240 



[March, 1012 



AGRICULTURAL FINANCE AND CO-OPERTION. 



CO-OPERATION. 



By the Director of Agriculture. 



(Prom the Philippine Agricultural Re- 

 view, Vol. V., No. 1, January, 1912.) 

 One who has given any study, even in 

 a very superficial way, to the agricul- 

 tural conditions in the Philippines, must 

 gain the impression at the very start 

 that no considerable amount of results 

 can be secured in bettering the condi- 

 tions of the islands without intelligent 

 and efficient co-operation between the 

 Bureau of Agriculture and the growers 

 of the various crops, from the sale of 

 which must come for many years the 

 money resources of the people. 



The Bureau of Agriculture might be 

 organized in a most effective way, with 

 thoroughly practical men in* every 

 division, able to render most efficient 

 help in the way of information and 

 advice, and yet, if the people who 

 actually grow the crops do not avail 

 themselves of the opportunity to get 

 this help, the whole organization is 

 practically without value. As the con- 

 ditions now are in the Islands, large 

 sums of money for carrying on work in 

 any Bureau not being available, no 

 other way seems possible for rendering 

 efficient aid except by co-operation. The 

 way in which this may be brought about 

 is very simple in theory, but how well 

 it can be worked out in practice depends 

 entirely upon the people from whom 

 the Bureau and all its branches L are 

 organized. 



The matter of bringing about such 

 co-operative demonstration work is one 

 of the most important facing the 

 Bureau at this time. How this may be 

 done may be illustrated very thoroughly 

 by speaking of one line of work which 

 has been started and promises to be 

 very useful. Reference is made to the 

 tobacco work being done by the Bureau 

 in the Cagayan Valley. This work, 

 which has recently been started, is to 

 be continued along the following lines :— 

 A small station is maintained at 

 Ilagan in Isabela Province. It is not the 

 intention to carry on at Ilagan any 

 large or expensive line of activities, but 

 it will be used as a centre from which to 

 work among all those tobacco planters 

 who desire to co-operate. At the station 

 will be grown tobacco of various varie- 

 ties and under varying conditions, and 

 an attempt will be made to illustrate 

 proper methods of cleaning seeds, curing 

 and packing tobacco, and all other prac- 



tical questions which come up to the 

 planter. By far the larger and more 

 important work, however, will be 

 through asking tobacco growers to 

 co-operate with the station by planting 

 small plats under such conditions and 

 of such varieties as are recommended by 

 the Bureau, with a further agreement 

 that the cultivation, gathering, curing, 

 and packing of tobacco from these 

 tracts shall be done with the help and 

 assistance, in an advisory way, of the 

 Bureau. There is no doubt that within 

 a very short time the value of tobacco 

 produced in the valley may be increased 

 very largely in proportion to the area 

 planted. 



If intelligent and effective co-oper- 

 ation like this is carried on in the same 

 way, there is no reason why assistauae 

 may not be given by the Bureau in the 

 growing of rice, sugar, rubber, coco- 

 nuts, fruits, vegetables, and in fact all 

 the agricultural products either now 

 growing in the islands or which may be 

 successfully introduced. 



A few dozen co-operative demon- 

 strations—such as has been described in 

 the case of tobacco— applied to all of the 

 other crops mentioned, as well as to any 

 others which can be grown here, would, 

 in a very short time, show the varieties 

 of soil-products which are adapted to 

 the different localities and greatly 

 increase the actual amount received 

 from the sale of the various crops. In 

 the case of rice, the Bureau has been 

 growing nearly a thousand varieties of 

 the grain, from which are being selected 

 those kinds best adapted to the manifold 

 conditions, and in another year the 

 Bureau will have seeds of these select- 

 ed varieties for distribution to those 

 growers who will agree to carry out 

 co-operative demonstration work, ena- 

 bling the Bureau to learn what kinds 

 are adapted to the different localities, 

 and to point to the results which have 

 been reached under conditions which 

 can be met by any grower. 



The Bureau is extremely anxious to 

 get in touch, as rapidly as possible, with 

 all those growers of crops anywhere in 

 the Islands who are willing to co-operate 

 in any way. Applicants for an opportun- 

 ity to carry on such work should desig- 

 nate the crops which it is believed will 

 succeed in the neighborhood, how much 

 land is available, what soil-products are 

 now successfully grown, and such other 

 information as will enable the Bureau to 

 select the varieties it believes would 

 succeed in the district. 



