1682 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



Philippine Islands 



These islands are a governmental de- 

 pendency of the United States, and com- 

 prise the northeastern group of the great 

 archipelago that lies between Australia 

 and eastern Asia. The land area is 

 128,000 square miles. The larger islands 

 are, Mindanao, 45,559 square miles; 

 Luzon, 43,050; Samar, 5,198; Negara, 

 4,09B; Panay, 4,752. The Philippine Islands 

 are nearly twice as large as the live 

 states of New England, larger than New 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware com- 

 bined, and larger than the British Islands. 

 The interior of the larger islands is moun- 

 tainous, and some of the high peaks rise 

 more than 8,000 feet above the sea. 



The archipelago north of latitude 10 

 degrees is affected by the trade winds. 

 The southeast monsoon, beginning in 

 April or May, blows for about five months. 

 After a short period of variable winds, the 

 northeast monsoon appears and lasts the 

 rest of the year. Typhoons are originated 

 east or southeast of the Philippines. They 

 are most frequent about the time of the 

 equinox. Their course is westward, 

 sometimes diverging slightly toward the 

 north, and they move at the rate of twelve 

 or fourteen miles per hour. The outer 

 circle of the storm varies from forty to 

 one hundred miles in diameter; the inner 

 circle, or calm, has a diameter of from 

 eight to ten miles. 



Up to recent years, hemp, rice, sugar 

 and tobacco were the principal products, 

 but lately considerable attention is being 

 given to other products, among them veg- 

 etables and tropical fruits. 



The climate is exceedingly mild and 

 even; perhaps no other point in the United 

 States or its possessions shows so little 

 variation. The government thermometer 

 for seventeen years never registered 

 colder than 77 degrees, and the warmest 

 registration was 82.9 degrees. The mean 

 temperature during that period was 80.42 

 degrees. There are five dry months, in 

 which the total average of rainfall is 5.47 

 inches. There are seven wet months, in 

 which it is 65.65 inches. An elevation of 

 five thousand feet would give a change 



in temperature of about 17 degrees. The 

 soils are varied, including clay, sand, 

 slaty, volcanic and alluvial. 



All kinds of tropical fruits can be 

 grown and vegetables could be produced 

 in abundance. Among the fruits the 

 banana is grown most extensively, while 

 the plantain, of the banana family, is 

 also grown and the two furnish, together 

 with rice, the principal food of the 

 natives. Oranges, lemons, limes, cocoa- 

 nuts, guava, breadfruit, custard apple, 

 mango, strawberries, blackberries, and 

 numerous other fruits can be success- 

 fully grown. The outlook is that the 

 Philippines will become one of the great 

 fruit-producing sections of the world, for 

 nowhere are the soil, climate and natu- 

 ral conditions more favorable for the pro- 

 duction of tropical fruits. 



Geanville Lowther 



Phosphoric Acid. See Apple Orchard, 

 Fertilization of. 



Pickle Worm. See under Cantaloup, 



Pignut. See HicTcory. 



jTineappie 



The plant belongs to a very peculiar 

 family, the Bromeliaceae, and is the most 

 important species in the genus Ananas. 

 In its original distribution the family 

 was confined to the Western hemis- 

 phere, mainly to South America, though 

 the genus Tillandsia is represented by a 

 number of species in the Southern states. 

 As a whole, the family is either tropical 

 or subtropical. 



*The pineapple is a multiple fruit; 

 that is, the fruit which we know as a 

 pineapple is really an aggregate of many 

 individual fruits, the number of which 

 determines the size of the pineapple. At 

 a certain period in the life of the plant 

 the heart — that is, the last-formed leaves 

 — ^will assume a bright red color, and in- 

 stead of more leaves forming, the flower 

 head will appear on a stalk which is a 

 direct elongation of the plant stem. The 

 flower heads are rather conspicuous, 

 being covered with the bright red flower 

 bracts. The flowers, which are incon- 

 spicuous, are of a violet or purple color. 



♦Porto Rico Exp Sta. Bui 8. 



