SANDALWOOD AGAIN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 43, 6 March 1937, Page 17

SANDALWOOD AGAIN

Hawaiian Industry Revived

Sandalwoodj once Hawaii's chief stock in trade, i«s making a spirited : comeback and may again become an important esport of the islands. it is indicated by a recent report from Charles i Sheldon Judd, territorial forester, It wac this sweet-seented wood which attracted Pacific Ocean traders to Hawaii and established Hawaii as a liaison land between Orient and Ocsident. To-day, the best market for sandalwood is New York, where the heartwood bringe as much as 1100 a ton and ' is used for carving and tho distillation of fragrant oil for perfumery. Knowing this maiket, the Territorial Pdrestcy Dppartment ha? inaugurated a saudalwood forestation programme to f epleni^h the trees stripped from . the islands by the early trade. jFrom 1791 to 1810 the trade, centreing in Hawaii, continued at a brisk pace, jreaching its peas from 1810 to 1825. The wood obtained from the natives in eschange frequently for nominal trinkete, was invariably shipped to Canton, where it was bought at handaomo prices and used for incense and the manufactare of fancy articles. It was not, as most residents of Hasraii bolieve to-day. a norma! exhausMbn of the sv.pply by the eontinuous knd heavy demand w3n'*l» virlueilv de-

auded the islands of the product by 1856. The commoners of the islands revolted against the trade. At the direction of their chiefs tEey had been directed to hunt for the wood to the neglect of their taro and sweet potato patches. Famine resulted. Eevolt followedj not against the cniefs, as inigbt be supposed, but against the sandalwood. Tho people Clestroyed as many as possible of the trees which had survived the trade. But to-day natural growth is by no means extincf. Only by comparison with their status in the old trading days do sandalwood treeB seem to have vanished from the islands. Mr. Judd reports that at least seven different species are common. The largest trees, found on Oahu, are 35 feet high and 20 inches in diameter. Experimental planting has been done chiefly with soeds of an lndian vanety obtained from tho British forest service. Sandalwood is of slow growth attd takes 50 years to reach marketable size. It is not with an eye to an immediate market, but with the future in vicw, therefore, that Mr. Judd and his stafi are tenderly nufsing their little s:)'I dalwood seedlings.