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triets, each produeing 5,{)0() tons or more annually, four of these, Silay 

 (comprising the municipalities of Victorias, Saravia, Silay, and Tali- 

 say), Bago, Pontevedra-La Carlota, Binalbagan-Isabela and llog-Caban- 

 calan, being on the west, and two, San Carlos and Bais, on the east 

 coast. Each of these districts is described separately, representative 

 analyses of soils and sugar cane grown thereon being also given. Silay 

 was found to lead in point of total annual production, although the 

 quality of its soil and the yield per hectare are decidedly inferior to 

 most other parts of the island. The largest production per hectare 

 was found in Uog-Cabancalan, which averaged 4.45 metric tons, Pon- 

 tevedra-La Carlota being second with 4.39 metric tons. 



The average composition of the soils from all the districts exam- 

 ined is: 



Surface soil: Fine earth, !)?.3!) per cent; potash, 0.20 per cent; 

 soda, 0.18 per cent; lime, 1.66 per cent; nuignesia, 0.98 per cent; phos- 

 phoric acid, 0.15 per cent ; nitrogen, 0.14 per cent ; "volatile matter," 

 9.31 per cent. 



Subsoil: Fine earth, 96.10 per cent; potash, O.IT per cent; soda, 

 0.17 per cent; lime, 1.79 per cent; magnesia, 0.99 per cent; phosphoric 

 acid, 0.13 per cent; nitrogen, 0.10 per cent; volatile matter, 9.19 per cent. 



The Xegros soil as a whole may be considered as being decidedly liigh 

 in lime, but only moderately so in the other constituents of plant food. 

 Compared with sugar soils from other, countries, those of Negros, while 

 not exceptionally rich, are fully up to the average, and under proper 

 cultivation should produce as much sugar as those of almost any other 

 country having the same climatic conditions. 



Very little attention is paid in Xegros to fertilization of any kind. 

 In the case of commercial fertilizers this is perhaps justified l)y their 

 high price and lack of instruction as to their proper application, but 

 much improvement in crop yields could be brought about at compara- 

 tively little expense by a more common utilization of the nuiterials 

 available on every estate, such as bagasse ash, sugar-house refuse, animal 

 manure, and green numuring by planting occasional leguminous crops. 



The average composition of clean, ripe cane of the purple or native 

 variety commonly grown in Xegros was found in four of the most 

 important districts to be as follows : In the whole cane — average weight 

 0.93 kilo, sucrose 16.06 per cent, fiber 10.03 per cent; in the juice — Brix 

 20.35, sucrose 18.40, purity 90.38, reducing sugar 0.71. In comparison 

 with canes from other countries, that of Xegros is distinguished by 

 its extreme sweetness and purity and relatively small amount of fiber, 

 factors tending toward an easy and thorough extraction by milling. The 

 percentage of fiber in this cane is in actual practice about 3 per cent 

 higher because of trash ground with the cane. 



Although a marked improvement on the native cane in respect to 



