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PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
1327
English and Spanish are both used as official languages and are widely spoken in the Islands. The English language is becoming the dominant language. There are six established native dialects with some printed literature, namely, the Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano, Bicol, Pangasinan and Pampangan.
AGRICULTURE
The Philippine Islands is an agricultural country. The people depend chiefly on domestic agricultural products for their livelihood, and approximately 88 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 3,643,000 hectares, or 12 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 is approximately one and three quarter million hectares. Considerable quantities of this cereal, however, 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. 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 drouglits, 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 cul- tivated 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 the Abaca 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, Abaca fibre 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.
Coconut palms are grown extensively and 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 and in Cotabuto, Mindanao. Sugar-cane thrives well, principally in the island of Negros. The most noteworthy feature or sugar-cane growing and sugar manufacturing is the increase in the number of sugar centrals during recent years. The extension of the cultivated area and the introduc- tion of tractors and other farm machinery of good varieties, use of fertilizers and proper culture have largely brought about the increase in production.
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.
Gold and coal are still the two leading mineral products of the islands. In quartz mining, the Benguet and Masbate districts have been consistent producers for a number of years. In the dredging field new operations have recently begun in the Lianga district of eastern Mindanao, in addition to the well known Paracale district. The native furnaces of Bulacan continue to be the only source of iron production. Other metallic deposits worthy of consideration are the copper of Mancayan and Suyoc; iron of Surigao and Calambayanga Island; manganese of Ilocos Norte and Masbate; lead and zinc of Masbate and Marinduque, and platinum of Mindanao.
Coal is being produced from Cebu, Mindanao and Batan. A cement plant was completed in Cebu in 1923 by a company subsidized by the Philippine Government. Exploratory drilling for petroleum in Bondoc Peninsula encountered slight indications of petroleum and natural gas but the quantity is not sufficient for commercial ex- ploitation. Several geological exploration leases for petroleum have also been taken up in Leyte and other places. Other non-metallic deposits that have been undergo- ing development are the bituminous rock of Leyte, asbestos of Ilocos Norte, and the guano and phosphate rock deposits of Capiz, Pangasinan, Mindoru, Tayabas and several other provinces.