252 
CULTURE OF RICE IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANES. 
My sheep sell readily for $10 to $50 each. I have 
been offere 1 $100 for the first-named yearling buck, 
and $50 for the second-named. My Guadaloupes 
came from Enfield and Lebanon, New Hampshire. 
A part of my heaviest woo lied sheep came from Mer¬ 
rill Bingham’s flock of Corn wall, the heaviest ewes 
being from his; a part from the Cutting flock in 
Shoreham; a part from M. VV. C. Wright’s flock, 
same place; and a part from A. L. Bingham’s flock, 
Cornwall. L. C. Bingham. 
Williston, Vt., July 14,1845. 
We are much obliged to our correspondent for his 
clear and direct answers to our inquiries, and hope 
others now will be tempted to follow his good ex¬ 
ample. He certainly has a most extraordinary flock 
of sheep. We have samples of wool of Mr. Merrill 
Bingham’s flock alluded to above, which are very fine 
of their kind, soft in their staple and uncommonly 
l° n g- w 
CULTURE OF RICE IN THE PHILIPPINE 
ISLANDS. 
Rice is, perhaps, of their agricultural products, the 
article upon which the inhabitants of the Philippine 
Islands most depend for food and profit; of this they 
have several different varieties, which the natives dis¬ 
tinguish by their size and the shape of the grain : the 
birnambang, lamuyo, malagequit, bontot-cabayo, du- 
mali, quinanda, bolohan, and tangi. The three first 
are aquatic; the five latter upland varieties. They 
each have their peculiar uses. The dumali is the 
early variety; it ripens in three months from plant¬ 
ing, from which circumstance it derives its name : it 
is raised exclusively on the uplands. Although much 
esteemed, it is not extensively cultivated, as the birds 
and insects destroy a large part of the crop. 
The malagequit is very much prized, and used for 
making sweet and fancy dishes; it becomes exceed¬ 
ingly glutinous, for which reason it is used in mak¬ 
ing whitewash, which it is said to cause to become of 
a brilliant white, and to withstand the weather. This 
variety is not, however, believed to be wholesome. 
There is also a variety of this last species which is 
used as food for horses, and supposed to be a remedy 
and preventive against worms. 
The rice grounds or fields are laid out in squares, 
and surrounded by embankments, to retain the water 
of the rains or streams. After the rains have fallen 
in sufficient quantities to saturate the ground, a seed¬ 
bed is generally planted in one corner of the field, in 
which the rice is sown broadcast, about the month of 
June. The heavy rains take place in August, when 
the fields are plowed, and are soon filled with water. 
The young plants are about this time taken from the 
seed-bed, their tops and roots trimmed, and then plant¬ 
ed in the field by making holes in the ground with 
the fingers and placing four or five sprouts in each 
of them ; in this tedious labor the poor women are 
employed, whilst the males are lounging in their 
houses or in the shade of the trees. 
The harvest for the aquatic rice begins in Decem¬ 
ber. It is reaped with small sickles, peculiar to the 
country, called yatap; to the back of these a small 
stick is fastened, by which they are held, and the 
stalk is forced upon it and cut. The spikes of rice 
are cut with this implement, one by one. In this 
operation, men, women, and children all take part. 
The upland rice requires much more care and labor 
in its cultivation. The land must be plowed three 
or four times, and all the turf and lumps well broken 
up by the harrow. 
During its growth it requires to be weeded two or 
three times, to keep the weeds from choking the crop. 
The seed is sown broadcast in May. This kind of 
rice is harvested in November, and to collect the crop 
is still more tedious than in the other case, for it is 
always gathered earlier, and never reaped, in conse¬ 
quence of the grain not adhering to the ear. If it 
were gathered in any other way, the loss by trans 
portation on the backs of buffaloes and horses, with¬ 
out any covering to the sheaf, would be so great as 
to dissipate a great portion of the crop. 
It appears almost incredible that any people can 
remain in ignorance of a way of preventing so ex¬ 
travagant and wasteful a mode of harvesting. The 
government has been requested to prohibit it on ac¬ 
count of the great expense it gives rise to; but whe¬ 
ther any steps have ever been taken in the matter 1 
did not learn. It is said that not unfrequently a 
third part of the crop is lost, in consequence of the 
scarcity of laborers; while those who are disengaged 
will refuse to work, unless they receive one-third, 
and even one-half of the crop, to be delivered free of 
expense at their houses. This the planters are often 
obliged to give, or lose the whole crop. Nay, unless 
the harvest is a good one, reapers are very unwilling 
to engage to take it even on these terms, and the en¬ 
tire crop is lost. The laborers, during the time ol 
harvest, are supported by the planter, who is during 
that time exposed to great vexation, if not losses. 
The reapers are for the most part composed of the 
idle and vicious part of the population, who go abroad 
over the country to engage themselves in this employ¬ 
ment, which affords a livelihood to the poorer classes; 
for the different periods at which the varieties of rice 
are planted and harvested, gives them work during a 
large portion of the year. 
After the rice is harvested, there are different modes 
of treating it. Some of the proprietors take it home, 
where it is thrown into heaps, and left until it is de¬ 
sirable to separate it from the straw 7 , when it is trod¬ 
den out by men and women with their bare feet. For 
this operation, they usually receive another fifth of 
the rice. 
Others stack it in a wet and green state, which sub¬ 
jects it to heat, from which cause the grain contracts 
a dark color, and an unpleasant taste and smell. The 
natives, however, impute these defects to the wetness 
of the. season. 
The crop of both the low and upland rice, is usu¬ 
ally from thirty to fifty for one : this is on old land ; 
but on that which is newly cleared, or which has 
never been cultivated, the yield is far beyond this. 
In some soils of the latter description, it is said that 
for a chupa (seven cubic inches) planted, the yield 
has been a caban. The former is the two-hundred- 
and-eighth part of the latter. This is not the only 
advantage gained in planting rich lands, but the sav¬ 
ing of labor is equally great; for all that is required 
is to make a hole with the fingers, and place three or 
four grains in it. The upland rice requires but little 
water, and is never irrigated. 
The cultivator in the Philippine Islands is always 
enabled to secure plenty of manure ; for vegetation is 
so luxuriant that by pulling the weeds and laying 
