GUAM AGEICULTUEAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 23 



tool used. It is employed to remove vegetation from the land in 

 preparation for planting and in cultivating the crop by the occasional 

 removal of weeds with a simultaneous stirring of the surface soil. An 

 interesting feature in the cultivation of corn in Guam is the custom 

 of breaking or doubUng the stalk just below the ear when the latter 

 has reached a condition of maturity by a partial hardening of the 

 gram. This operation leaves the ear with the point hanging down- 

 ward and has the effect of hastening the maturity of the crop and 

 prevents the collection of water under the husk, where in the natural 

 position it would be retained, causing germination or decay of the 

 grain. In a climate characterized by high temperatures and heavy 

 rauif all such as obtain in Guam some protective measures are neces- 

 sary to prevent general loss to the crop, and this practice of doubling 

 the stalk is both simple and effective. Observations on the amount 

 of labor required to perform this operation have been recorded at 

 this station, and these indicate that a man working in corn of average 

 stand and growth will double an acre in four hours. 



Corn is not allowed to dry in the field, but is gathered and shelled 

 before drying. This practice renders machine shelling impossible, 

 and the enthe product of the island is shelled by hand. As an evi- 

 dence of the uncured state in which corn is gathered a shrmkage 

 equal to 31 per cent of the original newly husked corn has been noted 

 at this station during the process of dryuig. An acre of corn grown 

 at the station produced 27.75 bushels of corn; and this yield is con- 

 siderably better than the average crop grown in Guam. Corn is 

 bought and sold m terms of "tinajas," a measure ec[uivalent to about 

 98 pounds, or less frequently in "kabans," each of which is equal to 

 about 154 pounds. Prices demanded generally range from SI to $2 

 United States currency j^er tinaja. 



CORN EXPERIMENTS. 



An interesting test of more than 40 different varieties of corn 

 obtained from a wide range of distantly located tropical sections has 

 been m progress during the past fiscal year and it is hoped that 

 through this work varieties of superior merit and adapted to Guam 

 conditions may be found. The corn gi'own in this test represented 

 a vn.de variety of t^^ies, gradmg from the small-grained, flinty, varie- 

 gated sorts from India, Ce^^lon, Burma, and Formosa, to the large- 

 gramed, soft, floury, mummy corns from Ecuador and Colombia, 

 These two groups, representmg the extremes with regard to hardness 

 of gi'am, are also most widely variant in size of kernels, the group 

 from southern Asia requirmg from 200 to 220 grains to weigh an 

 ounce, wliile a variet}^ from Ecuador requked 55 grains to constitute 

 an equal weight. 



Among the varieties under trial No. 576, a hard, smooth-grained, 

 yellow corn from the island of St. Vincent, and No. 589, a similar 



