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barren and unfit for cultivation of any kind. A typical analysis of 

 this kind of soil is included under those of Bago. 



The sugar soils of Bago are restricted to a narrow strip of land 2 

 or 3 kilometers in width, along the Bago Eiver from its mouth to its 

 junction with the Malacandang River, near the hacienda San Juan del 

 Monte, a distance from the coast of 12 kilometers; thence spreading 

 out into the larger, but more rolling, triangular section between the 

 Bago and the Malacandang Elvers, comprising the barrio of Maao, and 

 on up to the foot of the mountains. The distance in a direct line 

 from the seacoast to the hacienda Progreso, farthest to the interior of 

 the district, is 26 kilometers. The Bago River is navigable by sugar 

 lorchas at high tide for 7 kilometers up to the hacienda Lumangub, 

 although two days are generally required for the trip. A sand bar at 

 the mouth of the river prohibits entrance except just at the heiglit 

 of the tide, and by the time this has been passed the water has again 

 fallen so that it is necessary to wait twenty-four hours before proceeding 

 up the river. Haciendas lying inland from Lumangub are obliged to 

 bring their sugar down in bull carts to this point for shipment to 

 Iloilo; and this at considerable expense, owing to roads which, while 

 passable in dry weather, are, after a little rain, absolutely useless. The 

 cost of transporting sugar by bull cart from Progreso to the lorcha 

 landing at Lumangub is 30 centavos per picul, or 4.75 pesos a metric 

 ton. Adding 20 centavos more as the cost of shipping to Iloilo, this 

 makes a total of 50 centavos per picul, or 7.90 pesos a metric ton, for 

 transportation charges alone, about three-fourths tlie cost of freight 

 from Iloilo to New York. Owing to the excessive cost for transporta- 

 tion, sugar growing has been abandoned as profitless in many of the 

 plantations of the interior of the Bago district, although, in other 

 respects, sugar may be produced at less expense here than in the majority 

 of other parts of the island. The better cultivated lands, therefore, 

 are confined to the narrow strip adjoining the navigable portion of 

 the Bago River. The best lands lie close along the river on the north 

 bank, where the soil is an alluvial, more or less sandy loam, becoming 

 heavier with increasing distance from the river, until, at about 1 

 kilometer, low land made up of heavy clay is encountered. This, because 

 of lack of drainage, is very sticky and difficult to work properly; it 

 is therefore used chiefly for rice culture. A kilometer farther on, the 

 land rises again, and from here to Bacolod lies the rocky, barren region 

 previously mentioned. South of the river conditions are much the 

 same — about a kilometer of good sugar land, shading off gradually 

 into heavy clay and paddies, but rising again, after a few kilometers, 

 to form the municipalities of Valladolid and La Carlota. 



