498 The National Geographic Magazine 



and north of Cochinos Bay, this district 

 is remarkably healthful. Several Ameri- 

 cans have camped out in the heart of the 

 swamps, drinking the water unboiled for 

 considerable periods of time, without a 

 single recorded case of fever. The 

 swamps are not stagnant, being fed by 



springs and drained by innumerable un- 

 derground streams. Much of the land, 

 aside from its great timber value, when 

 finally cleared will be found adaptable to 

 the culture of tobacco and other products, 

 especially the several varieties of citrus 

 fruits. 



NOTES AND SCENES FROM KOREA 



SOME interesting information has re- 

 cently been sent to this country by 

 American Consul General Thomas Sam- 

 mons, of Seoul, about what the Japanese 

 are doing in a practical way for Korea. 



A model farm and agricultural college 

 was started by the Japanese at Suwon, 

 25 miles from the capital of the country, 

 and has just been transferred to the 

 Korean government. The buildings are 



A missionary's water-carrier in Pyengyang, Korea. 

 There are no wells in Pyengyang City, as old Koreans 

 said the city was a boat and would sink if wells were 

 dug. So all water is carried by water-carriers from 

 one of the rivers on either side. Photo by J. Z. 

 Moore. 



commodious and well built and equipped 

 with physical and chemical laboratories 

 of most modern description. Large dor- 

 mitories were erected for the Korean 

 students, but the consul reports that 

 these dormitories had to be heated in the 

 Korean manner, beneath the floors, be- 

 fore any students would attend. Ex- 

 periments such as are carried on at our 

 best American agricultural stations will 

 be conducted. 



In the nine months during 

 which the station has been in 

 operation it has experimented 

 with sugar-beet, rice, cotton, 

 barley, silk worms, mulberry 

 trees, farm animals, rye, and 

 wheat, besides serving as a me- 

 teorological station. It is thought 

 that the experiments with cotton 

 and silk-worms will open up a 

 great future for the Korean 

 farmers. It will take, however, 

 many years before Korean silk 

 becomes perfect, as the Korean 

 mulberry leaf, the trees being 

 large and uncultivated, gives a 

 yellow color and crude appear- 

 ance to the silk. However, as 

 the mulberry tree was first in- 

 troduced into Japan from Korea, 

 and as many Japanese state that 

 they can recall when Japanese 

 silk was as crude as is the Ko- 

 rean product, they are hopeful 

 for the industry. The experi- 

 menters find that tobacco grows 

 better in Korea than in Japan, 

 but the leaf does not come up to 

 the high American standard. 



The Japanese authorities have 

 also passed new Korean forest 

 laws similar to those of Japan. 

 In many parts of the country 

 there are splendid forests, but in 



