504 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



road from cascajo, a sort of limestone gi-avel and the common road 

 material of the island, was completed. A cascajo hill on the station 

 grounds has furnished an abundant supply of this material close at 

 hand, facilitating the work greatly. The roads have been built only 

 10 feet wide, but are good, permanent, and adequate to the needs of 

 the station. 



Along the east line of the station grounds, stretching from the 

 north line to the hill, a distance of about 900 feet, lies a strip of very 

 low land, forming a basin in which water collects and is retained. 

 This covers an area of about 2 acres in extent, all of which during 

 periods of heavy rainfall has been entirely submerged for many 

 weeks. During the year this swamp has been reclaimed by a system 

 of drains. The gTound is quite flat and receives the surface flow 

 from an extensive watershed, so that even now during heavy rains it 

 is under water ; but as the rains subside this is carried away quickly 

 through the drains, leaving crops which are now growing upon the 

 land undamaged. 



Lumber has been received from the United States for the erection 

 of an office building which is now nearing completion. The building 

 measures 20 feet in width and 40 feet in length, and has a veranda 

 extending along the front and on both ends. It will have two office 

 rooms, a library room, a room for laboratory and records, a dark 

 room for photographic work, and a toilet. This much-needed im- 

 provement will insure greater protection to equipment, allow a more 

 thorough system of records, and will render possible the enlargement 

 of the librarj^, which has not been feasible under the coconut roof of 

 the old building rented as a temporary' stopping place. 



A bodega or storehouse is also jDlanned which will have ample ca- 

 pacity for housing all the implements and farm tools. This building 

 will be 18 feet wide and 45 feet long, and is to be constructed from 

 native lumber. The logs have been purchased and are waiting at 

 the naval station sawmill for sawing. 



An irrigation and water-suj^ply plant was secured from the United 

 States. Water will be pumped from a w^ell at the base of the hill into 

 a reservoir constructed on the hill at an elevation of about 85 feet, 

 from which it will be conducted to all parts of the land below through 

 a system of 2-inch pipe. The reservoir, the excavation for which 

 has been completed, will have a capacity of about 25,000 gallons. 

 Water will be lifted to the reservoir by a centrifugal pump operated 

 by a 12-horsei30wer kerosene engine. The engine will be placed in 

 the implement building now under way, to furnish power for oper- 

 ating rice hullers, feed mills, or other machinery that may be found 

 necessary in the future. 



