22 



GUAAI AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 





y(>nn<; ^n'owiui^ ])ullcls aiul tiiat thoy did not begin to lay until 

 several weeks after their arrival. 



Egg record for the fiscal year 1912. 



NOTES ON CORN GROWING IN GUAM. 



Corn, now the most important food crop of Guam, has been grown 

 and utilized for food purposes for a period of more than 200 years. 

 The original introduction of corn into Guam is said to have been 

 made from Mexico,^ w^here it had been grown under climatic condi- 

 tions not \\ddely different from those which obtain in Guam. Now 

 at least this old stram shows much greater adaptation to local envi- 

 ronments than the highly improved varieties grown on the mainland 

 of the United States, which do not succeed in Guam. Prior to intro- 

 ductions recently made by this station there was but a single variety 

 grown on the island, a hard, flinty, white corn with broad, shallow 

 grains and a large white cob. 



There are two general corn-planting seasons. The principal crop 

 is planted in April or May, dependent upon favorable weather condi- 

 tions, and the crop develops in the season of comparatively light 

 rainfall preceding the excessively wet period. It reaches maturity in 

 about four months from planting. A second important crop is planted 

 in November or December, following the period of heavy rains, and 

 matures during the period of diminishing rainfall. In addition to 

 these two principal crops a limited quantity of corn is planted at 

 various times throughout the year, these plantings being largely con- 

 trolled by special conditions which in the dry season furnish a water 

 supply from underground seepage or unusually good drainage in the 

 season of heavy rains. 



The cultural methods employed in growing the corn crop in Guam 

 are of the most primitive nature. The fosino ^ is almost the only 



1 A number of practices common in the cultivation and use of corn in Guam are evidently adopted 

 from Mexican customs. The system of doubling corn in the field as described on page 23 is also practiced 

 in parts of Mexico. In Guam com is soaked overnight in limewater to remove the tough outer hull from 

 the grain, when it is ground to a paste between two stones, the metate and the mano, and made into 

 tortillas in much the same manner as is practiced in some sections of Mexico. 



= The fosino is a small hand tool which is constructed and used as a shuffle hoe. Weeds are removed 

 with this tool by a series of thrusts, the blade of the fosino passing just beneath the surface of the soil. 



