Benguet — The Garden of the Philippines 203 



tented themselves with planting a few 

 scattering bushes, which are left prac- 

 tically without care, to be swamped by 

 brush and preyed upon by insects. 

 Proper harvesting and curing methods 

 are not employed. The fruits are torn 

 from the bushes, injuring the bark and 

 leaving the way open for the attacks of 

 injurious insect pests. 



An especially fine coffee is grown in 

 the mountain regions of Benguet and 

 Bontoc and in the province of Lepanto. 

 The bushes yield heavy crops and the 

 unhulled coffee at present sells readily 

 in Manila at $35 Mexican per cavan, 

 for consumption in these islands or for 

 shipment to Spain. Coffee bushes come 

 to bearing in Benguet in three years. 

 There is no region in the United States 

 which has a more healthful or delight- 

 ful climate than is afforded by the Ben- 

 guet highlands, where a white man can 

 perform heavy field labor without ex- 

 cessive fatigue or injury to his health. 



It is almost impossible to secure in 

 Manila the milk needed by the sick. 

 Fresh milk sells for 75 cents Mexican 

 per wine quart. A dairy on the out- 

 skirts of the city, with 95 animals, in- 

 cluding several bulls, was netting $5,000 

 Mexican per month when the animals 

 were attacked by rinderpest. 



Fresh meats to the value of $609,664 



per annum, exclusive of that used by 

 the Army and Navy, are being imported 

 each year into Manila. There is no rea- 

 son why in time the islands should not 

 supply this meat. The pastures of Ben- 

 guet, Lepanto, and Bontoc afford one 

 vast well-watered cattle range, where 

 improved breeds of horned cattle could 

 be successfully introduced, while in the 

 lowlands there are vast stretches of 

 grazing lands suitable for raising cattle 

 and carabaos. The latter are at present 

 worth $150 to $300 Mexican per head 

 in the Manila market. Properly con- 

 ducted cattle ranches will certainly yield 

 very handsome returns. 



Excellent native oranges are produced 

 in the province of Batangas, in the Cala- 

 mianes Islands, and elsewhere. The 

 trees, which are often large and vigor- 

 ous, seldom receive any care, nor has 

 any systematic effort been made to im- 

 prove the quality of the fruit, which 

 sells readily at a good price. There is 

 every reason to believe that improved 

 citrus fruits can be successfully intro- 

 duced. 



Numerous new industries, such as 

 raising of vanilla in the lowlands and 

 the cultivation of fruits and vegetables 

 peculiar to the temperate zone in Ben- 

 guet, ought, if properly conducted, to 

 result profitably. 



BENGUET-THE GARDEN OF THE 

 PHILIPPINES 



IN a cablegram to the Secretary of 

 War dated April 15, Governor 

 Taft announced his arrival at 

 Benguet, which he described as follows : 

 "Great province. This is only 150 

 miles from Manila, with air as bracing 

 as Adirondacks or Murray Bay. Only 

 pines and grass lands. Temperature 

 this hottest month in the Philippines, 

 in my cottage porch at 3 in the after- 



noon, 68° F. Fires are necessary night 

 and morning. ' ' 



Benguet is a little province about 

 the size of Rhode Island. It consists 

 almost entirely of high mountains, 

 some of them reaching to 7,000 feet, 

 and resembles an American park in the 

 variety and beauty of its scenery. The 

 elevated tablelands of the province 

 Governor Taft plans to make a health 



