IRRIGATION IN THE PHILIPPINES. 



MANY VALUABLE LANDS IN CONDITION FOR 

 DEVELOPMENT. 



BY G. D. RICE. 



The writer arrived in the Philippine Islands at the outbreak of 

 the war and after two years sojourn through the principal islands has 

 concluded that there are some very excellent opportunities here for 

 the development of the rice, tobacco, cocoanut, and other lands if 

 properly irrigated. There are vast tracts of uncu Itivated lands in all 

 of the islands, many of which appear to have no owners other than 

 the few native squatters who have built little bamboo and nipa shacks 

 upon them. There is no doubt that much of this land could be turned 

 to profitable advantage in the raising of the tropical products. There 

 are certain periods of the year when there are abundant rainfall and 

 no irrigation is required. This season lasts from July to the middle 

 of winter. The remainder of the year is very dry. I recollect that 

 the first year I was here that not a drop of rain fell in the valleys of 

 the southern islands of the group from Christmas to July. The earth 

 was baked hard and all farming products dried up. I saw places where 

 hundreds of acres of products could have been saved if properly irri- 

 gated. I noticed that the native farmers strove hard to save their 

 crops by weak irrigation. At some places they hauled water for a 

 mile or more in bamboo buckets or caribo drag sleds. In this way 

 they would manage to keep a small portion of the lands irrigated, but 

 the greater part of the crops would go to ruin, being sun burned. I 

 saw women and children carrying water day after day to save farm 

 crops all through the months of March, April and May. This carry- 

 ing of water is tedious work and the labor expended would not pay, 

 only that the ruling rates of wages here for farm labor is only about 

 ten cents per day. Thousands of acres of crops which are ruined every 

 year through the dry season could be saved with irrigation, and it is 

 possible to irrigate the plantations of the Phillippines for the reason 

 that most of them are situated in the low valleys. There are numer- 

 ous water supplies in the mountains and these could be tapped for the 

 water and the same carried to the points desired through piping. The 

 scheme has been worked successfully in many sections, and I saw that 

 the natives were using bamboo piping for the purpose. The hollow 

 bamboo il slipped one end over the other and a secure union made by 

 means of wrapping with hemp. 



