25 



to supply new sprouts. Plants started according to the second method 

 will ultimately have as many stalks as those started according to the 

 first, and will attain a greater size and height. 



It is customary to plant some other crop on the same land with 

 abaca. This system is advantageous for several reasons. If the ground 

 is sloping, some herbage plant is necessary to prevent soil washing. 

 Such plants will also prevent, to a considerable extent, the growth of 

 weeds and will yield a product of more or less value. Camotes is the 

 crop most commonly used. This plant grows rapidly, soon covers the 

 ground with a dense mat of vines which chokes out the weeds, and it 

 also furnishes a supply of food for the laborers on the plantation. Corn 

 is very desirable, and it has the additional advantage of furnishing a 

 much needed shade to the young abaca plant. Where soil conditions 

 are favorable, coconuts may be grown on the same land with abaca. 

 Coconuts and abaca make a very profitable combination as the abaca can 

 be harvested until after the coconut trees come into bearing. Other 

 crops sometimes used are mountain rice, cacao, and coffee. 



CULTIVATION. 



Under the present system where camotes are planted with abaca the 

 only cultivation given is to keep the soil loose immediately around the 

 abacd plants, thus allowing the free growth of suckers, and the frequent 

 clearing of grass and weeds. It will be necessary to go over the planta- 

 tion every two months, or of tener, during the fii'st year. After the abaca 

 begins to shade the ground the growth of weeds will be less, and after 

 the third year three or four clearings every twelve months will be all 

 that is required. 



Clearing can be best and most economically accomplished by hoes 

 instead of bolos. Hoes have proven more effective in checking the rapid 

 growth of weeds and grass than bolos; besides, well-trained boys or men 

 can accomplish almost half as much again with them as with bolos. The 

 weeds should be cut before they have time to flower and seed; thvis, in 

 time, they get rarer and rarer, rendering subsequent cleanings of less 

 trouble and expense. 



Another very important treatment will be found to add to the general 

 welfare of the abaca plant. This treatment should be applied to the hills 

 after the fourth or fifth year, whether cultivation is by plowing or weed- 

 ing, and consists of occasionally throwing new soil into the center of the. 

 hill, as well as digging up all the decayed roots of the former stalks. 

 The fact that the center of the hill is iisually filled with cavities contain- 

 ing the woody substance of the roots of the old stalks and other decayed 

 organic matter, and with scanty soil that is practically exhausted of all 

 nourishment, explains why so very few sprouts ever grow on the inner 

 side of the root stalks. The supply of new soil to the middle of the 



