very serious draw-back, though not an
insurmountable objection to the pursuit of agriculture. In
a country like this where the necessaries of life are so
easily supplied, one man's steady labor will always produce
very much more than one man's sustenance, and the overplus
with ordinary thrift--or what would be considered such in
other lands--becomes so much capital with which to increase
the scope of an individual's exertions, and provide those
means and appliances which by reducing labor add to profit. A
carelessness to observe and communicate the results of
observation as to seasons and localities, was another
peculiarity common amongst the Hawaiians. The natives are too
much inclined to make an attempt without first gaining all the
information procurable in regard to the particular plant or
vegetable they intend to cultivate. Slight variations in the
altitude of different fields above the level of the sea, and
differences in the quality of the soil, produce oftentimes no
less results than failure on the one hand and success on the
other. But the Hawaiians are too apt to make an essay without
previous enquiry, and afterwards to keep to themselves the
result of the experiment. This should not be in a country
which is visited weekly in its whole length and breadth by a
newspaper intended, more than for any other purpose, to spread
a knowledge of practical agriculture and afford a medium for
intercommunication upon points interesting to persons engaged
in the original pursuit of our race. The King enforced this
idea with great earnestness, begging his hearers to look upon
themselves as links in the chain of improvement, dependent
upon the past, as future laborers would depend upon them for
such experience as to seasons, methods and localities as might
be worthy of record and transmission to another generation.

The absence of methodical habits in the tillers of the soil
was adverted to. Whilst on this subject, the King spoke of the
utter disregard showed for any regularity in the hours of
commencing and leaving off work. This desultory system is
greatly aided by the want of stated hours for taking food and
retiring to rest. If there were a common hour for breakfast
and dinner, the hours for labor would be regulated and
understood. T