30 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



j)iirsuo(l in Guam. As opportunity offers some attention is being 

 paid to the fuiiirtis diseases and insect pests of other crops on the 

 ishind. A nunil)er of these are known, and some expei'iinents have 

 been bejjini for their control. 



At the end of the fiscal year Mr. ,J. I J. Thompson, a graduate of 

 the Kansas Agricultural College, who had had several years' expe- 

 rience with the Bureau of Agriculture in the Philippine Islands, 

 was placed in charge of the station, with Mr. H. L. V. Costenoble 

 as assistant. This arrangement will not in any way change the policy 

 of the station, but will bring it more under the influence of American 

 experiment stations. 



At present the station has a site partially cleared and completely 

 fenced, and a number of the more urgent buildings are erected. 

 These will have to be supplemented by other buildings in the near 

 future, as the station is situated at a distance of several miles from 

 Agana, the principal town of the island, and a house for the super- 

 intendent will be required. Some provision should be made for the 

 erection of stables, implement shelters, and similar buildings, all of 

 which can be provided from the resources of the island at no very 

 great expense. 



A number of carabao have been purchased as work animals, and 

 as soon as a permanent source of forage is provided, so that it will 

 not be necessary to ship hay and grain from San Francisco, an effort 

 will be made to introduce some better classes of live stock. Under 

 the conditions now existing in Guam the introduction of live stock 

 is not considered advisable, as those now at the naval station are 

 fed almost exclusively on hay and grain shipped from San Fran- 

 cisco or Seattle. 



The work of this station for some time will consist principally of 

 demonstrations in methods of agriculture and the introduction and 

 testing of field and horticultural crops. Already the people are 

 beginning to exhibit an interest in the work, and requests for advice 

 have been received in considerable numbers. In a limited way coop- 

 erative experiments have been undertaken with farmers, and the 

 station has distributed field and garden seeds. These have been 

 gladly accepted for trial plantings by quite a number of actual 

 farmers. It is hoped that some arrangement can be effected whereby 

 regular supplies of seeds can be obtained, as the vitality of all kinds 

 of seeds, unless especially protected, diminishes rapidly in the moist 

 tropical climate of Guam. A considerable number of improved agri- 

 cultural implements have been introduced, and as they are found 

 adapted their use by the farmers of the island will be recommended. 

 It is quite probable that some modification of the types usually 

 supplied by implement dealers in the States will be required to make 

 them adapted to the conditions in this island. 



