26 



The average composition of the soil in this district, from the above 

 table, is as follows: 



Chemical composition. 



Physical composition.a. 



" Since a less number of samples were taken for the mechanical analyses, their average 

 is not strictly comparable with that of the chemical analyses. 



This soil is, on the whole^, decidedly poor in all the elements of soil 

 fertilit}^, with the exception of lime, which is present in a fairly large 

 amount, although not large as compared with other parts of the island. 

 In this case chemical analysis is well borne out by practical experience, 

 as Silay is generally considered to be the poorest of the large sugar 

 districts. The majority of the plantations here are in what might be 

 called a "semi-exhausted" condition; that is, the land through cultiva- 

 tion has reached that stage where it will no longer yield ratoon 

 cane, nor in many cases consistently produce good crops of plant cane 

 without rotation and fertilization. Of course, there is still sufficient 

 fertility left in these soils so that they might go on bearing cane 

 for the next fifty years without becoming completely worn out, even 

 under the present system of cultivation, but the probabilities are 

 that the yield would diminish steadily until finally they would not 

 be worth cultivating. By this is not meant that these soils are neces- 

 sarily doomed eventually to become barren. Enormous crops of sugar 

 are, in other countries, raised on lands but little better than these. 

 With more careful cultivation, the consistent return to the fields in • 

 the shape of bagasse ash and animal manure of the potash, phosphoric 

 acid, and nitrogen taken from them, together with eventual green .ma- 

 nuring and rotation, there is no reason why these lands should not 

 go on producing good crops of cane almost indefinitely and with 

 little need of recourse to artificial fertilizers. The point is that they, 

 unlike some other parts of Negros, have reached that stage where they 

 no longer stand abuse. 



