THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec f, 1894. 
hills of the Punjaub, Kum iun, and Sikkim, in 
India. I am not surprised at the want of success 
with this tree in tropical countries. — Xtn: South Walts 
Agricultural Gazette. 
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS IN THE 
PHILIPPINES. 
The" present commercial value of the islands con- 
sists of sugar, hemp, tobacco, coffee, copra or dried 
coconut, sapan wood, and indigo (the two latter of 
small importance). I have no doubt tobacco is their 
principal, if not only, article of export ; but it will 
probably surprise most of you to learn that, with 
regard to cane sugar, the Philippines are the third 
in importance of all the countries in the world. 
Their crops, some 250,000 tons, forms about 9 per 
cent, of the total supply of cane sugar, and in 
quantity is only exceeded by Cuba, with some 900,000 
tons, and Java, with about 430,000. In Manila hemp 
they possess a unique product, which, so far, can- 
not be grown anywhere else, and the export of 
which is increasing by leaps and bounds, having 
risen from 38,300 tons in 1872 to 98,800 tons, valued 
at about £2,500,000, in 1892. The trade in tobacco 
leaf is almost entirely with Spain, under contract 
with the Spanish Tobacco Regie, or farmed Govern- 
ment monopoly ; and though cigars and cheroots 
are shipped almost all over the world, yet the trade 
in both leaf and manufactured tobacco is a speciality, 
and is not considered of much importance by the 
large export houses. 
Agriculture is carried out almost entirely on the 
metayer or Bhare system ; the owner of the land 
provides the instruments, animals, machinery, and 
seed required, the "inkuilino" provides the labour, 
and the produce is divided, in] certain proportions; 
but labour is generally in debt to the landlord, for 
advances, subject to heavy interest, so that, when 
accounts are made up after the crop is got in. lie 
generally find3 that, instead of receiving anything 
in cash, he still has a debit balance against him 
to carry forward to the next year. The land ord 
usually suffers in the same way. So long as the re- 
gistration of titles and mortgages is in so unsatis- 
factory a state I see no remedy ; insufficiency of 
guarantee naturally leads to high int rest, and, 
until the whole matter is taken in hand, and a 
radical change made, it canuot be expected that 
capital will be forthcoming on reasonable terms. 
This is unquesti nably the crying want of the 
islands; with ths judicious employment of capital 
the prod ction would enormously increase, and the 
quality of the products improve, but these are "Cosas 
de Espana" (Spanish matters), and I see no hope 
for a change. 
The cultivation of sugar is practically confined to 
the following islands:— Luzon, Panay, Negros, and 
Cebu. Each district produces what is called dry and 
wet sugar, the former being subdivided into various 
grades. The Manila dry sugar is what is called 
clayed sugar, which means that, after the juice is 
cooked in open pans the mass is poured into 
earthenware receptacles, or "pilones," shaped like an 
inverted cone. A thin layer of liquid mud is put 
on the top, the moisture from which gradually 
percolates through the mass, washing the molasses 
from the crystals, and carrying off the bulk of it 
through an aperture at the battom into earthenware 
jars set underneath. After standing for some weeks 
or months, the sugar is ready for further manipulation 
on the drying grounds, or "Farderias," which are 
entirely in the hands of the Chinese, who purchase 
the "pilones" from the planters. When they are 
opened the sugar at the top is almost white, and 
gradua ly becomes darker towards the bottom. The 
white and dark sugar is mixed together in certain 
proportions, according to the grade which is to be 
produced; it is then 8,-rea 1 oat on mats to dry in 
the flun, for which one day is sufficient in dry hot 
weather; when dry it is packed in mat bags and 
is ready for shipment. I much prefer the system , 
rul.ing in the Visayas. Here the juice is cooked to 
a very hUh point, almost all moisture being driven 
off ; the mass is then poured on to large wooden 
I trays, and stirred up, to allow the escape of any 
moisture wnich may remain; it rapidly crystallises 
after which it is at once packed in the usual mat 
bags, and puffers no further manipulation before 
shipment. Why thia system is not adopted in Luzon 
it would be hard to say. I should ascribe it to the 
inveterate conservatism of the natives, summed up 
in the expression, w i h covers such a multitude 
; of anomalies in the Pnil ppines, "Costumbre del 
i Pais," the custom of the country. 
I now come to the second in importance, of Manila 
hemp, though it is really not bemp at all, but it 
produced from a species of plantain, or banana tree 
the scientific name of which is .!/.■• ttxtilit, and 
which differs little, if at al', in appearance from 
that which produces the edible banxna. This valu- 
able plant grows only in the Philippine Islands. 
AttemptB have been made to introduce it into North 
Borneo, Cochin Chin*, the Indian Penal Colony of 
the Andamans, and other places but they have 
hitherto met with na success. It evidently owes its 
characteristics to some peculiar condition of soil and 
atmosphere which are found in conjuuc loh in the 
hemp districts <f the Philippines, and n where el-e 
so that they have up to now the monopoly. The 
p ant nourishes best in hilly or mountainous districts; 
drought is its worst enemy ; it is a perennial, not 
an annual crop. After the plantation — locally called 
a "late" — is laid out. the plants go on reproducing 
themselves. At the age of three years the shoots 
attain their maturity, and they should be cut just 
before they bear their first fruit, as they then yield 
the fibre in its perfectioo ; if cut too young the fibre 
is apt to be weak and short; if too old it i* harsher 
and more brittle. The plantain is an indigenous 
plant, and if the stem be cut across it is seen to con- 
sist of a number of concentric layers or petioles. 
The mode of preparation is to all appearance a very 
rude one, but no scientific machine has as yet b en 
invented, though many have been tried, which can 
advantageously replace the native instrument. This 
consists of a portable wooden bench, to which is 
attached a knife blade, hinged at one end and 
connected at the other to a treadle, by which the 
pressure :au be regula'ed. The layers of the plant 
are stripped off and dr->wn through two or three 
times between the knife and the bench ; this re- 
moves all the sappy matter, and the clean fibre 
remain. It is then dried in the -an, and is ready 
for sale. If properly prepared, the fibre is strong 
clean and white ; but a practice has sprung up in 
some districts, and is, I regret to say, spreading, 
of notching the blades of the knives in order to 
facilitate the work, which discolours and weakens it. 
Strong measures are sometimes taken bv the local 
authorities to put a stop to the abuses, inferior hemp 
being seized, and burnt; but so long as the consumer 
in the United States and the United Kingdom con- 
tinues to pay a correspondingly high price for the 
inferior fibre no steps which may be taken by the 
exporters or local authorities can possibly attain 
their object. 
The Manila coffee crop has never been a large 
one, the maximum yearly export not having ex- 
ceeded 6,000 or 7.000 tons, and I am sorry to say 
that the plantations have almost teen destroyed by 
disease during the last few years, so that the crop 
has dwindled to something like 3t>0 to 400 tons. How 
great a loss this has been to the producers in the 
coffee districts you will understand when I te'l you 
that, since the year 1887, when the price advanced 
very materially, the ton of coffee has yielded the 
planter a profit of not far short of £30 to £35 a ton. 
Copra has been added quite lately to our list of 
exports. Rice is large y grown throughout the islands, 
but is not exported, and does not even suffice for local 
consumption. One or two mills provided wlith all 
modern improvements in machinery have lately been 
erected, and are turning out a very fine quality of 
cleaned rice. Until about twelve years ago the ex- 
port of tobacco and the manufacture of cigars w»g 
