144 ANNUAL REPORTS OF D?:PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



island, is due to an excess of carbonate of lime in the soil was com- 

 pleted during the year. This work furnishes a valuable basis for the 

 selection of soils for pineapples. 



THE GUAM STATION. 



Although much of the work done at the Guam Station during the 

 year was of a preliminary character, such as the construction of new 

 buildings, building of roads, clearing and draining of lands, etc., 

 various field operations were also successfully carried on. The lead- 

 ing work of this station continues to be the production of feed and 

 forage preliminary to experiments on the improvement of the live 

 stock of the island and includes experiments with corn, various 

 grasses, and leguminous forage plants. The experiments have dem- 

 onstrated the superior value of Para grass, Paspalum dilatatum, 

 Guinea grass, and several nonsaccharin sorghums as forage plants. 

 Of the leguminous plants under observation, the f)igeon pea, jack 

 bean, and common peanut have given promise of success. Much 

 work was carried on with vegetables, in many cases with very prom- 

 ising results. One of the most striking achievements of this station 

 is the introduction of the Smooth Cayenne pineapple from Hawaii. 

 Various other fruits besides a number of miscellaneous plants have 

 been introduced and are being tested by the station. Plans have 

 been perfected for undertaking experiments on the improvement of 

 the live stock of the island, which is now of very low grade, and 6 

 head of Morgan horses, 5 of Ayrshire cattle, 4 Berkshire hogs, and 

 some poultry were shipped to Guam by Government transport in 

 September. There is a growing interest in the work of the station, 

 whi'ch has been greatly promoted by the cordial cooperation of the 

 local authorities. 



DESIRABILITY OF ESTABLISHING STATION AT TUTUILA. 



The attention of the department has been called by the naval 

 Governor of Tutuila to the desirability of establishing an agricul- 

 tural experiment station on that island. This and the adjoining 

 Manua Islands of the Samoan group came into the possession of the 

 United States in 1899. The people are mainly engaged in agricul- 

 ture, copra, the dried flesh of the coconut, being their only market- 

 able product. The coconut beetle, a very destructive pest, is said to 

 be present on neighboring islands, and its appearance on Tutuila 

 would probably be followed by the destruction of the copra industry 

 so far as that island is concerned. The establishment of an experi- 

 ment station with men trained along the lines of modern agriculture 

 would aid materially in preventing its introduction and also would 

 demonstrate the advantages of more diversified agriculture. 



