PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



1301 



oi fiber, worth $12, per day. They receive one-half for 

 cleaning. 



Vegetables. The great variety of vegetables that can 

 be grown in the Philippines and the constant supply 

 that might be had from a well-tended garden, indicate 

 the source from which the people should obtain their 

 principal food. As far as can be observed, gardening 

 is not especially in the line of the Filipino. The 

 Japanese accomplish marvels in gardening by the use 

 of human excreta, both solid and liquid; the Filipino 

 has, in addition, the excreta of the water buffalo, but he 

 rarely has what can be properly called a garden. He 

 may have small patches of beans, sweet potatoes and 

 taro, but nothing approaching a garden, except culti- 

 vated for the city market. The traveler in the Philip- 

 pines is impressed with the high culture of the people 

 along some lines and their total lack in others. Gar- 

 dening is one of their deficiencies, and it is the more 

 surprising from their proximity to China and Japan. 

 The following well-known vegetables are produced in 

 the islands: 



Beans of many varieties, beets, carob bean, celery, 

 cabbage, cassava, carrot, cucumber, eggplant, garlic, 

 gourd, lettuce, lentil, muskmelon, onion, okra, pump- 

 kin, pea, pepper of all kinds, peanut, potato, radish, 

 sesame weed, sweet potato, turnip, taro, tannier, 

 tomato, watermelon, yam. 



Fruits. The banana, fruit of Musa sapientum (Figs 

 187, 188), is abundant in all portions of the islands. 

 Except on the coffee plantations it 

 is mainly produced close to the na- 

 tive huts, where it supplies shade 

 and furnishes food. The principal 

 variety sold in the local markets is 

 the Guinea. The fruit of this va- 

 riety is 4-5 in. long, peeling thin, 

 flesh rich, yellow and firm, mainly 

 eaten fresh. The plantain (Musa 



tains bordering the western coast of Luzon. In flavor 

 it is similar to the Java and is highly prized in the 

 markets to which it has been shipped. There is a 

 variety of coffee produced in Mindanao called Zam- 

 boanga. It has a larger berry than the Manila and is 

 not so highly prized. Its principal market is Singapore. 

 Coffee-growing requires high-class agriculture, and for 

 this reason it has never flourished in the Philippines 

 as the climate and the conditions warrant. Several 

 things should be carefully observed in coffee-farming: 

 the young plant should be root-pruned and transplanted 

 once or twice before final setting in the orchard; holes 

 2% ft. square and 2 ft. deep should be dug and filled 

 with soil, for each plant in the permanent orchard 

 holes 8 ft. apart; coffee trees should be pruned an- 

 nually; the shade trees or plants should not be such as 

 will draw heavily upon the soil and should not be so 

 dense as to give more than a partial shade. The best 

 and the poorest coffee are the product of the same tree, 

 hence the necessity of great care in production and 

 grading. With 

 a full develop- 

 ment of the cof- 

 fee industry the 

 Phili pp ines 

 probably could 

 supply the en- 

 tire annual im- 

 ports of the 



1752. A typical laborer's hut in Manila. 

 Also made of Nipa Palm, a casa de nipa. 



1751. Typical house near Manila. 

 Roof made of the Nipa Palm. 



paradisiaca) 

 may be treated 

 in the same con- 

 nection. It is 

 larger and a 

 more vigorous 

 producer than 

 the banana and 

 is usually eaten 



cooked. With rice it constitutes the principal food 

 of the Filipino. First it is produced with little labor, 

 an important consideration in tropical countries; sec- 

 ond, it adds an agreeable flavor to the rice; third, it 

 ripens almost continuously throughout the year; fourth, 

 it produces more food per acre than any other fruit or 

 any cereal. Cases are reported in which 40,000 Ibs. of the 

 edible portions of the plantain have been produced per 

 acre. This would give nutritive material per acre as 

 follows: protein, 520 Ibs. ; fat, 240 Ibs.; carbohydrates, 

 8,400 Ibs. Fifteen hundred Ibs. of cleaned rice per acre 

 (larger than any Philippine crop) would furnish pro- 

 tein 120 Ibs., fat 45 Ibs., carbohydrates 1,182 Ibs. The 

 plantain is dried and ground or pounded into flour for 

 food. To transport bananas and plantains to the United 

 States would require steamers with some refrigeration, 

 or the fruit would be too ripe on arrival. 



The coffee plant, Coffea Arabica (Fig. 514), grows 

 luxuriantly in the sheltered ravines of the mountains of 

 the entire group; but the principal portion for export is 

 grown in Cavite, Batangas, Laguna and in the moun- 



1753. A hay (rice grass) carrier in 

 Manila. 



United States (831,827,063 Ibs. in 

 1899) to the mutual profit of both 

 countries. 



Oranges, lemons and limes are 

 produced abundantly. They are, 

 however, of an inferior quality, due 

 to variety and lack of cultivation and 

 of pruning. The orange trees are 

 exceedingly healthy and vigorous. 



In the hands of the Filipino the orange is practically a 

 product of nature. No effort has been made to improve 

 the fruit by the general introduction of better varieties, 

 nor to improve the quality by selection, cultivation, 

 fertilization and pruning. There is scarcely any limit 

 to the supply of this luscious fruit that could be produced 

 annually if science and industry should be directed to 

 planting it upon the elevated tablelands of these islands. 

 The soil on large areas is well adapted to the citrous 

 fruits. The abundant rainfall during the fruit-growing 

 season and the dry weather during the period of ripen- 

 ing, are conditions that will not be overlooked by the 

 intelligent horticulturist in the future. What has 

 been said of oranges is equally applicable to lemons, 

 limes and grape fruit. 



The shaddock, Citrus Decumana, of which grape 

 fruit or pomelo is the best variety, is a native of the 

 Malayan and Polynesian islands and is at home in the 

 Philippines. This fruit sometimes attains great size 

 (15 Ibs.), but is too coarse for commerce. The demand 

 for the large, juicy, subacid pomelo has always been 

 much in excess of the supply, and this, if it could be 

 obtained abundantly, would rank in consumption with 

 oranges and lemons. See Citrus and Pomelo. 



Pineapple, the collective fruit of Ananas sativus (Fig. 

 83), finds a congenial habitat on the sandy coast lands 

 and in the warm, rich valleys of these islands. Under 

 these conditions the plant with care attains large size 

 and the rich, saccharine juice develops its highest 

 flavor. The pineapple is propagated by setting the 



