25 



males not acceptable for registry should be castrated. I realize 

 that this would break into a long-established custom and would 

 run strongly against public sentiment; but it is only through 

 the enforcement of some such rule as this that progress can be 

 made in stock improvement in an unfenced country and espe- 

 cially in a country where the animals are kept in veiy small 

 groups as they are in the Philippines. 



There is a large and important area in Mindanao and many 

 smaller areas elsewhere in the Philippines very well adapted to 

 the raising of cattle, carabaos, and ponies that are not being 

 utilized for any purpose. After a visit to the open range of the 

 Island of Mindanao, I am certain that no public land approx- 

 imating in value as a cattle range that of the Bukidnon Province 

 has been open to the settler in the United States within the last 

 quarter of a century. I was told by those who have had exper- 

 ience with cattle on this range that a hectare of land will support 

 a bullock the year through. Pasture land in the States that will 

 support a bullock to the hectare half of the year has a market 

 value of f*=50 to 1*=75 an acre and a rental value of f*^3 to =P7 an 

 acre a year. 



The Government, through the Bureau of Agriculture, should 

 establish a breeding farm in this region and manage the farm as 

 a commerc'al cattle ranch, keeping an accurate account of the 

 cost and returns, to demonstrate beyond question the possibil- 

 ities of this region for stock growing. Once this fact is estab- 

 lished beyond question, there will be plenty of capital available 

 with which to develop the country. 



The carabao is the most important domestic animal in the 

 Philippines. The department of animal husbandry of the Bureau 

 of Agriculture should make a careful study of the different types 

 of carabao with a view of determining which type is best suited 

 to the various purposes to which this animal is put in the Islands, 

 and with a view of improving the type by selection and breeding. 



The type of the Philippine hog, the next most important 

 animal in the Islands, should be improved along the lines in 

 which the Bureau of Agriculture and the College of Agriculture 

 are now working. 



The size and laying quality of the Filipino hen can be im- 

 proved greatly through the means already adopted by the College 

 of Agriculture and by the Bureau of Education at the Cavite 

 Farm School. 



In so far as it is feasible to import improved sires, it will be 

 cheaper to do so than to breed them, but in the case of many 

 kinds of stock the imported sires seldom do well and in all classes 



