IX, A, 3 Dalhurg and Pratt: Iron Ores of Bulacan 255 



involved. The transportation of clay, ore, and charcoal to the 

 smelter varies from 0.14 to 1.00 peso per 100 kilograms accord- 

 ing to the distance; this item may amount to as much as 0.10 

 peso per pair of castings. 



The smelter employees are paid on the basis of 1,200 pairs of 

 castings. For 1,200 pairs of castings, the maestro and his as- 

 sistant each receive from 30 to 50 pesos; the 2 mold men, 20 to 

 25 pesos; and the blower men, about 10 pesos. The encargado 

 receives from 12 to 15 pesos per month, and the core maker 

 v^^ho is usually also a mold man receives 0.50 peso per 100 cores 

 and from 0.15 to 0.20 peso for each tuyere. Laborers receive 

 from 0.30 to 0.80 peso each per day. The regular employees 

 around the smelter are supplied with food by the operator. 



The castings sell for from 0.80 to 1.10 pesos per pair. They 

 are marketed throughout Bulacan and the adjacent provinces 

 wherever rice is grown, the plows being used generally for rice 

 culture. By manufacturing castings from his iron ore, the 

 operator receives from 250 to 300 pesos for his product, whereas 

 if he sold it as pig iron he could not hope to get more than 60 

 pesos per ton for it. 



A careful record of production and costs for 7 smelters cover- 

 ing a period of two months in 1912, during which time the total 

 number of days of smelting operation for all furnaces was 

 ninety-two, yielded the following data. The furnaces consumed 

 about 65 tons of ore and 112 tons of charcoal, and produced 

 7,249 pairs or a little more than 26 tons of castings. The total 

 cost of these castings, including costs of the charcoal, mining, 

 smelting, repairs, molds, transportation, subsistence, marketing, 

 and general expense, was 4,375 pesos. The market value of the 

 product was 7,100 pesos, yielding a total profit of 2,725 pesos 

 or a profit of nearly 0.38 peso per pair. 



Statistics of production. — The following table shows the quan- 

 tity and value of the iron produced in the Philippines from the 

 date of the earliest records to the end of the year 1913. During 

 the last fifty years the whole production has come from Bulacan 

 and has been made up exclusively of plowshares and plowpoints. 

 It appears from the records that the industry was larger in 

 1884, when it centered around Camaching, than it is at present. 

 At that time Camaching produced about 30,000 pairs annually, 

 while the other properties combined produced 28,400 pairs. To- 

 day, Camaching is credited with a scant 10 per cent of the total 

 production. 



In addition to the plow castings smelted from iron ore in 

 Bulacan, the Chinese foundrymen in Manila make the same im- 



