Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-06-09
VEGETABLES IN PHILIPPINES
Experiments With American Garden
Seeds Not Promising.


New York Sun.-The efforts of the
Philippine bureau of agriculture to in
tToduce American farm products into
the Philippines have not proved very
satisfactory. The American officials
supposed that the rich earth and sun
ny climate of the Philippines would
produce all kinds of vegetables and
fruits, but in their calculations they
forgot the insects that swarm over the
islands, devouring vegetation below
as well as above the surface The To-
Gusts that devastated vast tracts of
land last year were temporary pest,
but the ant and mealy bug are con-
slant sources of annoyance and disas-
ter.
To encourage the raising of Ameri-
can vegetables the Philippine officials
followed the custom of the depart
ment of agriculture Of the United
States and distributed nearly % 900
packages of seeds, which went into al
most every province. In all there
were 1877 varieties of American-grown
field and garden seeds.
Each package contained Instructions
printed in English and Spanish; but
the reports received showed that, the
Filipino would require more careful
teaching before he could learn to
raise watermelons, cantaloupes, GU
cumbers and tomatoes. In fact, this
feature of the work proved so unsatis-
factory that w. S. Lyon, in charge of
the division of plant industry. has
recommended that there be no more
distribution of seed except to genuine
farmers.
He complains that school-teachers.
provincial officers, commandants of
military or constabulary posts and
merchants or traders having small
lots in the towns have constituted
considerable portion of the people sup
piled with seeds, and he is of the opin-
ion that they took less interest in the
subject of agriculture than in the i'm
mediate necessity of supplying their
table with fresh vegetables.
Some satisfactory results are re-
corded. In one of the provinces prom
Using results were secured with i'm
ported American field corn. but re-
ports received from other parts of the
archipelago have been disappointing.
showing tendency in the plant to
dwarf and ear out close to the ground.
In Batangas province the stalks
reached a good size and yielded two
or three large. well-formed and well.
filled ears to each stalk. The produc-
ton in shelled grain was one-third
more than was secured from a SINH
lar adjoining area planted in native
seed
Mr. Lyon, in report to the Philip
rine commission. says that the use of
corn is extending into provinces
where formerly it was not cultivated
and that. where it is largely grown it
generally commands a price which
prohibits its use for stock feeding or
fattening purposes. He thinks that Ill
timately the use of acclimatized Amer
lean seed will increase the yield one
fourth or more over that which can he
secured from native seed.
The failures with American garden
seeds were not confined to the native
and soldier farmers. One of the ideas
of the bureau of agriculture was the
establishment of agricultural expert
mental stations in different parts of
the archiaeiago, which are conducted
by experienced agriculturists.
The reports of these men are inter
esting as showing the difficulties in
the way of the Filipino gardener. II
Is matter of comment that nearly all
of the fresh vegetables used in Manila
are imported from China. where the
system of improving the soil is such
as to make the use Of the vegetables
undesirable from sanitary stand
roint. During the period of the plague
in Manila the authorities prohibited
the importation of these vegetables.
md Cor a time the people suffered
from lack of green food.
The obstacle in the way of the FIJI