86 



POLL' LAI! SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE PROGRESS OF SCIEXCE. 



AGRICULTURAL WORK IN TEE 

 PEILIPPINES. 



The introduction of American 

 methods for the promotion of agricul- 

 ture in the island possessions has fol- 

 lowed closely upon American occu- 

 pation. In Hawaii and Porto Rico 

 experiment stations have been estab- 

 lished under government support, and 

 in the Philippine Islands a bureau of 

 agriculture was put in operation about 

 two years ago. The activity of this 

 bureau in organizing its work of propa- 

 ganda and investigation, as indicated 

 by Professor F. Lamson-Scribner's sec- 

 ond annual report, has been mainly 

 along the lines of establishing experi- 

 ment stations and farms, studying the 

 conditions surrounding the principal 

 agricultural industries, the introduc- 

 tion of farm machinery and improved 

 methods of culture, and the testing and 

 distribution of introduced plants and 

 seed. 



Seven experiment stations and farms 

 have been established for special 

 branches of agriculture or in typical 

 sections of the country. These in- 

 clude a rice farm, a live stock farm, a 

 sugar station, a farm for cocoanut and 

 abaca (Manila hemp) culture, a test- 

 ing station near Manila, and two other 

 stations for general work in typical 

 localities. For the coffee industry, 

 formerly an extensive one in Batangas 

 Province but now practically aban- 

 doned, owing to the ravages of leaf 

 blight and borers, a coffee plantation 

 has been started with imported hybrids, 

 and it is hoped to secure resistance to 

 disease and insect injuries by vigorous- 

 growing varieties and thorough culti- 

 vation. 



Special effort is being made to pro- 

 mote the rice industry, for although 

 rice is the staple article of food for 



the Filipinos, not enough is produced 

 for home consumption. The most ap- 

 proved American methods are being 

 followed on the rice farm, and the 

 crop of last year, which occupied about 

 1,000 acres, was seeded, cut and thrash- 

 ed out with the latest machinery. 

 This demonstration was a revelation 

 to the natives whose methods of stow- 

 ing and handling the product are very 

 primitive, and they were willing to 

 pay a good toll for having their rice 

 thrashed out by machinery, in prefer- 

 ence to hand thrashing. In fact, the 

 natives have taken readily to the 

 modern agricultural implements and 

 machinery introduced by the bureau, 

 and soon get to use them skilfully. 



On the hemp and cocoanut farm the 

 problems of managing the plantations 

 and of preparing copra, a staple arti- 

 cle of export, are being taken up. A 

 more careful selection of the species of 

 abaca and better methods of culture 

 would greatly increase the yield of 

 merchantable fiber, and the perfection 

 of a machine for stripping and cleaning 

 the hemp fiber would aid greatly in de- 

 veloping this important industry. A 

 very interesting study of the present 

 methods of preparing the hemp, and its 

 effect upon quality, is incorporated in 

 the report. 



The live stock found in the islands 

 is for the most part of an inferior 

 quality, and the industry is at present 

 at a low ebb, disease (surra and rinder- 

 pest) having carried off so many of the 

 work animals as to cripple very seri- 

 ously the native farming. Improved 

 stock of different kinds has been im- 

 ported for the stock farm, and the at- 

 tempt will be made to ascertain the 

 breeds and crosses best adapted to ex- 

 isting conditions, and to solve the 

 forage problem. The latter is an acute 



