23 



It will be noted, on comparing these figures with those for the 

 entire island, that although each planter in this district possesses a trifle 

 more land than the average grower throughout the island, he produces 

 from it much less sugar — 119.2 metric tons, as compared with 151.8, 

 the general average. This is due not so much to a smaller yield of 

 sugar per hectare as to the fact that of the total land owned by sugar 

 planters, a much smaller proportion is each year planted in cane. As 

 in most other places, lack of capital is responsible for much of the idle 

 land, but the trouble here seems to lie largely in the land itself, much 

 of which has become so exhausted through sixty-odd years of continuous 

 cultivation with scarcely any attempt at replenishing its fertility that 

 at the present day it may be relied upon to yield only one crop every 

 two or three years; during the remainder of the time it is allowed 

 to lie fallow. 



Below are given analyses of typical soils throughout the district. 



The field samples of these and all subsequent analyses were carefully taken 

 with a soil auger, under my personal supervision, and each number represents a 

 composite of from two to five individual samples taken from different parts of a 

 field. The surface soils were taken to a depth of 20 centimeters, except in the 

 relatively few instances where a decided change in composition was apparent at 

 a less depth. The "subsoils," generally a mixture of subsurface and true subsoil, 

 were taken tlirough a stratum of 2.5 centimeters, commencing at the point where 

 the first noticeable dift'erence from the surface soil was encountered. In cultivated 

 fields this difference occurs as a rule at a depth of from 20 to 30 centimeters, and 

 is fairly easy to detect, long-continued plowing through many years having so 

 thoroughly mixed and altered the top layer that a decided change in composition 

 or texture is noted once the plow line is passed. In spite of many rumors and 

 traditions of "ten-foot" soils in Negros, only a very few instances have occurred 

 where a true subsoil could not be encountered within at least 60 centimeters of 

 the surface. In sampling freshly plowed fields, or fields containing growing 

 cane, a portion of soil from the top of a furrow or row was first scraped away, 

 so that the sample started at about the average level of the field. 



The chemical analyses of these soils were made substantially according to the 

 methods of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, and results are 

 expressed as percentages of the soil dried to constant weight. All determina- 

 tions except potash, soda, and "volatile matter" were made by L. A. Salinger 

 and R. R. Williams, of the Bureau of Science. 



Mechanical analyses of a large numbers of these soils were made by Mr. Wallace 

 E. Pratt, of the Division of Mines, using the centrifugal method as outlined in 

 Bulletin ISTo. 24, United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Soils. 

 For this work the air-dried samples as prepared for chemical analysis were em- 

 ployed. 



