1696 ISLAND DEPENDENCIES 



ISLAND DEPENDENCIES 



guests at a feast or embarking friends at a departing 

 vessel is still kept up, and it is one of the unique and 

 beautiful scenes in Hawaii when a steamer engaged in 

 the Honolulu-San Francisco run leaves the Hawaiian 

 port, with all its passengers decorated with "leis'' 

 (pronounced lays) or wreaths of flowers. Until 

 recent years, this constituted the chief market for cut- 

 flowers. During the last eight or ten years a consider- 

 able cut-flower trade of the American type has grown 

 up and there are several Americans now in the business 

 and also a number of Japanese florists. 



The city of Honolulu supports a number of small 

 parks, containing some interesting and curious plants. 

 In gardens, owned by private individuals, are many 

 more rare and beautiful plants. The great Moanalua 

 estate, the property of Samuel M. Damon, with its 

 parks and gardens, is one of the most interesting 

 places of Honolulu for the admirer of plants, and no 

 plant-lover should pass 

 by the islands without 

 visiting these grounds, 

 which are traversed by 

 the public road and thus 

 generously made avail- 

 able to all who are inter- 

 ested. Another strik- 

 ingly beautiful sight 

 which no one who is in 

 Honolulu at the right 

 time should fail to .see, 

 is the 1,000 feet or more 

 of night-blooming ccreus 

 at the Oahu College 

 grounds. The exact sea- 

 sons of flowering are im- 

 possible to predict, but 

 there is usually a grand 

 display for several nights 

 in May or June and 

 again in August or Sep- 

 tember. 



Literature. — The liter- 

 ature of horticulture in 

 Hawaii is limited. The 

 only book devoted ex- 

 clusively to the subject is 

 "Fruits of the Hawaiian 

 Islands," by G. P. Wil- 

 der, Hawaiian Gazette 

 Company, Ltd., Hono- 

 lulu. The bulletins and 

 reports of the horticul- 

 tural department of the Hawaii Experiment Station 

 cover a part of the fieiil and are as follows : "The Banana 

 in Hawaii," Bulletin No. 7; "Citrus Fruits in Hawaii," 

 Bulletin No. 9; "The Mango in Hawaii," Bulletin 

 No. 12; "Marketing Hawaiian Fruits," Bulletin No. 14; 

 "Shield-budding the Mango," BuUetin No. 20; "The 

 Avocado in Hawaii," Bulletin No. 25; "Fruit-market- 

 ing Investigations in 1907," Press Bulletin No. 21; 

 "Pineapple Shipping Experiments in 1908," Press 

 Bulletin, No. 22; "The Pineapple in Hawaii," Press 

 Bulletin No. 36; Annual Reports 1901 to date. See 

 also "Index to PubUcations of the Hawaii Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, July 1, 1901 to December 31, 

 1911." Numerous references to horticultural subjects 

 are to be found in "The Hawaiian Forester and Agri- 

 culturist," the "Paradise of the Pacific," "The Mid- 

 Pacific Magazine," and other periodicals. 



J. E. HiGGINS. 



Guam. 



The island of Guam (Fig 1988) , belonging to the group 

 of islands known as the Ladrones or Marianas, lies in the 

 Pacific Ocean between the parallels 13° 14' and 13° 40' 

 north of the equator, and between the meridians 144° 



37' and 144° 56' east of Greenwich. A line drawn 

 almost due west from Guam strikes, at a distance of 

 about 1,200 miles, the San Bernardino Passage divid- 

 ing the island of Samar from the southern extremity 

 of Luzon and marks the relative position of Guam and 

 the PhiUppine Archipelago. Of the fourteen islands 

 composing the Mariana group, Guam is the largest 

 and its position the most southerly. It is of historic 

 interest as the first stopping place of Magellan after 

 passing beyond the South American coast on that 

 remarkable voyage of exploration for the Spanish 

 crown in 1521. The island did not, however, assume a 

 place of special interest in the minds of the American 

 pubUc until the year 1898 when, by the provisions of 

 the treaty of Paris concluding peace between the 

 United States and Spain, it became territory of the 

 United States. 

 Guam has a warm and humid climate. The temper- 

 ature is remarkably 

 equable throughout the 

 year; and no physical or 

 other influences exist to 

 cause perceptible varia- 

 tion in temperature in 

 different parts of the 

 island. Absolute tem- 

 peratures seldom rise 

 above 95° F. in the heat 

 of the day or fall below 

 70° F. at night. The 

 average annual rainfall 

 is in the vicinity of 120 

 inches; and a very large 

 percentage of the yearly 

 precipitation occurs dur- 

 ing the period from July 

 to November inclusive. 

 During the remainder 

 of the year rainfall is 

 erratic and uncertain. 

 The cUmatic factor most 

 potent in retarding horti- 

 cultural progress is the 

 occasional furious hurri- 

 canes or typhoons. These 

 storms occur more or 

 less frequently and some- 

 times with such sweep- 

 ing force as to leave the 

 island vegetation almost 

 completely devastated of 

 all its fohage. 

 The northern portion of the island is an incUned 

 forest-covered plateau, rising from near sea-level at a 

 point a short distance north of Agafia to an elevation 

 of some 500 or 600 feet at the northern extremity of 

 the island and to an almost equal elevation along the 

 east coast. The soil of this plateau is of coral derivation 

 and at many points is underlaid with partially disin- 

 tegrated coral limestone covered at many points with 

 but a few inches of soil. This territory is well drained 

 and has a fertile soil usually well adapted to the culti- 

 vation of horticultural products. On it coffee grows 

 lu\-uriantly and yields abundant crops of berries of a 

 specially superior flavor. Cacao {Theobroma Cacao), pro- 

 ducing "the so-caUed chocolate bean of commerce, was 

 grown in this district with much success prior to the 

 severe typhoon that ruined the plantations in 1900. 

 The lack of fresh water streams or other domestic 

 water-supply prevents the rapid development of this 

 district. The remaining portion of the island lying 

 south of Agaua has a rolling contour and is traversed 

 by numerous river valleys made fertile by sediment 

 deposited from the surrounding hills. These valleys 

 afford favorable conditions for the cultivation of coco- 

 nuts and many of the tropical fruits. Constant and 



1988. The island of Guam. 



