THE PIvANT WORIvD 179 



Indeed the natives go to the opposite extreme and insist upon your accept- 

 ing their hospitality. Some of the school-teachers get only $3.00 Mexican 

 a month, equal to $1.50 of our money. I shall double their wages, but 

 even then it will be a miserable pittance. No wonder they have to 

 suspend their teaching frequently to work in their garden-patches and 

 corn-fields. The only trouble is, we have not income enough from the 

 island to pay higher salaries ; and we want the island government to be 

 self-supporting. I myself have started a night-school for teaching 

 English three nights a week. I have about fifty pupils, ranging from the 

 age of five to fifty years. Among them, besides the natives, are a number 

 of bands-men (Italians) and Chinese servants of the officers' mess. I 

 usually begin by pointing to various objects and pronouncing the cor- 

 responding English names. My pupils repeat the words after me ; then 

 I teach them a few adjectives, such as long, short; thin, thick; hard, 

 soft ; illustrating the meaning by objects having these attributes ; 

 then a few verbs, such as ivalk, sit, stand, fall, catch, see, hear, speak. 

 Most of my pupils do pretty well, but the youngest do best. While 

 walking the other day with the Governor he asked me how my pupils 

 were progressing. I told him that the little boys were learning readily. 

 Just then we came upon a group of two or three youngsters, and one of 

 them saluted the Governor, saying, " Hello, bub! " — a greeting which, 

 I assured the Governor, he had learned not at school but evidently from 

 the Marines. The Governor was not a little amused at what he called the 

 forwardness of my pupils. To meet the increased expense of the schools 

 we are to have a custom-house. The Governor has asked me to prepare 

 a tariff. This I am trying to do in such a way as not only to bring in a 

 revenue but to encourage the cultivation of rice, coffee, sugar, and to dis- 

 criminate in favor of American goods, which will come in free. 



[to bk continued.] 



Mr. David G. Fairchild has published an interesting paper on 

 Japanese bamboos (Bull. 43, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. of 

 Agric). He is convinced that a number of species can be successfully 

 grown in Southern California and the Gulf States, and that they may be 

 adapted to a wide range of uses. In England the more hardy kinds have 

 withstood a temperature of 6 degrees Fahrenheit. 



The following method for the treatment of borers and running sores in 

 shade trees is recommended by the Wyoming Experiment Station : Care- 

 fully remove all grubs and other larvae ; dig out the decayed tissue. 

 Then, if the wound is one that will conduct water to the interior of the 

 stem, fill it with grafting- wax and putty, and make it waterproof with 

 paint or tar. — Coimtry Life in America. 



