The San Francisco call., 1906-12-16

In December. 1899. he landed In Davao-
And he boasts proudly that he has
never heard a hostile shot fred In the
district. That he might wrest a for
tune from. the wilderness. Captain
Birchheld was mustered out OF the SER
vice by special permission His prop
'erty located about nine miles south OF
Davao, was the first plantation In Min
danao to Introduce American farm ma
chinery. Since coming to Miudanao the
captain has been active, wherefore his
material wealth has increased ten-fo1d.
He owns a ma agnihcent estate: he has .
splendid home in Davao town: and. dur
ing the whole time there he has. hs
saws. enjoyed as much health and com
fort as was his lot during any former
period of his life. At the present tims
Captain Birchde1d is shipping eighty
piculs packages Weighing 1874
pounds) OF hemp month, worth about
s12 gold per picul from his plantation
After harvesting last years crop OF
hemp. the total output OF his planta-
ton from the time he started. said q
friend not only paid all the expens 70
date. but placed the captain on velvst
TO the extent OF s25,0o0 gold. Mrs.
Birchfeld went to Davao In April. 1901.
making il her permanent hon1e. Now
there are number of American ladies'
and material comforts that they no
longer feel tnat they are pioneers. In
the Philippines one may have the reti-
nue. of a potentate at little expense
The servant girl question Is eliminated.
Captain Birchfeld has interpianted
in the hemp fields 1000 coccanut trees
The trees are thirty-six feet apart
The cocoanut trees when in full bear
ing yield from so cents to 81 each a
year.
Although not exactly bed OF roses.
the life of the pioneer in Mindanao -
not to be despised, and years OF toll
hear rich fruit Take the case OF
one of the earliest pioneers. Senior Juan
Auad, an Assyrian, who came long be-
fore the American occupation Senior
Auad settled near little town called
Lapanday in 1902. To-day he has
100000 hills of hemp fber, which
makes him the largest Individual
holder in the Davao district Senor
Auad. now Of middle age. Is inclined
according to the custom Of his country.
TO make light of his efforts in the
frontier His fine plantation his style
of living and his exceeding hospitality
(nothing is too good for his guests)
all bear evidence of his prosperity
The Wonderful Cotabato Valley
A marvellous region in Mindanao is
so-called from a town near the mouth
of the huge Rio Grande de Mindanao,
the largest river in Mindanao. drain
ing a water shed of nearly 100000
acres. and the second stream In size
in the archipelago. This fertile and
almost unsettled valley has been built
up by the rich alluvial deposits OF the
Rio Grande for thousands of years
The valley is famous in the Orient
where men are rubber mad-for it's
enormous shipments of rubber and the
still more valuable product. gutta
percha. The Rio Grande is navigable
for several hundred miles for steam
ers of light draught. Americans are
enthusiastic about the region Gem
eral Leonard Wood said:
I'm some respects the Cotabato Vail
ley is very much like the famous wall
ley of the Saigon in China This region
affords the best opportunities for the
cultivation of rice and sugar. The
mountains abound in gutta percha
trees and wild rubber. and good coffee.
cocoa and hemp are plentiful. Cocoa
nut trees do well throughout the dis
trict.''
F. ]. Dunleavy, formerly secretary Of
lived in the Cotabato Valley for five
years and has explored every corner
of it, became highly enthusiastic
'Just think of it," said Mr.. Dun
leavy. II have seen sugar cane grow
ing twenty-nine feet in height by
actual measurement; rice that returns
100 sacks for every one planted the
first crop and ten for one on the sec
ond crop: cocoanuts that yield from
1000 to 5000 nuts to the tree every
year; hemp as fine as any in the
islands. as the Manila price for this
article will show Peanuts reach four
crops a year of one kind and three
crops of another. yielding fifty to sixty
sacks for every one planted Cacao
(chocolate) that will produce a crop at
five years old. yielding two quarts to
the tree and increasing thereafter. An
ideal crop of cotton; three crops of
corn year on the same ground, and
a tremendously heavy yield for each
crop at that: para rubber, cerea or
other valuable kinds will yield rich
returns to the cultivator. In the forest
the rubber vine and gutta percha tree
occur wild in great abundance. Ba-
nanas. fruits beans. squash and pep
pers grow with little or no attention.
In fact. the point is not how to make
things grow. but how to prevent other
vegetation growing up for the first two
years and killing what you plant by
suffocating it: after that. shade keeps
the weeds down. Planting is a con-
tinual struggle to prevent the useless
thing from overgrowing your market
cultivated for two years the rest is
dead easy
Some people here. after taking a
glance at the valley and it's products.
have compared it to the Nile region;
bat there is no comparison either in
size or fertility. The Nile never grew
sugar cane twenty-nine feet high: nor.
even in the days of the Pharoahs
would it yield so many crops year.
Irrigation in Cotabato Valley is only
necessary for the second and third
crops. as the rainfall is gentle, evenly
distributed and averages fifty inches
a year.
The climate is excellent. the aver
age of the thermometer for the past
two years has been 7s degrees T.
Every person is in good health"
Another part of Mindanao to which