2 INTRODUCTION' 



must know something about the life of plants, and the 

 principal facts of physical and political geography. Agri- 

 culture is usually understood as including also the care 

 of domesticated animals, and in some countries this is 

 its most important part. But in the Philippines animal 

 husbandry is unimportant compared to plant industry; 

 for no animal product is a usual article of export, and 

 the principal local use of animals is in the cultivation 

 of plants. Therefore, the study of agriculture in the 

 Philippines includes little besides the study of cultivated 

 plants. 



The need of the study of agriculture is the greater 

 because the fields are now far less productive than they 

 ought to be. Sugar lands here produce one quarter of 

 what lands no better are made to produce in Hawaii ; 

 coconut trees are half as productive as in Ceylon ; most 

 of the coffee plants are dead ; sweet potatoes and maize 

 are very poor; and cassava is neglected, while starch, 

 which can be made from it, must be imported from 

 America. The backwardness of Philippine agriculture 

 will of course never be overcome as a result of school 

 work alone, even if the work be done in the high schools, 

 where it may be done most effectively. But there are 

 more heads and more hands in the work of the lower 

 schools. The boys who study agriculture must know 

 that they are not only preparing themselves for the most 

 general industry of these islands, but are helping by their 

 work, in school and after school, in the uplifting of their 

 people. 



