Edible Products. 



202 



[March, 1912. 



sumed at the Bureau's Experiment 

 Station in La Carlot Occidental Negros, 

 after which the party proceeded to 

 Iloilo on a small interisland steamer. 

 After a six days' stay in Iloilo, devoted 

 to exploration trips in the surrounding 

 country, including a journey to Capiz 

 by rail, Messrs. O. W. Barrett, M. M, 

 Saleeby, D. B. Mackie and the writer 

 returned to Manila, May 11. The trip 

 was attended by most favorable weather 

 conditions. 



The interisland voyage, with its beauti- 

 ful and ever changing scenery, the is- 

 lands covered with a tropical vegetation 

 that speaks volumes for the wealth of 

 the soil, was a revelation to the writer 

 and the source of great pleasure and 

 unmingled enjoyment. Were it not for 

 the remoteness of the Philippines from 

 Western civilization, the inland sea of 

 the Archipelago would long ago have 

 been one of the beaten paths of the 

 tourist. He daily in vades new territory, 

 and the writer ventures to predict that 

 no sooner do the beauties of the inter- 

 island voyage become better known than 

 it will be one of the tourist routes of the 

 world. 



But, if the natural beauty of the is- 

 lands compels one's admiration, and the 

 signs of the latent agricultural resources 

 fiil one with wonder, the failure of the 

 inhabitants, at large, to more than eke 

 out a bare living and the crude methods 

 employed in the culture of the main 

 crops of the islands and the conversion 

 of the natural products into food, or into 

 articles of commerce, show the back- 

 ward condition of the development of the 

 islands and their industries no less strik- 

 ingly, and to those who have seen the 

 resulting prosperity in other parts of 

 the world of the same industries pro- 

 perly developed, there is a vision of the 

 wealth and prosperity that is due when 

 the Philippines once come into their 

 own. 



Fruits are abundant throughout the 

 year in the tropics, or should be, but 

 there is a distinct lull here in the fruit- 

 ing season between April 1 and May 15 ; 

 the season of the citrus fruits, the orange, 

 tangerine, and pomelo has closed ; the 

 lime and lemon have not yet reached 

 maturity ; a limited number of mangoes 

 are found in the market commanding 

 good prices, but the bulk does not arrive 

 until late in May and June ; only a few 

 belated custard apples are in evidence, 

 and the sugar apple is only just in 

 bloom. The soursop is the only cultiv- 

 ated species of the genus Anona 

 that matures fruits during all seasons 

 of the year, and they are, during the 

 spring, only sparingly produced, The 



guava is mainly a summer fruit, and ex- 

 cepting the macopa, which is now 

 ripening its fruits, and the early fruit of 

 the duhat, also in season about May 1, 

 the other related species, the yambo 

 and pitanga ripen their fruits later. 

 The cashew is at its best, and a few chicos 

 are marketed, but they mature mainly 

 during the summer ; the lanzones do 

 not ripen until in the autumn, and the 

 jak, as well as the nearly related bread- 

 fruit are mostly only half grown. The 

 banana, of which fruits of the various 

 varieties are found in the markets in the 

 different towns in the Archipelago at 

 all seasons of the year is an exception, 

 as is also the papaya. 



For this reason very little opportunity 

 was given on the trip to test many of 

 the fruits that grow in the Philippines, 

 and to reach a conclusion as to the 

 merit of the different parts of the is- 

 lands for the production of certain 

 fruits. In fact, it is very doubtful if the 

 results of such a test would accurately 

 indicate the adaptability of certain 

 fruits to one locality, or that another is 

 unfavourable for its production, this for 

 the reason that no intelligent care is 

 accorded the fruit trees ; presumably 

 little attention is paid to selection in 

 planting seed, and budding and grafting 

 are unknown. Fruit growing, as an 

 industry, can scarcely be said to exist ; 

 the fruit trees are growing, a few of 

 each kind, about the houses of the in- 

 habitants, invariably set too close or 

 planted along the roadsides or edges of 

 the rice fields, on hillsides or in ravines 

 where the land is untillable. The writer 

 obviously did not have the opportunity 

 to see all there was in the islands visited, 

 but the notation of only one regularly 

 planted fruit orchard seen during the 

 trip probably well illustrates the con- 

 dition of the fruit industry in the 

 Philippines. 



The only fruit tree whose product 

 forms a staple article of export from 

 the Philippines is the coconut (Cocos 

 Tbucifera), and there are probably few 

 towns in the Archipelago on the seaboard 

 where this tree is not planted. The 

 itinerary of the trip did not include any 

 point where the growing of coconuts is 

 an industry of importance, but small 

 groves were passed here and there, on 

 the road from Oebu to Carmen and also 

 seen in Dapitan, Oabadbaran, and Iloilo. 

 The trees do not produce to the full 

 extent of their capacity on account of 

 too close planting. Barring the presence 

 of the coconut beetle the trees appear to 

 be remarkably free from insect pests. 

 The coconut does not usually produce 

 f ruib until the trees are 7 to 8 years old, 



