PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 17 



looking wastes as the " Lunette," are evidences that there never has 



been in Manila anything worthy the name of a park. 



Maps of the city show that a series of parks and avenues could be 

 easily arranged with the walled city aa a starting point, which would 

 greatly improve and beautify the place, and the old moat and canal, 

 if properly handled, could be transformed into one of the most pic- 

 turesque spots in the Orient. 



I do not believe the botanical work done in the islands was ever 

 great, and when compared with what Holland has done for her colonies 

 it is as nothing. 



It would be unfair in this connection to omit to mention the very 

 creditable work of Soler y Vidal on the forest flora of the islands, or 

 to fail to allude to the other Spanish botanists who have contributed 

 to a knowledge of the Philippine botany, but considering the length of 

 the occupation and the richness of the plant world one is forced to the 

 conclusion that valuable botanical opportunities have been wasted. 



The agricultural problems to lie solved and the botanical explora- 

 tions to be made are very attractive, and offer an interesting life to 

 any young man who is willing to work for the interests of a native 

 race like the Filipinos and identify himself with the development of a 

 rich tropical archipelago. 



Some of the questions which, according to certain prominent busi- 

 ness residents, are most evidently worthy of consideration, pertain to 

 the work of plant introduction and plant pathology; others relate to 

 the complicated matters of native labor, imperfect means of transpor- 

 tation, and want of modern machinery, but the most important in 

 the minds of all the business men. planters as well as exporters, is the 

 quick pacification of the country districts and the regulation of the 

 custom-house and other municipal departments. 



The cultivation of tea is a possibility, but the profits will depend 

 largely on the price of labor, which has been gradually rising since the 

 American occupation of the islands. 



Coffee of a reputed excellent quality was once grown in the islands, 

 but the trees were destroyed by an insect pest, of which. Dr. Garcia 

 informs me, the life history has been, in part at least, studied out. 

 Whether the Ceylon coffee-leaf disease is already in the islands or not 

 was not ascertained. 



Good errades of cotton have been produced and the culture of Sea 

 Island and Egyptian varieties has been suggested as likely to yield 

 profitable returns and form an article of export. It is probable that 

 some of the many islands possess a climate especially suited for cotton 

 culture. The small island of Lombok. in the Dutch East Indies, it is 

 said, grows a good quality of cotton for export, and its culture is 

 entirely in the hands of the natives. 

 7376— No. 27— "2 2 



