48 



At first glance, this appears but very little better than the average 

 soil in the neighboring district of Pontevedra-La Carlota, and one is 

 somewhat at a loss to explain why so much more ratoon cane is gi'own 

 here, but, leaving out of account the fresher, less-cultivated hill soils 

 of .the latter, where, indeed, much ratooning is done, the Binalbagan- 

 Isabela district will be found uniformly decidedly richer in composition. 

 Many of the fields along the Binalbagan Eiver are overflowed during 

 each rainy season, and thus have their fertility renewed by deposits of 

 silt and clay brought down from the mountains. The relatively larger 

 amount of lime in these soils very probably is an additional factor tend- 

 ing toward .increased fertility. It is a curious fact, to be noted gen- 

 erally throughout the Island of Negi'os, that the better a soil the 

 more lime, as a rule, it will be found to contain, and even in those 

 sections which are, on the whole, excessively well supplied with this 

 element, fields which have the reputation of producing exceptionally 

 good crops of cane are often found to run higher in lime than their 

 j)Oorer neighbors. It is very difficult to draw conclusions of any kind 

 as to the respective value of soils merely from growers' estimates of 

 their yield, many of these being purely impromptu guesswork, since 

 cane is never weighed in the Philippines and most fields are measured 

 by the number of "tops" planted in them; nevertheless, the relative 

 merits of different fields in his own hacienda should be fairly well known 

 by each planter, and any consistent analytic differences between so- 

 called "good" and "^^poor" soils are at least worthy of note. Of all the 

 soils examined in this district, none may really be termed "poor" in 

 the same sense as some of the "exhausted" soils of Silay and Bago. 

 All of them are perfectly capable of producing good crops of cane 

 when properly cultivated, although some show a greater capacity for 

 ratooning than ohers. Theoretically, and this is borne out in Negros 

 at least by practical experience, a soil to produce good ratoon crops 

 must either contain a relatively larger amount of plant food than one 

 which is fit for plant cane only, or, by some means — be it physical, 

 mechanical, or biological — must be enabled more readily to supply the 

 young sprout with its necessary nourishment ; since, when cane is planted 

 Jiew every year, the soil is first thoroughly mixed and broken up by 

 plowing and harrowing, while the 'ratoon must depend for its groTvi;h 

 largely upon that portion of the soil directly around it and untouched 

 by cultural operations. All other conditions being equal, it would 

 seem quite possible that a field yielding heavy crops if planted afresh 

 each year, might be quite unprofitable for ratoons through lack of 

 sufficient excess of any one constituent, while another piece of land 

 in the same locality might produce rather less sugar from the first 

 planting, and yet continue ratooning for many years with only slightly 

 diminished yields. 



