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FORESTRY 



COU^GC OF A AGRtCyLTUf?E 

 «HIVCItSlTY OFCAUFORNSA 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE GUAM AGRICULTURAL 

 EXPERIMENT STATION FOR 191L 



SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATIONS. 

 By J. B. Thompson, Special Agent in Charge. 



INTRODUCTION, 



From an agricultural viewpoint the past year has been one of com- 

 parative prosperity in Guam. The output of coconuts was much 

 greater than that for the year 1910. The customhouse returns show 

 an increase in copra exports of 64 per cent over those of the preceding 

 year. This increase comes in great part from young plantations 

 which are just coming into bearing. Prices of copra have remained 

 uniform throughout the year, with a slight advance over those paid 

 in 1910. Japanese traders, who own or control their own line of sail- 

 ing schooners plying between Yokohama and the islands of the 

 Mariana group, continue to control the copra market ; and they have 

 handled the bulk of the year's output of copra. A small consignment 

 was shipped to Manila by H. Y. Costenoble, a local merchant, with 

 the hope of opening a more favorable market. 



One of the most keenly felt wants of the producers here is trans- 

 portation facilities that can be relied upon to carry the island prod- 

 ucts regularly and directly to a good market. The United States 

 Army transports call at Guam once per month on their outward run 

 from San Francisco to Manila, but these vessels do not touch here on 

 their return trip. The present transport regulations admit of a lim- 

 ited amount of provisions and other necessities being carried from 

 San Francisco and Honolulu to Guam, but the shiiDment of copra 

 from Guam to Manila is not allowed. In the absence of other ship- 

 ping means, provision by which the island's products could be 

 shipped to Manila by United States Army transports would place 

 them upon a market where keen competition would insure better 

 prices, and better prices could not fail to encourage the development 

 of the copra and other agi'icultural industries. The monthly cargo 

 of supplies discharged at Guam by the transports during the past 

 year have ranged from about 150 to about 450 tons, and the space 

 thus made vacant between Guam and Manila Avould be sufficient to 

 carry, at a very conservative estimate, three times the amount of 

 copra now exported from the island. 



