12 



There is a practically unlimited demand for sesamum oil in both the 

 Orient and in the West, and of that the product of the white-seeded, on 

 account of its lighter and better color, is most in demand at the best price. 

 It responds (in this climate) to such primitive cultural methods, and its 

 harvests, suitable to the labor of women and children, is attended with so 

 much facility and at so insignificant an outlay of cultivating and harvest- 

 ing implements, that it recommends itself strongly to the attention of the 

 small proprietor. Its cultivation here upon a considerable scale would be 

 soon followed by the necessary factories to reduce it to a finished product, 

 and in the incidental production of a high-standard cattle food and fer- 

 tilizer help to solve one of the most vexing and vital questions of Philip- 

 pine agriculture. 



FRUIT-BEARING PLANTS. 



Some importations of tropical and subtropical plants and a very few 

 species of strictly temperate-region fruit trees have been made by the 

 Bureau and planted at different elevations. Some of these last named 

 were planted near Abucay, Bataan Province, in latitude 14 45' north, 

 at an altitude of 300 meters, and others in Benguet, 16 30' north, at an 

 approximate elevation of 1,300 meters. 



At sea level the various forms of improved orange that the Bureau has 

 introduced have made excellent growth and give much promise. It is to 

 be expected, however, that the fine and attractive color that contributes 

 so much to the appearance of tl 'i cultivated oranges desired from extra- 

 tropical sources may be lost with their transition to the Tropics. 



Citrus fruit of a few species and many varieties is common in and 

 indigenous to many parts of the Archipelago. In particular, a variety of 

 Citrus decumana which grows at sea level in various parts of Paragua 

 Province is worthy of more than passing mention. Its uncommon size (in 

 some instances quite 15 meters), great vigor, excellent form, and positive 

 freedom from any traces of insect or fungus disease strongly commend it 

 as of value for the reproduction of the best Occidental types of the orange 

 and lemon. The fruit is altogether worthless. Excellent sweet oranges 

 are grown in Cuyo and other islands, especially in Batangas Province. 



On the Bureau's trial grounds at Manila a very limited number of 

 Japanese plums, loquats, persimmons, chestnuts, and grapes have been 

 tried together with Japanese types of Citrus aurantium var. nobilis and a 

 few pomegranates. The grapes and persimmons have made a good initial 

 start, and the progress of the citrus fruits and of the pomegranates has 

 been of the best. 



TEXTILE PLANTS. 



Cotton. Experiments with textile plants have been -confined to cot- 

 ton and jute. Both have heretofore been grown in the Archipelago as 

 minor products the jute as a spontaneous and the cotton mainly as a 

 perennial crop, but uncultivated. Our distributions of cotton seeds have 



