The narrow
gorges in which terraced "patch cultivation," is so successful,
offer no temptations to a man with the world before him. The larger
areas require labour, and labour is not to be had. Though wheat and
other cereals mature, attacks of weevil prevent their storage, and
all the grain and flour consumed are imported from California.
Cacao, cinnamon, and allspice, are subject to an apparently
ineradicable blight. The blight which has attacked the coffee shrub
is so severe, that the larger plantations have been dug up, and
coffee is now raised by patch culture, mainly among the guava scrub
which fringes the forests. Oranges suffer from blight also, and
some of the finest groves have been cut down. Cotton suffers from
the ravages of a caterpillar. The mulberry tree, which, from its
rapid growth, would be invaluable to silk growers, is covered with a
black and white blight. Sheep are at present successful, but in
some localities the spread of a pestilent "oat-burr" is depreciating
the value of their wool. The forests, which are essential to the
well-being of the islands, are disappearing in some quarters, owing
to the attacks of a grub, as well as the ravages of cattle.
Cocoanuts, bananas, yams, sweet potatoes, kalo, and breadfruit, the
staple food of the native population, are free from blight, and so
are potatoes and rice.
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