The tall coconut trees standing alongside Kuhio Highway in Waipouli today are all that remain of a large grove that Edward H. W. Broadbent began planting after he purchased property there in 1912. By 1914, his grove contained nearly 1,100
The tall coconut trees standing alongside Kuhio Highway in Waipouli today are all that remain of a large grove that Edward H. W. Broadbent began planting after he purchased property there in 1912.
By 1914, his grove contained nearly 1,100 fast-growing trees, which at the time was a surprise to many, since the land upon which they flourished had beforehand seemed to be nothing more than acres of unproductive coral deposits.
As Mr. Broadbent explained, “I dug the holes down to the water. To do this, every hole had to be put down through a floor of solid cement of several inches in thickness. The men could do no blasting, so this substance had to be gotten out in small pieces by pick and hand. Once through this, I struck water.
“In these holes, I placed a square box. I then placed the trees and filled the box with the richest soil I could find. Around the outside of the box, I replaced the coral and soil that had been taken from the original hole. The result has been most satisfactory, and according to Mr. Hills, the coconut planter, the trees have grown faster than any he has ever seen.”
Not all of Broadbent’s trees were planted in this fashion, however. Near the cottage he built in the grove, “the ground is somewhat higher, and there I planted a number of trees where I could not get down to water, and these trees are not doing nearly so well as those I planted elsewhere,” he added.
Mr. Broadbent was born in New Zealand in 1872 and was educated there. In 1891 he settled in Hawai‘i, joined Grove Farm in 1895 and managed it from 1902 until he retired in 1935. He died in Lihu‘e in 1947.
