Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-09


LIN !: ::::: (: !: ::::: :: S; s G.
a greater variety of useful
products. Japan, with Formosa, has an
| area of 1866 square miles, less than 20
per cent of which is tlllable. The popu-
| lation of Japan is 5O,000,0O0 The area
of the Philippine islands is 1858
square miles, and the population Is
about S.000,000 Nearly the whole of
its area is arabic, and the greater por-
tion of 1t is a garden spot.
The Philippines, with agriculture
| properly developed could support Il
! population larger than that of Japan,
and the position of Manila with regard
! to Asian markets gives the islands
magnificent opportunities for exporting
| both agricultural products and the sur
| plus output of factories. The great
| need of the islands is their rapid de-
| velopment as producers of staples for
| home consumption and export trade. At
present Manila annually imports mill
! lions of dollars worth Of rice, while eX-
! cellent rice lands lie falow.
! In the valleys which rival those of the
! Nile In richness one sees agricultural
methods as primitive as those of
! Egypt. The Taos plow is made from
! the crotch of a tree, lightly shod with
| iron. To this Is hitched a carabao, an
animal as dignified as the donkey, and
as deliberate in his movements as the
snail. Upon the edge of a cane field
there is a sugar mill made of two re-
! Volving stones or rollers of molave
wood which crush only so or 60 per
cent of the sap from the cane. The
rest goes to waste.
Within the last decade the farmer
| has been discouraged by war; by pesti-
! lence. by ladronism, by rinderpest that
| killed 80 per cent of his carabao, by
surra that killed his horses, and by
native politicians who tell him that
| what he wants is not bread and meat,
| but independence. He has hardly had
time to get upon his feet, but with a
vigorous pushing of agricultural in
struction and experimentation. by the
insular government, he may come into
! his own within the next decade. Until
farming is put upon a modern basis
great prosperity will not come to the
Philippines.
If one is asked what crops will grow
in the Philippines the answer in detail
| must be made in the form of a cata-
logue of the products of all tropical and
semitropical countries. Hemp, tobacco,
sugar and rice are usually mentioned
| as the great Philippine staples, but
these are only few of the crops that
can be produced upon a remunerativc
scale Coffee, chocolate, cocoanutS,
tropical fruits of all kinds, rubber. sisal,
hemp, tapoca, gutta percha, pepper,
indigo and numerous other tropical
products may be grown with less out
lay in money and labor, in proportion
to returns, than most crops require in
temperate zones.
From inveterate critics of the Fill
pino comes the statement that when
the plague killed the carabao a few
years ago the farmers sat down with
their hands folded and did not at
tempt to plow their fields. Chinese, In
similar circumstances, would have
hitched coolies to their ploWs, but
Filipinos, like occidental peoples, use
only animals as beasts Of burden. They
did what American farmers would have
done in the same dilemma. Quite like
an American farmer one Filipino III
Luzon bought gasoline traction motors
when his carabao died. and ran his
plows with them. AS the season was
far advanced he used acetylene lamps
and double shifts and plowed by night
as we'll as by day Other native far
mers of means and education are adopt
ing American methods, but the vast
majority lack both means and educa-
tion. and their progress is necessarily
slow.
The slump in hemp of all kinds has
been a hard blow to Philippine inter
ests. Coming after the war and upon
the heels OF other disasters 1t has
naturally had a serious effect. Manila
hemp has never had successful riva
and Manila lines" are known to sail
ors in every port in the world. The
fiber is the product of the abaca plant
which closely resembles the banana
! tree. 1t grows wild in the Philippines
and although attempts have beer
made to cultivate it in the West In
dies and other tropical islands, no sue
cess has been met with. This natura
monopoly Is certain to continue to be &
source of wealth, and railroads now
: being projected into the hemp growing
sections will stimulate the industry. Be
cause of it's hardness. as compared tt
other varieties, Manila hemp Is in de
mand as binder twine, as well as fol
cables in oil wells.
Hemp growing, If the planter liye'
on his plantation, entails residence II