

THE PRINCIPAL SUGAR-PRODUCING DISTRICTS OF NEGROS. 



In this district may be considered to lie the entire stretch of land 

 extending from the town of Victorias southward to the southern limits 

 of the municipality of Talisay, a district having a length in a direct 

 line of ^5 kilometers and varying in width from 5 to 15 kilometers 

 from the seacoast to the hills. Of the four municipalities included 

 therein, Saravia, Silay, and Talisay are most closely connected, being 

 situated in a direct line along the main provincial road, which affords 

 a ready means of intercommunication during the entire year. From 

 Saravia eastward to Victorias the roads are not so good, several small 

 streams are as yet unbridged, and traveling is in the main restricted 

 to the dry season. However, road-building work is progressing steadily, 

 and it is expected that within a short time the provincial highway 

 will have been extended to Victorias. As it is, land-transportation 

 facilities are better in the district aroimd Silay than in any of the 

 other sugar centers of Negros, first, because of the lack of large rivers 

 affording means of communication by water, and, second, owing to the fact 

 that this portion of the island has been settled for the longest time. 

 Here, in the early sixties, were established the first large haciendas 

 founded on capital supplied by Iloilo merchants, and in this section 

 the local sugar industry for a long time made its most rapid advances. 

 Even at -the present day this district leads all others in point of total 

 production and in number of plantations, although not in yield of 

 sugar per hectare. The following data regarding sugar land and pro- 

 duction in this section in 1908, calculated from the statement of the 

 Bureau of Internal Eevenue previously quoted, are, for more ready 

 reference, rearranged here. 



Area and production of the Silay district. 



Number of growers in the district, 143. 



Area of growers' land actually cultivated in sugar 



Area of growers' land adapted to sugar culture but not planted 

 Area of other land adapted to sugar culture but not planted 



Total available sugar land 



Average area of land per planter: 



Planted 



Not planted 



Total 



Total sugar produced 



Average amount of sugar produced per planter 



Average yield of sugar per hectare 



Amount. 



Hectares. 

 6,676 

 12, 936 



2,864 



22, 476 



46.7 

 90. .5 



137.2 



Piculs. 

 269, 456 

 1,884 

 40.4 



Per cent. 

 29.7 

 57.5 

 12.6 



Metric tons. 

 17, 043 

 119.2 

 2.5 



