ANNIVERSARY NUMBER 1919 



65 



The Philippines are suffering and will suffer 

 for several years from lack of properly trained 

 engineers and chemists to operate the new 

 centrals. 



The result is that often "one eye is king 

 in the land of the blind" and salaries high. 



It is necessary to have first class men in 

 charge of first class installations and it will 

 be necessary to import several experts from 

 other countries to manage and operate the 

 new centrals. 



Experience is necessary, combined with 

 scholastic training, to make a successful 

 operator. 



Several Filipinos are already studying 

 engineering and chemistry in foreign coun- 

 tries and in another few years they will have 

 acquired the experience necessary to operate 

 large centrals. 



There can be no doubt that there is a 

 great future in the Philippines for anybody 

 who has made a special study of, and has 

 worked at, the manufacture of sugar from 

 sugar cane. 



LABOR 



In normal conditions labor is sufficient, 

 although not abundant. 



In harvest time there is the usual shortage, 

 as practically all the cultivation and indus- 

 tries are dependent on hand labor. 



There is, of course, a lack of trained factory 

 labor, but this is improving gradually. 



As more laborers pass through the exist- 

 ing centrals, more get a preliminary training 

 and in the course of years there will be no 

 lack of factory laborers, whilst the field labor 

 can be lightened by the use of mechanical 

 implements. 



At present, however, there is no doubt 

 that the sugar industry would greatly benefit 

 by the importation of foreign artisans and 

 laborers, Chinese or Japanese. 



At present the pay of day laborers is around 

 55 centavos per day, for women around 25 

 centavos. 



CANE CULTIVATION 



The varieties of cane grown in the Phil- 

 ippines are about 5 in number and of various 

 colors, including yellow, green, pink, red and 

 very dark red. 



The Bureau of Agriculture has introduced 

 several varieties far superior to the native 

 ones, but the Filipino planters are slow to 

 adopt these as they are more difficult to 

 crush and the lanky canes produce not so 

 good a crystal in the "muscovado" process. 



The building of centrals will, however, 

 change this as it is to the advantage of the 

 planters to have a large tonnage per acre 

 and the crushing and making of sugar crys- 

 tals are no concern of his. 



SOIL PREPARATION 



The soil is plowed 2-3 times as soon as 

 the wet season is over, mostly with very 

 primitive single mill board plow drawn by 

 one carabao. 



After the plowing, a harrow is used to 

 break the ground well up. 



On the large plantations steam plows are 

 used or large tractor plows whilst recently 

 the centrals do a lot of plowing for their 

 hacenderos with small and large tractor 

 plows, to insure that a sufficient area is plant- 

 ed for the requirements of the central. 



PLANTING 



Planting is done by hand using the tops 

 of the canes, cut in lengths of 6-8 inches 

 called points. 



These receive a preliminary soaking in 

 water and are planted in furrows made with 

 the same primitive plow, at distances of 30 

 inches up to 6 feet and using 3 points to the 

 meter. 



The planting is usually started early in 

 December and continues for about 5 months. 



The points are stuck in the ground under 

 an angle of 45 _degrees and usually pushed 

 in the ground with the heel. 



If the soil is too hard, a pointed stick is 

 used to drill a hole. 



No watering is done.'weeds are kept down 

 by ploughing between the rows, or by hoe. 



The cane is entirely dependent on the rain- 

 fall which varies somewhat from year to year. 



Manuring is practically unknown. 



HARVESTING t 



Harvesting is done entirely by hand. 



The cane stalks are stripped of the leaves 

 and cut off, near the ground. 



The tops are cut off for planting or cattle 

 feed and the cane transported to the factories 

 by carabao sleds, carts or railway. In a few 

 instances the cane is hauled in motor trucks. 



RATOONING 



The cane is ratooned or not, according to the 

 location and in few cases more than 3 times. 



To increase the stooling the first shoots 

 from the ratpons are sometimes broken down. 



Some cultivation is done between the cane 

 rows with plow or hoe. 



DISEASES AND PESTS 



The canes in the Philippines are practically 

 free from contagious or infectious diseases. 



Those diseases that have appeared could al- 

 ways be traced to negligence in cultivation. 



There are very few wild animals and dam- 

 age from that source is negligible and there are 

 also no small animal pests of any importance. 



Generally speaking, cane growing is not 

 handicapped in the Philippines. 



QUALITY OF CANE 



The quality of the canes differs largely, 

 according to the locality and the weather 

 conditions. 



Generally speaking, however, one may say 

 that the Philippine canes are as good, if not bet- 

 ter, than any cane raised in a similar latitude. 



The dry season starts from one to two 

 months before the harvesting begins which per- 

 mits the cane to attain a very high purity after 

 12 months. Purities of over 90 are not rare. 



The average purity runs about 80 to 85, 

 the sugar content between 12 and 16 per cent. 



CRUSHING SEASON 



The crushing season varies according to the 

 locality. On Luzon, crushing starts in the 

 latter part of November, on Negros generally 

 not before December. 



The season generally lasts from 4-6 months, 

 except in the north of Negros, where it is 

 possible to crush 8-10 months with satisfac- 

 tory results. 



The Bureau of Agriculture has recently 

 issued its Bulletin No. 39 "Cane Production 

 and Sugar Manufacture in the Philippine 

 Islands", compiled by Mr. C. W. Mines, 

 sugar expert of this Bureau. 



This Bulletin deals with every detail of 

 the industry and gives the fullest information 

 to everybody interested in the growing of 

 sugar or the making of sugar. 



FUTURE 



There can be no doubt that the cane sugar 

 industry will develop in the near future with 

 giant strides, both through the expansion 

 of the existing or building centrals and 

 through the building of new centrals. 



It was already possible, without the 

 help of irrigation or intensive cultivation 

 and with most primitive installations for 

 manufacture, to produce sugar which could 

 compete in price on the world markets, and 

 that in spite of bad means of communica- 

 tions and the indebtedness of the planters. 



Now, with the assistance of practically 

 unlimited capital and guidance for planters 

 to increase yields and combat diseases, there 

 is no reason why the Philippines should not 

 come into the foremost rank of the sugar- 

 producing countries. 



A few years ago the sugar industry of the 

 Philippines was more than 30 years behind 

 in development, compared to the Hawaiian 

 Islands and Java, but now it can be their 

 equal if not their superior. 



Scientific cultivation, seed cane selection, 

 manuring and irrigation can increase the 

 yields at least two-fold. 



The sugar bureau in Iloilo, a branch of the 

 Bureau of Agriculture, has worked for years 

 to instruct planters how to increase their 

 yields, but few have availed themselves of 

 the advice, lack of money often being the 

 principal reason and ignorance another. 



Several planters refused to manure their 

 cane, as they considered that the long canes 

 yielded "muscovado" of a lesser quality. 



The erection of the centrals will put the 

 planters in a better financial position and 

 the central will encourage everything leading 

 to increased tonnage per acre. 



There is a decided tendency in the areas 

 where centrals are erected to increase the 

 yields and improve the qualities of the cane. 



Irrigation waters are available in abun- 

 dance, and although labor is not abundant, 

 this is also the case in Cuba, which island is 

 handicapped by lack of irrigation and yet 

 produces more sugar than any other country 

 in the world. 



The area of lands capable of producing 

 sugar on Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, 

 and Cebu, is merely scratched and the total 

 area is in excess of Cuba or Java. 



A future sugar production of one million tons 

 per year is not impossible for the Philippines. 



Hemp Industry 



(Continued from page 53)* 

 or rolled on bobbins or spools. About 3 per cent 

 of the supply of abaca is used for tagal braid. 



Recent development of the industry. From 

 the early history of the abaca industry until 

 the present time the production of fiber has 

 increased steadily. Unfortunately, how- 

 ever, this increase in production was not the 

 result of, nor was it accompanied by, any 

 general improvement in the cultivation of 

 the plant or in plantation management. Un- 

 til a short time ago, and in a large measure 

 even at the present time, the bulk of pro- 

 duction is the product of small plantings in 

 which old and crude methods of cultivation 

 and fiber extraction have been used. Un- 

 der such conditions, therefore, it is not sur- 

 prising that for a long time it was the be- 

 lief that the cultivation and production of 

 abaca was not an industry that could be 

 profitably carried on by the use of system- 

 atic and modern methods of agriculture. 



Since 1903, however, several large planta- 

 tions have been established in different local- 

 ities and improved methods used in the cul- 

 tivation of the plant and in general manage- 

 ment. The results have shown that the 

 abaca industry can be made one of the most 

 profitable branches of investment for the 

 tropical agriculturist. The abaca plant re- 

 sponds freely to careful and methodical treat- 

 ment by a considerable increase in the yield 

 of fiber, and the carefully extracted fiber 

 commands a steady demand and a high price, 

 even during the so-called dull periods of the 

 market. As a result of this investigation 

 there has recently been a tendency toward 

 the substitution of modern methods of cul- 

 ture and management to replace the former 

 wasteful and antiquated practices. 



The opportunity for the extension of the 

 abaca industry of the Philippines, not so 

 much in an increase in the area cultivated 

 or an increase in production, but in an in- 

 crease in the yield of plants and an improve- 

 ment in the quality of the product, is very 

 promising. With but little or no danger 

 from insect pests or plant diseases and with 

 but little or no competition from other coun- 

 tries, abaci is an eminently safe crop and 

 affords one of the most profitable branches 

 of agriculture in the Philippines. 



