34<^ USKFJ'L PLANTS OK (UTAM. 



ill ;;r(Hi|)s uf 'A nr ."> in straipiit rown about a font apart. Uicc is never sown 

 broailcafst in (juain. Al>nut two kahanes of seed are re(|nirod for eaeh hectare of land. 

 Tlie weedini; is done l)y liainl. The weeds are 1)nried in tlie mud. They soon decav 

 and serve to enrich the .«oil. In (inani the fields arc kei)t flooded until the grain is 

 completely developed and well filled out. The water is then drawn off the fields. 



As there is no ])rovision in Guam for storing water in reservoirs for irrigation or 

 ]»uniping it from wells, the season for rice growing depends upon the water sui>ply 

 from tlie streams. As a rule there is l)ut one rice harvest piT year. Tlu' plants are 

 not pulled up, hut are cut with a sickle at a convenient height, leaving the stalks, 

 which sometimes produce a second crop. The gathered crop is exposed to the sun 

 only while the reajiing is going on. It is carried to sheds the evening of the same 

 day and ]ilaced under cover. 



Rice is thrashed either by treading it under foot or l>y lieating the stalks over a 

 pole or band)oo grating. The grain is separated from the straw very easily by the 

 latter jiroccss, which, in Guam, is jjreferred to the former. It is then winnowecl. 

 It is kept in store in its unhulled condition, small cjuantities l)eing hulleil as reipiired 

 in a large wooden mortar (pilon) made of a log with a cavity at the upper end holding 

 from a half ganta to a ganta of grain. The pestle is also of wood, having an oblong 

 thickening at each end and slender in the middle, so as to be easily grasped by the 

 hand. As a rule rice grown in Guam is inferior to that imported from other coun- 

 tries. The best rice brought to the island comes from Japan, selling at 10 pesos ($5) 

 a i)icul. American rice sells for 10 cents a pound. Eice was formi'rly brought to 

 Guam from the Philippines and from Saigon, Cochin China, but importation from 

 these sources has stopped. "When the rice harvest of the island has been fairly good 

 the unhulled paddy is sold at 6 pesos a kaban. In the time of Don Felipe de la 

 Corte its usual price was 3 pesos a kaban. (See value of picul and kaban under " Pleas- 

 ures," p. 189.) In time of scarcity Japanese and American rice is sold as high as 20 

 pesos a sack ($10) containing 1 picul. 



Unsuccessful attempts have been made to cultivate rice in the large marsh near 

 Agana, called "laCienaga," and Don Felipe de la Corte tried to cultivate upland 

 rii-e on the island, l)ut failed. « The labor recpiired to keep the rice fields free from 

 weeds is so great and so exacting, and failures of the crop are so frequent, that rice 

 culture is gradually being abandoned in Guam, except in sites especially favored. 

 The natives are directing their attention moi-e and more to maize, their principal 

 food staple, and to cocoanut planting, the onlj' commercial industry of the island. 



According to Don Antonio Martinez, the yield of rice per hectare of land is, in 

 good years, as much as 100 kabanes. Laborers in rice fields are su])ject to sick- 

 ness which they call "jiasmoii maneiigheiig, " especially those working in drained 

 fields. This is probably of a malarial nature ("maneiigheiig" signifies cold). Land 

 varies greatly in fertility. In some places the same field is cultivated for a number 

 of years in succession; in others the soil soon becomes exhausted. In the latter case 

 it is allowed to lie fallow for one or two years. Weeds grow uji, and their leaves 

 falling and decaying serve to enrich the fields anew. When the rice is ripe the fields 

 are visited by doves and wild ducks, which cause considerable loss to the farmer. 

 Rekkkknces: 



Oryza mtini L. Sp. I'l. 1: ;«3. 1753. 



Otaheite apple. See Cari/o]>li!ilius mahicroifih. 



Ot(5 (Panama). See Caladium colocasia. 



Otud or Otot (Guam). See Icacorca sp. 



Oxalidaceae. Oxalis family. 



This family is represented in <Tuani by the common Oralis corn iniffitd'and Arerrhoa 

 fununlxAa , a small tree with sensitive foliage, planted for the sake of its fruit. 



«See De la Corte, Memoria descr. 6 hist, de las islas Marianas, p. 60, 1875. 



