The Democratic advocate., 1902-01-25
IN THE PHILIPPINES.
Something About the Soil, Timber
Horses, Cattle, Crops and Farm
ing in Southern Luzon, and
About the People.

Mr.. Wm H. Baer, Jr., of Westminster, late
corporal of Troop g. 9Th United States Caval
ry, was discharged at San Francisco, Califor-
MIA, on December 2lst, and returned home
about two weeks ago. He has certificate OF
service we'll rendered, of sound health and
eligibility to reenlistment He enlisted in
December, 1898, and was stationed at various
points in this country until March, 1901, when
Troop & and several other companies of the
regiment were ordered to the Philippines.
They sailed from San Francisco the same
month, going by the Southern route, touching
at Honolulu. and landed on the island of Lu-
zon April 20, some miles south OF Manila
The companies were landed at different places
by lighters.
Mr.. Baer was asked number of questions
about the Philippines, by representative of
The ADVOCATE, and talked Interestingly of
the section where he spent the eight months
in Luzon.
"Iu the section where our troop was cam
paigming," he said, "the land is rolling, hilly
and mountainous, with large proportion OF low
lands. 1t could be made to yield largely, with
proper cultivation, and several crops raised a
year. Only a small portion is cleared and
cultivated, and rice is the chief crop, though
sweet potatoes, corn, tomatoes and other veg
etables are grown. The corn is small, owing
to lack of of proper cultivation, but is excel
lent in flavor. The sweet potatoes are small,
tough and stringy. The soil is dark, and very
productive, and nutritious grass grows sponta-
neously, attaining a height of six or seven
feet. 1t is fine for horses and cattle. Farm
ing, for the most part is very crude. The
Filipinos have small plows, and the ground
is not plowed more than two or three
inches deep. The plow is drawn by a carl
bou, an animal much resembling the Sacred
COW. They are slow but very intelligent and
docile animals. Besides the plow the hoe is
the other farm implement most used, the two
constituting about the complete stock on the
farms.
"rhe caribou is a fine beef animal, yielding
tender, juicy meat have seen some splendid
specimens. The horses are quite diminutive,
compared with American horses, and average
less than four feet in height. They can move
along lively, draw "A two wheel covered We
hicle, loaded with several people, or carry a
man upon his back long distances.
"There is much timber in Southern Luzon
all hard woods. black mahogany and ebony
predominating Some of the trees are i'm
mense, and out of a single log the natives con-
struct a canoe large enough to carry fifteen to
twenty men.
"a fine gray stone is found, which is used
for foundations for the houses of the ntelli-
gent and well.to.do class 1t is soft when
first taken out Of the ground, and readily
shaped, but becomes hard upon exposure to
the atmosphere.
''What kind of fish have they? Well, there
is quite variety, but the Spanish mackerel
is the chief food fish. They grow quite large,
and have seen them three feet long. They
are fine food fish. Lobsiers and crabs are
abundant. the latter being larger than the
crabs of Maryland waters.
'Yes, they have poultry, chickens, ducks
and geese. They are like our own. or at least
| did not notice any difference. The game
chicken is the favorite, for the average native
likes chicken fight, and it is common sight
to see Filipino with a chicken under his
arm looking for an antagonist.
"How do the natives live? There are sew
eral classes. The ordinary native lives in a
cone shaped house. without a chimney, built
of bamboo, and with thatched roof. They
have no carpets and but little furniture. In
fact the better class do not have carpets, but
they have comfortable houses, with ebony