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PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
AGRICULTURE
The Philippine Islands is an agricultural country. The people depend chiefly on domestic agricultural products for their livelihood, and approximately ninty per cent. of the total exports of the Islands is made up of the produce of the farms. The soil is fertile to a degree, being for the most part volcanic in origin and exceedingly rich in all varieties of sedimentary deposits. The total area of cultivated lands in the Philip- pines at the present time is estimated at 3,005,322 hectares, or 10.14 per cent. of the entire area of the country.
Rice is the staple food-product of the inhabitants of the Islands. It is their most widely cultivated crop. The area devoted to its cultivation in 1919 was 1,381,339 hec- tares, as compared with 1,368,140 for 1918. The production in 1918 and 1919 shows a great increase over the pre-war output, and correspondingly imports have diminished. In spite of this, considerable quantities of this cereal are still imported, chiefly from French Indo-China.
Through the efforts of the Bureau of Agriculture local farmers are realizing the advantages of scientific methods in rice farming, Seed selection is given due emphasis. At present the use of tractors and other modern implements is being experimented with and the result is a notable success. Several irrigation systems are now completed, many more are in process of construction, and others are being projected. This is bound in the near future to do away with the ravages of droughts, which are of periodical occurrence, and at the same time make feasible the growing of two or three crops a year in the rice sections of the archipelago. The extension of cultivated areas is also receiving due attention from the Government and the local farmers.
Manila hemp, which the Philippines supplies to the world as first-class cordage material, is produced from the leaf stalks of a plant thriving in the Islands. The fibre is also used for making binder twine, and from the old disintegrated Manila ropes is made the well-known and much-used Manila paper. In the Philippines, hemp is extensively used in the manufacture of cloth. In the making of baskets, slippers, mats and other articles, the fibre has been tried with excellent results. Within the last few years a very important use for the fibre has been found in the manufacture of hats. In 1919, 515,563 hectares of land were planted to hemp, the total production therefrom being 161,731,649 kilos. Of this quantity, 121,247,668 kilos, valued at P53,703,052, were exported.
Coconut palms are grown extensively in the Philippine Islands. Originally appreciated for its raw food value and later as a material for soap manufacture, the coconut assumed more importance when it began to be used in the manufacture of vegetable butter and other kindred edible products from the oil and dried nut, usually referred to as copra. Coconut oil is also used as an ingredient in the manufacture of many toilet articles, such as creams and poniades.
Tobacco can be grown in practically all sections of the Philippines. The best and choicest class is raised in the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela in northern Luzon. Of all Philippine crops, tobacco demands the greatest care in its planting, cultivation, curing and classification. This same care under strict Government supervision is also exercised in the factories which turn out the well-known Manila cigars. In 1919, 74,019 hectares were under cultivation and 57,720,413 kilos of leaf tobacco were produced.
Sugar-cane thrives well, principally in the island of Negros. The most note- worthy feature or sugar-cane growing and sugar manufacturing is the increase in the number of sugar centrals during recent years. The area now devoted to the cultivation of sugar-cane is approximately 205,511 hectares. The extension of the cultivated area and the introduction of tractors and other farm machinery have largely brought about the increase in production. In 1919, 411,272,659 kilos of sugar, valued at P73,190,054, were produced in the Islands.
Among the other crops with great agricultural possibilities are maguey, sisal, corn, coffee, rubber, kapok, cacao, cassava, peanut, vegetables and fruits. Cattle-raising as an agricultural pursuit is also very promising.
MINES
Mining in the Philippines is still in its infant stage of development. However, in placer-mining the rich Paracale district and northern Mindanao have passed the experimental stage. Nueva Ecija and Mindoro are proving decidedly fertile as the result of mining tests carried on there. Quartz mining has been shown to be successful in Benguet and Masbate, where modern mills have been installed and are now operating.