with salt-making.

Others suggest Puakō (sugarcane blossom) is associated with sugar, “Mr. WL Vreedenburg (sic) one Sunday came to Hawi in a state of considerable excitement, with four or five sticks of fine looking cane strapped to his saddle …”

“… which, as he put it, he discovered at Puakō the day before while on a shooting trip. This cane was grown without irrigation, and he enthusiastically announced, there were large areas of as good land as that on which these particular sticks were grown…” (Hind; Maly)

“Puakō is a village on the shore, very like Kawaihae, but larger. It has a small harbor in which native vessels anchor. Coconut groves give it a verdant aspect. No food grows in the place. The people make salt and catch fish. These they exchange for vegetables grown elsewhere.” (Lorenzo Lyons, 1835; Maly)

“Not infrequently at Kawaihae and Puakō there is no food to be had. The people live without food for days, except a little fish which prevents starvation. Nor is this to be had everyday, the ocean being so rough they cannot fish, or a government working day interferes, when the sailing of a canoe is tabu – unless the owner chooses to pay a fine.”

“The water too at these places is such that I cannot drink it. I would as soon drink a dose of Epsom salts… On the way to Puakō, all is barren and still more desolate. After an hour’s walk from my house, not a human dwelling is to be seen till you reach the shore, which requires a walk of about five hours.” (Lorenzo Lyons, 1839-1846; Maly)

In 1880, Bower noted, “At Puakō there is some grief for the eye, in the shape of a grove of cocoa-palms, which are growing quite close to the water’s edge. These had been planted right amongst the lava, and where they got their sustenance from I could not imagine. They are not of any great height, running from twenty to sixty feet.”

“There are about a dozen native huts in the place. These buildings are from twenty to forty feet long and about fifteen feet high to the ridge of the roof. They only contain a single room each, and are covered with several layers of matting.” (Bower; Maly)

“At Puakō and South Kohala is the most unique affair on the Island. There, a little pocket of alluvial soil covering an area of 300 acres, lying between lava flows and fronting the ocean, has been secured from the great landed proprietor, Sam Parker, and converted into the Puakō plantation.”

“Wells have been bored and an abundant supply of good water secured for irrigation. The cane is of the Lahaina variety and grows as rank as the bamboo kind.”

“A mill with a capacity of 2000 tons is to be erected soon. A good road to Kawaihae, a distance of four miles, is greatly needed. The enterprise is under the management of Mr (Wilmont) Vredenberg.” (Honolulu Republican, July 29, 1900)

“Puakō Plantation, which was started near Kawaihae about fourteen months ago, is making a good showing under the management of Mr Vredenberg.”

“Samples of cane brought from there this week show excellent growth, the sticks running eighteen feet long and having six to eight Inch joints. The samples are of cane planted a year ago. The two pumps are doing excellent work and the quality of the water is fairly good.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 5, 1901)

A wharf was constructed, just south of the present day boat launch, to facilitate the shipment of materials for mill construction. In his journal, John Hind wrote, “a fine up to date little mill with all the appurtenances which go with a modern plantation was installed (ca. 1905,) on an ideal site, a hundred or so yards from the landing”. (Hind; Rechtman)

This area contained crushing machinery, mixers, vats, and all the other mechanical necessities for the mill, along with dormitories and a camp for over three hundred workers, a company store, two schoolhouses, an office building, various storehouse and warehouse facilities, and a shed for honey processing machinery.

A rail line connected the mill operations with field operations. Other improvements to the plantation included the construction of an approximately eight-mile long section of flume that carried water from Waimea Stream to the plantation.

“We found a good rain was of very great benefit, and finally as a forlorn hope, after keeping tab, on the Waimea stream for over eighteen months, put in an eight mile flume, but strange as it may seem, the water failed just before the flume was finished.”

“Mr. Carter the Manager of the Parker Ranch (1903) attributed the failure to the unprecedented dry weather in the mountains, but as the stream, never after that, continued to flow with any degree of regularity, it would appear the shrinkage of forest area in the mountains was having its effect.”

(This 1903 “severe reduction in rainfall” also brought about discussions which led to the development of the Kohala Ditch. In 1904, John Hind “launched his ditch campaign”.)

(The Honokāne section of Kohala Ditch was opened on June 11, 1906; waters of Honokāne began flowing to the Kohala, Niuliʻi, Hālawa, Hawi and Union mills; the Awini section was finished in 1907. The ditch carried the water for 23-miles northwest toward Hawi (mostly as tunnel.))

“Puakō, as a sugar proposition, I was satisfied, was hopeless, so finally was closed down, and parts gradually sold off at what they would bring (closed by ca. 1914.)” (Hind; Maly)

Hind continued to foster other economic development in Puakō even after the failure of the sugar plantation, “extending his ranching interests (a kiawe feed lot and cattle shipping operation), honey making, and making charcoal on his lease lands”. (Rechtman)

By 1930, additional grants were being awarded the few native families living on the beach, and by 1950, the beach lands had been subdivided into more than 165 Beach House Lots which at the time were generally “vacation” houses. (Maly) (Lots of information here is from Maly and Rechtman.)

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Kawaihae to Anaehoomalu-DAGS2786-zoom-zoom-noting Puako Plantation Site

Puako Bay-DAGS4027-zoom-noting Grant 4856-Puako Mill Site

July 24, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

James Steiner

Born in Mirschikau, Pilsen, Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) July 24, 1860, James Steiner received business training at Frankfort-on-the-Main and moved to the United States in 1881.

“(Steiner) first worked as a bell hop or a waiter someplace in Missouri, someplace in St. Louis, Missouri. Then he met a man that spoke German, like himself, and this man whose name I do not recall since it was not given to me, suggested that he, my father, come out to Hawai‘i and find a place for himself. That’s how he got here.”

“(M)y father came down here (in 1882) and he worked for a restaurant up on Hotel Street just on the ‘Ewa side of the old YMCA. The owner of that restaurant was a Lionel Hart and the restaurant was known as Hart’s Restaurant.”

“It was in this restaurant that my father worked as a waiter and later on he was taken in by Mr. Lionel Hart as a partner. There was one of my brothers named Lionel after this said Lionel Hart. At a later time, the family established a home close to that restaurant.”

“(I)t was there, on that corner or that area there bounded by Adams Lane, Bishop Street, and Hotel Street that ice cream was made here commercially. He was the first one that sold ice cream here commercially.” (Ernest Steiner, Oral History)

A February 15, 1887 ‘Notice’ in the newspaper noted a co-partnership had been formed (Hart & Steiner) and they carried on the Elite Ice Cream Parlors in Honolulu, manufacturing ice cream, Cakes, Candles, Curios and other incidentals. (Daily Bulletin, February 15, 1887)

Steiner was known all over the islands as the “Ice Cream and Candy King.” (Nellist)

“Over a thousand guests recepted the generous hospitality of Hart Co last evening in participating in the opening of their beautiful and handsome ice cream parlors in the Elite building”

“There are very few parlors in the United States that will rival the Elite parlors in beauty refinement of taste or excellence in appointment.” (Independent, November 1, 1900)

“He decided to give up the restaurant business and then he established another business right in that area there and it was known as the Island Curio Company.” (Ernest Steiner, Oral History)

The Island Curio Company was a major producer of postcards. Whether or not the subjects depicted on postcards had originally posed for the photographs that were sources for the cards, once imaged on postcards, these subjects became mass commodities in a visual economy of images that linked Hawai‘i with America and Europe.

From mass production and sale in Hawai‘i, the postcards became individual or private objects for the purchasers and the ultimate recipients. (UH)

They sold more than postcards … “Next to the Bishop Museum, the greatest and best Polynesian collection, is that of the Island Curio Company with its headquarters on Hotel Street, Honolulu … (and) for nearly half a century has been stacking up these native curios from almost every part of the island.” (Mid-Pacific Magazine)

In 1889, Steiner and Rosa Schwarz (from Czechoslovakia) were married in Hawai‘i. They had a family of four boys and one girl .

Steiner pioneered in the purchase and improvement of beach lots at a time when Waikiki was considered too far from the center of Honolulu and only served as a week-end, outing and bathing resort, and selected his property with good judgment and vision for the future. (Nellist)

“(T)hey moved to Waikiki in about 1899. The area there where they moved was on Kalākaua Avenue, just on the ‘Ewa side of what is now known as Kuhio Beach.”

“I don’t think there were any, there was very few other people in the area. There was one prominent Hawaiian family there that lived, oh, within eighty or ninety feet from our place. That was the William Kanakanui family. Mr. Kanakanui was a surveyor and engineer working for the Territory.” (Ernest Steiner, Oral History)

Steiner named his Waikiki home Kaiona “the native word for English ‘mermaid’ and German ‘lorelei,’ the suggestion having come from CL Hopkins, Hawaiian court interpreter.”

“Colonial in style, modified to suit the tropical climate, the house interior contains many innovations in the building craft. Ripley, Reynolds & Davis are the architects, while the Pacific Engineering Co., Ltd., is the builder.” (Star-Bulletin, August 10, 1912) It later became the Halekai Officer’s Club during WWII and later the Sands Nightclub and Restaurant.

“James Steiner is about to retire from the curio business, in which he is one of the local pioneers. Beginning as a clerk in Hart’s ice cream parlors about a quarter of a century ago, Mr. Steiner developed into one of Honolulu’s shrewdest business men.”

“A monument to his enterprise is the Elite block, one of the first three or four modern business structures of Honolulu.” (Hawaiian Star, June 20, 1911)

The three-story brick with terra cotta trimmings building was part of a “New Era of Building in Honolulu” which the 1900 Thrum’s Hawaiian Annual anticipated as “promising to be the handsomest business block in the city, so far.”

He retired from business in 1914 to devote his time to the management and development of his extensive property holdings in Honolulu and Waikiki. Steiner died in 1939.

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Island Curio Postcard-UH-Manoa

Steiner mansion still under construction on the right-1913

Steiner home used as an Officer’s Club before Pearl Harbor attack

James_Steiner-Waikiki-home-interior

James_Steiner-Waikiki-home

Island Curio-eBay

Halekai (Army Officer’s Club)-kamaaina56

Elite Block-PCA-Jan_1,_1901

Elite Ice Cream Parlors-Daily Bulletin, July 10, 1885

Steiner Mansion on the right known as the Sands Nightclub and Restaurant-early 1960s

Curly Koa lidded Calabash from Island Curio-eBay

Steiner headstone

July 17, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kahului Railroad Company

Wū-wū Kaʻa Ahi Kahului
Ke alahao a i Wailuku
Wū-wū Kaʻa Ahi Kahului
Chūkū-chūkū mua o Hawai`i

Chorus:
Woo-woo! Kahului Railroad
Tracks all the way to Wailuku
Woo-woo! Kahului Railroad
The first train of Hawaiʻi
(Kaʻa Ahi Kahului; Palani Vaughan)

Less than a decade after the construction of the first transcontinental railway in the US, the first steam railroad line in Hawaii was established. (Akinaka)

On July 17, 1879 Captain Thomas H Hobron ran the first train line from Kahului to Wailuku; the 3-foot-wide was eventually extended to over 15 miles in length along the north coast to Kuiaha with a number of branch lines. (AASHTO)

That year, Hobron issued in 12 ½ cent copper tokens bearing the initials ‘T. H. H.’ and ‘12 ½’ on the obverse. In the same year he also issued a 2 ½ cent copper token, intended also for use on the Kahului railroad.

Within a year or two the line was extended eastward from Kahului to Pāʻia. The enterprise was incorporated, July 1, 1881, as the Kahului Railroad Company.

Since then, railroad lines have been built on the four larger Islands connecting the sugar plantations and other industrial communities with their shipping points. (Akinaka)

But passengers were not the primary part of the rail’s business. The isthmus between Haleakala and West Maui contained rich soils ideal for crop cultivation. Within a few short years, the region soon supported one of the largest sugar plantations in the world.

In 1876, following the Reciprocity Treaty, other Westerners gained interest in Maui’s agriculture potential, including Claus Spreckels (who came to Hawaiʻi from San Francisco.)

Spreckels leased land from the government and obtained the water rights needed to build a large irrigation ditch that provided water for crops. These events set the stage for the establishment of Maui’s first railroad system. Rail transported cane from the fields to the harbor.

The Kahului station was located southeast of the harbor at Hobron Point (the east side of the harbor (which includes Pier 1) and tracks extended through Spreckelsville as well as to the sugar mill at Puʻunene.

By 1889, the company reported more miles of track plus three locomotives, two passenger cars, one baggage-mail car, 14 platform cars and 60 boxcars. (JoDorner)

By the turn of the 19th century, Kahului supported a new customhouse, a saloon, a Chinese restaurant and a small but growing population.

In 1901, Kahului Railroad purchased its first tugboat, the Leslie Baldwin, to tow lighters to and from vessels. The railroad company was instrumental in Kahului Harbor development.

The final stretch of line even included a steel bridge over the Maliko Gorge which, at nearly 230-feet, was the highest railway bridge in Hawaiʻi. (AASHTO)

Besides rail equipment, “the Kahului Railroad Company owns and operates the steamer Leslie Baldwin, two wharves with the necessary appliances for handling freight, and nine lighters of 65 tons capacity each.” (Report of Governor, 1903)

Hobron, who also was postmaster of Kahului, allowed mail to be sent free over the railroad. Later, in 1884, a subsidy of $25 per month was paid for hauling mail. Mail carried on the railroad was in closed bags for delivery to postmasters along the route. Probably loose letters were also carried. (HawaiianStamps)

In 1894, the Kahului Railroad decided to obtain a set of stamps and turned to the American Bank Note Company to produce lithographed stamps for special use on the railroad to pay freight and packages sent outside the mail. (HawaiianStamps)

Hobron also owned Grove Ranch Plantation in Makawao. (Hobron Drug Company, that was based in Honolulu, was owned by TW Hobron, the son of Thomas H Hobron.)

Steam locomotive No. 12 was built in 1928 for the Kahului Railroad Company in Hawaii by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Kahului Railroad hauled sugar from the fields to a mill and then took the finished sugar to the port of Kahului. Later extensions of the line allowed it to haul other commodities, such as pineapple, to the port. No. 12’s Hawaiian background has earned it the nickname “Pineapple Princess”. (MCRR)

Trains hauled goods to stores and mills, pineapple from field to cannery, and passengers to school or work. The military took over the rails during World War II, transporting everything from food to amphibious vehicles. (Engledow)

The Kahului Railroad outlasted its fellow railways in the state, in addition to the honors of being the first railway, it was also the last public railroad in operation. Today, some of the tracks and equipment are used for a tourist train that was constructed on the west side of Maui. (AASHTO)

Engine No. 12 made its last run on May 24, 1966 and in 1967 was sent to the mainland. Eventually, Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho purchased the engine. Now Engine No. 12 is a part of Colorado history and has been returned to service as part of the Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park. (JoDorner)

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Kahului_Railway-hawaii-gov

Kahului Railroad engines line up for a picture taking session in 1911.

Kahului Railroad Steam Locomotive-WC-1911

Kahului_Railway-No._12-hawaii-gov

12_in_Hawaii

Kahului, Maui. Puunene Store, left. Kahului Railroad Station and post office, right-hawaii-edu-Circa 1930s

1879 Thomas Hobron Kahului & Wailuku Railroad_Token

1879 Thomas Hobron Kahului & Wailuku Railroad Token

SS Claudine docked at the Claudine Wharf-(MasterPlan2025)

July 14, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Pierpoint

The December 5, 1874 issue of the Los Angeles Herald noted, “The telegraph line along the railroad is to be built under the superintendence of Mr John Cassidy, who arrived for that purpose yesterday.”

John Cassidy, an associate of Mr Alexander Graham Bell, was the builder of the first railroad telegraph line in California. He then came to the Islands at the time the telephone services were starting.

“Honolulu was among the first cities of the world to take up the telephone practically, and as far back as the year 1880 it is to be noted that it had more telephones than any other city of the same size in the world.”

“The honor of introducing the telephone in the Islands belongs to Senator Charles H. Dickey, who brought a set of instruments to Maui and used them there; this was in the early part of 1878, barely two years after the original patent had been granted to Alexander Graham Bell.”

“And in the latter part of the same year, Mr SG Wilder, Minister of the Interior, installed a set of instruments connecting the government building in Honolulu with the office of his lumber business some distance away.”

“The practicability of the telephone thus being demonstrated, King Kalākaua purchased telephones for the Palace and had them in operation for some time, these instruments being on exhibition at the Bishop Museum at the present time.”

“In the year 1879 the first telephone company was organized and incorporated under the name of ‘The Hawaiian Bell Telephone Co,’ and on December 30, 1880, began giving service in the City of Honolulu.”

“Starting with thirty instruments in operation, this number was considered at the time to be satisfactory, or enough for all time to come; but in this they were mistaken, for the number has always been steadily on the increase.” (Chamber of Commerce Annual Report, 1912)

“Mr. Cassidy has been in the telephone business here almost since it started. He was Superintendent of the old Bell Company during its existence, and when the consolidation with the Mutual Company took place he was made manager and has conducted the business satisfactorily.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 2, 1896)

“Mr. Cassidy remained with the Mutual company for several years, going to the Coast finally with a view to remaining there permanently; but the lure of the Pacific was greater than he could stand and he came back and entered the service of the Hawaiian Electric Company, where he now is.” (Advertiser, December 12, 1909)

Back in 1891, at Kālia, the ‘Old Waikiki’ opened as a bathhouse, one of the first places in Waikīkī to offer rooms for overnight guests. Then, “Ripley & Dickey, the architects are about completing plans for a new beach home for John Cassidy …. It will be one of the handsomest houses in that section of the city, which is noted for the number of its beautiful and comfortable residences.”

“The house will be two stories, of frame. It will be of the chalet type a German adaptation of the Swiss style. The exterior will be very pretty and the interior will be nicely finished.”

“Mr. Cassidy’s beach lot is a large one adjoining the premises of John Ena in Old Waikiki. The house at present occupied will be moved back and leased. … There will soon be a call for tenders for construction of the home. (Hawaiian Gazette, February 18, 1898) The Old Waikiki later served as a boarding house.

Cassidy died on March 9, 1915, at the age of 71. Advertisements shortly thereafter note his widow, Eliza E Cassidy, offering “The Pierpoint, formerly Cassidy, only home hotel, Waikiki Beach; consists of individual cottages and single rooms; cuisine excellent; 1000-ft promenade pier at the end of which is splendid bathing pool and beautiful view.” (Star Bulletin, May 15, 1916)

It appears the name of this new use as a hotel was geographical; the pier extended 1,000-feet out into the ocean from a point … a promotional item from Child’s Blaisdell Hotel noted it as a “Pier on a Point.” The pier had moments of excitement …

“When Arthur E. Troiel speared a conger-eel off the end of Cassidy’s pier at Pierpont Wednesday night he ran all the way home, donned his bathing suit and assisted in landing the big fellow before he could fully realize that he had not caught a whale or at least a shark.”

“Thereafter he was the pride of the fair ones and the envy of the stronger sex along the beach. By day Troiel works for J Hopp & Company.” (Star Bulletin, November 9, 1916)

Later Pierpoint became the Waikiki Annex for downtown Honolulu’s Blaisdell Hotel. In the early 1920s, nearby quaint clusters of cottages known as Cressaty’s Court and Hummel’s Court offered simple lodging. (Waikīkī Historic Trail)

The Pierpoint Hotel, Hummel’s Court and Cressaty’s Court, all located at Kālia, were acquired by the Heen Investment Company in May of 1926.

The six acres were re-landscaped, the cluster of cottages was renovated, and a new main building was added with the Tapa Room and a dance floor. The site, renamed Niumalu Hotel, meaning “sheltering palms,” opened in 1928. (Cord International)

Henry J Kaiser bought it and adjoining property and started the Kaiser Hawaiian Village (1955.) He sold to Hilton Hotels in 1961 and the property (now totaling 22-acres) continues to be known as the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

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Pierpoint-pier-Atkins

Fort_DeRussy_before_Maluhia_Recreation_Center-(HABS)-1938-noting location of Pierpoint

End of the Pierpoint Pier-BidStart

Pierpoint-walk way-Atkins

Pierpoint-ocean frontage-pier-Atkins

Pierpoint-house-Atkins

On the porch of a cottage at the Pierpoint Hotel-sallysdiaries4

Pierpoint-beach_lawn_frontage-Atkins

Niumalu Hotel Tarrant

Hummels Court-Tarrant

Cressatys Court-Tarrant

Kewalo-Ala_Wai_aerial-(UH_Manoa)-1927-portion-noting pier-lower

Ala_Wai-Channel_being_dredged-UH_Manoa-(2411)-1952-portion

John_Cassidy-PCA-Jan_17,_1907

Pierpont Hotel Ad-Hnl_SB-Sept 10, 1917

July 6, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Cane Fire

Slash and burn agriculture is a widely used method of growing food in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned.

The resulting layer of ash provides the newly-cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer to help fertilize crops. (EcoLogic)

In the Islands, between AD 1100 and 1650, there was a period of expansion and agricultural intensification in Hawaii that accompanied an increase in human population. (Pratt)

Until about 1500 AD, agriculture was shifting cultivation using slash and burn techniques and long fallow periods. Between 1500 and 1800 A.D., agriculture expanded, intensified, and became permanent. (Cuddihy & Stone)

During that period the lowland vegetation below 1,500-feet elevation was almost entirely replaced by cultivated fields, dispersed settlements and grasslands, caused by repeated fires; while upland sites remained little disturbed. (Pratt)

Several of the large field systems have pronounced burn layers that represent wither the original removal of native tree cover or the use of fire for clearing fallow fields.

Fire was the primary tool used by Hawaiians to clear lands prior to cultivation. This was true in areas adjacent to irrigated valleys and windward slopes as well as in the great field systems. Fire may have been repeatedly used to periodically clear the secondary growth on fallow fields. (Cuddihy & Stone)

Fire was also used in marginal cultivations to burn off vegetation and increase the cover of ‘ama‘u ferns used as pig feed. Large expanses of the lowlands were regularly burned to clear woody vegetation and stimulate indigenous pili grass. (Pratt)

Agricultural burning is standard practice for many other kinds of crops on nearly 9-million acres throughout the country, including rice, wheat, corn, cotton, lentils and soybeans. (HC&S)

Fire was later used in the harvesting of sugarcane. Burning the cane before harvesting removes most of the dead vegetation without causing significant damage to the interior of the cane stalk. (James)

The sugarcane plant consists of about 75 percent to 80 percent net cane (stalks) from which the juice is extracted and the sugar crystalized. The other 20 percent to 25 percent of the plant consists of leafy material, including tops, from which little or no sugar is produced.

This leafy material is called trash. Burning sugarcane before harvest (or milling) removes from one-half to two-thirds of this trash that would otherwise contribute nothing to sugar production. (LSUAC)

In many countries, such as Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, and Costa Rica, pre-harvest burning is a common practice. In the US and Philippines, sugarcane fields are burned either before or after harvest, but in India, most of the sugarcane residues are usually burned in the field only after harvest. (de Azeredo França)

In Australia, sugarcane burning started in the 1930s to combat Weil’s disease (leptospirosis) among cane-cutters. In other cane growing areas, burning was sometimes done to clear the field of snakes before hand-cutters cut the cane. (Cheesman)

There were attempts to use fire to get rid of pests, “When as an experiment, a patch of about nine acres of cane, so heavily attacked by leaf-hopper as to be useless, was set on fire all around to destroy these, it was noticed that the adult hoppers rose from the cane in a cloud and spread to other fields; so this plan for destroying them was of no value.” (HSPA, 1906)

It appears that the practice of burning sugarcane started in the early-1900s (some suggest in 1908.) Prior to that, cane trash (nonproductive leafy parts of the cane) was removed by hand (men chopped the cane; ‘holehole’ work, stripping the dried cane leaves, was deemed ‘women’s work.’)

The sugar in burned cane inverts after 48-hours and the lack of ability to quickly transport burned cane to mills limited its practice until the late-1920s when a macadamized road system and diesel trucks across the islands became widespread. (Hayakawa)

Later, pre-harvest burning, in the field, was the only economical means sugar planters found for removing the dried leafy material from its crop.

Removal of this dried leafy material reduces the quantity of material which needs to be hauled to the factory, including the soil adhering to the harvested material; reduces the number of haulers traveling back and forth and therefore reduces fuel consumption; reduces the amount of material the factory must handle and therefore its energy consumption; and improves sugar recovery. (HC&S)

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