PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



1303 



a rind like a pomegranate. The interior is divided by 

 thin partitions into cells, which contain the seeds sur- 

 rounded by a white or red juicy pulp of a most delicious 

 flavor, combining the finer qualities of the strawberry 

 and the grape. Unfortunately this fruit is too delicate 

 for transportation. In addition to its use as a hand 

 fruit the pulp is preserved or fermented. 



The mulberry, both white and black, is grown in 

 Luzon, but it has not attracted the attention which its 

 valuable wood and abundant fruitage warrant. 



Tamarind, known as Manila tamarind (fruit of Pithe- 

 colobium dulce), was introduced from Mexico. The 



Additional Notes on the Products of the Philippines. 

 The land in the Philippines is seldom given good atten- 

 tion. Crops are planted in the easiest possible way and 

 allowed to grow about as they will. Plows of a modern 

 make were two years ago unknown there. The natives 

 utilize a crooked limb or a rudely made wooden contriv- 

 ance to scratch the ground. Probably the production of 

 sugar will be the first to increase under American con- 

 trol. There are only a few haciendas or plantations 

 with anything like modern sugar-making machinery. 

 Fully 30 per cent, it is estimated, is lost in the crude 

 processes generally employed. There is no sugar re- 

 finery in the islands. The establishment of one would 

 greatly stimulate production. The island of Negros is 

 ideal for sugar production. 



Hemp is the most developed industry in the Philip- 

 pines. The cocoanut industry is fairly well developed. 

 We may also look for remarkable growth of the cultiva- 

 tion of the plant from which rubber is made. Mindanao 

 and the southern islands are especially fitted for it, so 

 experts say. 



Our own grasses are seldom seen in the Philippines. 

 Hay is never used. Rice grass is substituted, being 



1755. Fruit of the Durian. exterior view and cross-section. Reduced one-half from a plate of a middle-sliced " specimen. 



sweetish subacid pulp, inclosing its seed, is boiled and 

 eaten, is made into a cooling drink or is preserved in 

 sugar. The tree is valuable for shade and for timber, 

 and is noted for the fragrance of its flowers. 



The sapodilla plum, fruit of the Achras Sapota (see 

 Sapodillo), a small, somewhat acid fruit, becoming very 

 sweet when overripe, is cultivated to some extent. 



The Mammee apple or South American apricot, fruit 

 of Mammea Americana (Fig. 1354), is produced in a 

 limited way. The fruit is yellow, 5-6 in. in diam., rind 

 and pulp near the seeds bitter, intermediate portion 

 sweet, aromatic and agreeable. 



Grapes can be grown successfully in some of the drier 

 parts of the islands, and there is no doubt of the success 

 of the strawberry and the blackberry in some localities. 

 Importation of tropical fruits into the United States 

 in 1899, much of which could soon be supplied by the 

 Philippines with proper encouragement : 



Coffee $55,475,470.00 



Cocoanuts, copra and figs 5,985,905.00 



Bananas 5,665,588.00 



Lemons 4,398,004.00 



Oranges 1,097,596.00 



Spices 2.782.301.00 



$75,204,864.00 

 S. A. KNAPP. 



harvested in bunches, the sod and soil attached. It is 

 freshened with water before fed to horses and cattle. 

 Spanish books say that cotton is grown to considerable 

 extent in Ilocos provinces of northern Luzon. Straw- 

 berries can be found in the higher altitudes of Benguet 

 province. It is said that all efforts to cultivate the 

 rose in the Philippines have failed. More than thirty 

 varieties of bananas are grown in the Philippines, some 

 of which are superior to any in our own markets. 



FRANK E. GANNETT. 



Circular No. 17 of the Div. of Bot., U. S. Dept. of 

 Agric., contains 8 pp. of notes on the plant products of 

 the Philippine Islands. 



A most remarkable fruit of the Philippines and other 

 parts of Malaya is the durian, shown half size in Fig. 

 1755 (reduced from plates in vol. 7 of the Trans, of the 

 Linn. Soc., illustrating Charles Konig's account of the 

 fruit). It is the Durio zibethinus of botanists, one of 

 the Malvaceae. The reader may find an entertaining 

 account of this fruit in Alfred Russel Wallace's "Malay 

 Archipelago," chapter 5. It grows on a "lofty forest 

 tree, somewhat resembling an elm. * * * The fruit 

 is round or slightly oval, about the size of a large 

 cocoanut, of a green color, and covered all over with 

 short stout spines, the bases of which touch each other, 



