318 



Culture of rice. 



MANILLA. 



Manilla hemp. 



for making sweet and fancy dishes ; it becomes 

 exceedingly glutinous, for which reason it is used 

 in making whitewash, which it is said to cause to 

 become of a brilliant white, and to withstand the 

 weather. This variety is not, however, believed to 

 be wholesome. There is also a variety of this last 

 species which is used as food for horses, and sup- 

 posed to be a remedy and preventive against 

 worms. 



The rice grounds or fields are laid out in squares, 

 and surrounded by embankments, to retain the 

 water of the rains or streams. After the rains have 

 fallen in sufficient quantities to saturate the ground, 

 a seed-bed is generally planted in one corner of the 

 field, in which the rice is sown broadcast, about 

 the month of June. The heavy rains take place in 

 August, when the fields are ploughed, and are soon 

 filled with water. The young plants are about this 

 time taken from the seed-bed, their tops and roots 

 trimmed, and then planted in the field by making 

 holes in the ground with the fingers, and placing 

 four or five sprouts in each of them ; in this tedious 

 labour the poor women are employed, whilst the 

 males are lounging in their houses or in the shade 

 of the trees. 



The harvest for the aquatic rice begins in De- 

 cember. It is reaped with small sickles, peculiar 

 to the country, called yatap; to the back of these a 

 small stick is fastened, by which they are held, and 

 the stalk is forced upon it and cut. The spikes of 

 rice are cut with this implement, one by one. 

 In this operation, men, women, and children all 

 take part. 



The upland rice requires much more care and 

 labour in its cultivation. The land must be ploughed 

 three or four times, and all the turf and lumps well 

 broken up by the harrow. 



During its growth it requires to be weeded two 

 or three times, to keep the weeds from choking the 

 crop. The seed is sown broadcast in May. This 

 kind of rice is harvested in November, and to col- 

 lect the crop is still more tedious than in the other 

 case, for it is always gathered earlier, and never 

 reaped, in consequence of the grain not adhering to 

 the ear. If it were gathered in any other way, the 

 loss by transportation on the backs of buffaloes and 

 horses, without any covering to the sheaf, would be 

 so great as to dissipate a great portion of the 

 crop. 



It appears almost incredible that any people can 

 remain in ignorance of a way of preventing so ex- 

 travagant and wasteful a mode of harvesting. The 

 government has been requested to prohibit it on 

 account of the great expense it gives rise to; but 

 whether any steps have ever been taken in the 

 matter, I did not learn. It is said that not unfre- 

 quently a third part of the crop is lost, in conse- 

 quence of the scarcity of labourers; while those 

 who are disengaged will refuse to work, unless they 

 receive one-third, and even one-half of the crop, to 

 be delivered free of expense at their houses. This 

 the planters are often obliged to give, or lose the 

 whole crop. Nay, unless the harvest is a good one, 

 reapers are very unwilling to engage to take it 

 even on these terms, and the entire crop is lost. 

 The labourers, during the time of harvest, are sup- 

 ported by the planter, who is during that time ex- 

 posed to great vexation, if not losses. The reapers 

 are for the most part composed of the idle and 

 vicious part of the population, who go abroad over 



the country to engage themselves in this employ- 

 ment, which affords a livelihood to the poorer 

 classes ; for the different periods at which the 

 varieties of rice are planted and harvested, gives 

 them work during a large portion of the year. 



After the rice is harvested, there are different 

 modes of treating it. Some of the proprietors take 

 it home, where it is thrown into heaps, and left 

 until it is desirable to separate it from the straw, 

 when it is trodden out by men and women with 

 their bare feet. For this operation, they usually 

 receive another fifth of the rice. 



Others stack it in a wet and green state, which 

 subjects it to heat, from which cause the grain 

 contracts a dark colour, and an unpleasant taste 

 and smell. The natives, however, impute these 

 defects to the wetness of the season. 



The crop of both the low and upland rice, is 

 usually from thirty to fifty for one: this is on old 

 land; but on that which is newly cleared, or which 

 has never been cultivated, the yield is far beyond 

 this. In some soils of the latter description, it is 

 said that for a chupa (seven cubic inches) planted, 

 the yield has been a caban. The former is the two- 

 hundred-and-eighth part of the latter. This is not 

 the only advantage gained in planting rich lands, 

 but the saving of labour is equally great; for all 

 that is required is to make a hole with the fingers, 

 and place three or four grains in it. The upland 

 rice requires but little water, and is never irri- 



The cultivator in the Philippine Islands is al- 

 ways enabled to secure plenty of manure ; for 

 vegetation is so luxuriant that by pulling the weeds 

 and laying them with earth, a good stock is quickly 

 obtained with which to cover his fields. Thus, 

 although the growth is so rank as to cause him 

 labour, yet in this hot climate its decay is equally 

 rapid, which tends to make his labours more suc- 

 cessful. 



Among the important productions of these 

 islands, I have mentioned hemp, although the 

 article called Manilla hemp must not be understood 

 to be derived from the plant which produces the 

 common hemp (cannabis), being obtained from a 

 species of plantain (musa textilis), called in the 

 Philippines " abaca." This is a native of these 

 islands, and was formerly believed to be found 

 only on Mindanao ; but this is not the case, for it 

 is cultivated on the south part of Luzon, and all 

 the islands south of it. It grows on high ground, 

 in rich soil, and is propagated by seeds. It resem- 

 bles the other plants of the tribe of plantains, but 

 its fruit is much smaller, although edible. The fibre 

 is derived from the stem, and the plant attains the 

 height of fifteen or twenty feet. The usual mode 

 of preparing the hemp is to cut off the stem near 

 the ground, before the time or just when the fruit 

 is ripe. The stem is then eight or ten feet long 

 below the leaves, where it is again cut. The outer 

 coating of the herbaceous stem is then stripped 

 off, until the fibres or cellular parts are seen, when 

 it undergoes the process of rotting, and after being 

 well dried in houses and sheds, is prepared for 

 market by assorting it, a task which is performed 

 by the women and children. That which is in- 

 tended for cloth is soaked for an hour or two in 

 weak lime-water prepared from sea-shells, again 

 dried, and put up in bundles. From all the dis- 

 tricts in which it grows, it is sent to Manilla, which 



