The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-06-21
THE FILIPINO
WATERMELON
NOT SO WARM.
Interesting Write-Up of the Prod
ucts Of the philippines by
!. Captain Stamford.
NO APPLES OR PEACHES THERE
The Sugar Industry Most Promising.
Finest Cigars cheap-Tnsur-
rection Over.


Philippines have told of the cereals and
the products of that country in their
letters to home, and the Intelllgencer
this morning presents most Instruct
i've and interesting communication from
Captain w. r.. Stamford, OF the Forty
first United States volunteer infantry,
commanding Company B, written to
his father, Mr.. Peter standlforJ, of Elm
Grove. Captain Stamford commanded
Company G, of the Second West Vir-
ginia, and previous TO the Spanish
American war he was an instructor at
the Fairmout Normal School. He is
well known throughout the state, es-
peclally by followers Of foot ball as he
was for several seasons the star center
on the West Virginia University
eleven.
The Ohio river melon is superior to
the Philippine product, according to
Captain Stamford, but he pays quite
tribute to the cigars saying he can
purchase for five cents cigar that
would command ten times that figure in
the United States. HIS letter follows:
GUAGUA. p. l., May A. i9OO.-rhe
weather here now is very warn. It is
the month of May and this month Is
always, so the natives tell me-, the hot
test one Of the twelve months here on
these Islands. Next month Ounce we
will have cooler weather. as the rainy
season commences in that month. We
have already had several severe cleo
trical storms. and hard rains with
them, which were very refreshing, and
the temperature for an hour or two
afterwards was very much cooler
The watermelon season is now in Its
highest state of production. Water
melons are now coming into this place
and being shipped by water from here
to Manila by the hundreds of thousands.
The size of the watermelon in the
islands is smaller on an average than
we grow in America OF course there
are some Of extra quality. which are
larger but the average size is smaller
than in the United States Again, the
Filipino melon does not have the sweet
luscious taste that is characteristic Of
the melons that grow along the Ohio
river. They have sort of a Nat, tough
quality that renders their palatability
Objectionable to certain extent. stu
one can become accustomed to them
and enjoy them.
No Apples or Peaches.
In your last letter you spoke of APP
pies peaches, potatoes, cabbage. corn
and wheat. Apples and peaches are
unheard Of over here, so far as 1 know,
except as they are shipped over by
the subsistence department of the army
and the large commercial companies in
Manila. On soma of the other islands
of the Philippine group they may grow,
but don't think they are found on the
island of Luzon. Potatoes grow here
the same as in America. They are not
cultivated to a great degree. and there
fore are not SO large nor of good quail
ity. But they could be cultivated here,
l think, with as great a degree of sue
cess as in the United States. Cabbage
grows here and is cultivated by the Fill
Ipitos to very large extent.
Corn is raised here successfully.
Roasting ears are selling here in the
market now. have seen no wheat as
yet. Rice is a great product here, 1t
is grown very extensively. The great
rice fields are very beautiful at present.
The rice is about as tall now in the
rice paddles as wheat is tall in the
United States In the middle Of May,
Sugar is another great product. In fact
1t is the greatest production of the
island of Lu2on The sugar fields are
immense In size. The sugar industry is
no. now what 1t was before the war.
However, the industry is gradually re-
Stunning its old state of activity and en-
terprlse, and with the Introduction of
American capital and enterprise and
improved machinery and methods for
refining the sugar Industry on these
islands is bound to be an important fac
tor in the commercial world.
Opportunity for Investment.
The opportunity for lucrative invest
ment and the deriving thcrefrom of I'M
usual profits in the sugar industry in
these islands for the next twenty years,
will be something that will be the at
traction and talk OF the commercial
world. Another Industry that is worthy
of attention is the lumber trade. There
are several good hard woods to be
found in abundance here In the noun
tains. Among the hardwoods are eb-
ony, rosewood and mahogany. AS these
woods are very scarce in the United
states the Importation of the lumber
viii some day be great trade In COM
merce.
The woods mentioned here in these
islands IS Of extra quality and would
command the highest price in the
United states. What is necessary is
some enterprlslng men with plenty of
capital and business ability to furnish
the machinery for cutting the wood,
and transportation in the way Of shIps
to the United States, At present the
cost price OF the wood on the ground
on which It grows Is at a minimum,
Tobacco Is another product of these
islands that ls worthy OF attention. To-