Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-06

planting sugar. Two men were plowlng
with carabaus, and behind them came a
crowd of women and girls dropping the
cane. The soil was a little sandy, but II
was as black as your boots and very rich.
The cane was cut into pieces about six
inches long and laid in the burrows, so
that it made pipes of cane from one end
of the field to the other, The women are
paid for their work according to the amount
they drop, the girls receiving about 10 cents
a day.
There are many plantations In the valley
from Manila to Dagupan. The crop grows
we'll in other parts of Luzon and in all the
northern islands, and there is no doubt but
that plantations would thrive in Mindanao
and Sulu archipelago.
Valuable Rice Lands.
Rice is the wheat of the Philippines. 1t
Is the food Of the people, and | saw rice
plantations everywhere. Nevertheless the
islands are often short of rice, and import
il TO the amount Of hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
In lava the mountains are terraced and
rice grows far up their slopes, the water
heing led from one field to another by irri-
cation works. In the Philippines the most
of the rice lands are in the valleys, ana
they are worked after rude methods. the
farming is largely done on the shares and
I for this reason you see hundreds in the
fields at planting time all working TO-
gether. Men, women and children come
out from the villages to tend the little rice
? fields they have engaged to work. No one
D lives on his fields, and the farmers, as &
% rule. have their homes in the villages. a
= reaping time you will see the same gang
o at work, and at the close of the day tn,
|, roads are filled with women and men,, eacl
e carrying home his share of the harvest. tn
man usually has the larger load and II h
e is thrifty he may have a half dozen sheaye
r or bundles Of unthreshed rice, each abou
b a foot in diameter.
n The harvest scenes are interesting. Th
h rice grows Just like wheat, but 1t is not Gu
e with a reaper and mower, or even with
lie cradle or a sickle. 1t is clipped off, stalk b
I'd STALK, with a little knife, which is held
re the palm o. the hand. The harvester take
D. a stalk of rice between his fingers an
D. presses it against the knife, thus cuttin
ed 1t of. He then cuts another stalk the san
er way, and thus goes on until his she
ty is Of the right size. The rice grows
in about the height of our wheat, but 1t
err cut off half way up in order that Il
ce sheaves may be shorter, and so that IT m,
Oh be the more easily stored and threshe
he The threshing is done by pulling the hea
ed of the rice through saw-toothed knives a
in by treading It out with the feet. l 81
re. some threshing grounds where men We
ere jumping up and down upon the straw
MD thresh out the grain and others where II
we're driving water buffaloes about over
is In Panay there are threshing plattor
ar. high above the ground, upon whch the n
all and women tread out the rice, and VIII
la the strong winds enable them the m
he easily to get rid of the chan.
God There are few grains which require
nen much labor as rice. Every stalk has to
lot grown in a seed bed and then set out 5
arately in the muddy fields. The fields
,am flooded again and again. The stalks