Agriculture
In years gone by, before so many colonies were opened up all over
the world, the few who, in the Philippines, had the courage to face
the obstacles to agriculture in a primitive country made fairly large
fortunes in the main staple products--sugar and hemp. Prices were then
treble what they have since been, labour was cheaper, because the needs
of the labouring-class were fewer, and, owing to the limited demand
and the rarity of epidemic cattle-disease, buffaloes for tilling were
worth one-eighth of what they cost at the present day. Although the
amount of trade was vastly less, those natives engaged in it were in
sounder positions than the same class generally is now.
Within the last few years there are hundreds who have embarked in
agricultural enterprises with only one-tenth of the capital necessary
to make them successful. A man would start planting with only a few
hundred pesos and a tract of cleared land, without title-deeds, and
consequently of no negotiable value. In the first year he inevitably
fell into the hands of money-lenders, who reasonably stipulated for a
very high rate of interest in view of the absence of guarantees. The
rates of interest on loans under such circumstances varied as a rule
from 12 to 24 per cent. I know a Visayo native who, by way of interest,
commission, and charges, demanded as much as 30 per cent. I need not
refer to the isolated cases which have come to my knowledge of over
100 per cent. being charged. As at the present day agriculture in
the Philippines does not yield 30 per cent. nett profit, it naturally
follows that the money-lender at this rate has to attach the estate
upon which he has made loans, and finally becomes owner of it. In
the meantime, the tiller who has directed the labour of converting a
tract of land into a plantation, simply gets a living out of it. Some
few were able to disencumber their property by paying, year by year,
not only the whole of the nett returns from the plantation, but also
the profits on small traffic in which they may have speculated. It
seldom happened, however, that the native planter was sufficiently
loyal to his financial supporter to do this: on the contrary, although
he might owe thousands of pesos, he would spend money in feasts, and
undertake fresh obligations of a most worthless nature. He would buy
on credit, to be paid for after the next crop, a quantity of paltry
jewellery from the first hawker who passed his way, or let the cash
slip out of his hands at the cock-pit or the gambling-table.
Even the most provident seemed to make no reserve for a bad year, and
the consequence was that in 1887 I think I may safely assert that if
all the Philippine planters had had to liquidate within twelve months,
certainly 50 per cent. of them would have been insolvent. One of
the most hazardous businesses in the Colony is that of advancing to
the native planters, unless it be done with the express intention of
eventually becoming owner of an estate, which is really often the case.
The conditions of land-tenure in Luzon Island under Spanish rule
stood briefly thus:--The owners either held the lands by virtue of
undisturbed possession or by transferable State grant. The tenants--the
actual tillers--were one degree advanced beyond the state of slave
cultivators, inasmuch as they could accumulate property and were free
to transfer their services. They corresponded to that class of farmers
known in France as _metayers_ and amongst the Romans of old as _Coloni
Partiarii_, with no right in the land, but entitled to one-half of its
produce. Like the ancients, they had to perform a number of services
to the proprietor which were not specified in writing, but enforced
by usage. Tenants of this kind recently subsisted--and perhaps
still do--in Scotland (_vide_ "Wealth of Nations," by Adam Smith,
edition of 1886, p. 160). Leases for long periods were exceptional,
and I never heard of compensation being granted for improvements of
Philippine estates. The conditions in Visayas are explained on p. 274.
The value of land suitable for _Sugar-cane_ growing varies
considerably, being dependent on proximity to a port, or sugar-market,
and on quality, facilities for drainage, transport, site, boundaries,
etc.
In the Province of Bulacan, land which in a great measure is exhausted
and yields only an average of 21 tons of cane per acre, was valued
(prior to the American occupation), on account of its nearness to
the capital, at P115 per acre. In Pampanga Province, a little further
north, the average value of land, yielding, say, 30 tons of cane per
acre, was P75 per acre. Still further north, in the Province of Nueva
Ecija, whence transport to the sugar-market is difficult and can only
be economically effected in the wet season by river, land producing
an average of 35 tons of cane per acre would hardly fetch more than
P30 per acre. Railroads will no doubt eventually level these values.
In reality, Bulacan land is priced higher than its intrinsic value as
ascertained by yield and economy of produce-transport. The natives
are, everywhere in the Colony, more or less averse to alienating
real estate inherited from their forefathers, and as Bulacan is one
of the first provinces where lands were taken up, centuries ago, an
attachment to the soil is particularly noticeable. In that province,
as a rule, only genuine necessity, or a fancy price far in excess of
producing-worth, would induce an owner to sell his land.
Land grants were obtainable from the Spanish Government by proving
priority of claim, but the concession was only given after wearisome
delay, and sometimes it took years to obtain the title-deeds. Then
large capital was requisite to utilize the property, the clearance
often costing more than the virgin tract, whilst the eviction of
squatters was a most difficult undertaking: "_J'y suis et j'y reste_,"
thought the squatter, and the grantee had no speedy redress at law. On
the other hand, the soil is so wonderfully rich and fertile that the
study of geoponics and artificial manuring was never thought essential.
The finest sugar-cane producing island in the Archipelago is Negros,
in the Visaya district, between N. latitudes 9 deg. and 11 deg.. The area
of the Island is about equal to that of Porto Rico, but for want of
capital is only about one-half opened up. Nevertheless, it sent to
the Yloilo market in 1892 over 115,000 tons of raw sugar--the largest
crop it has yet produced. In 1850 the Negros sugar yield was 625 tons.
The price of uncleared land there, suitable for sugar-cane cultivation,
in accessible spots, was, say, P35 per acre, and cleared land might
be considered worth about P70 per acre. The yield of sugar-cane may
be estimated at 40 tons per acre on the estates opened up within the
last ten years, whilst the older estates produce per acre nearly 30
tons of cane, but of a quality which gives such a high-class sugar
that it compensates for the decrease in quantity, taking also into
account the economy of manipulating and transporting less bulk.
Otaheiti cane (yellow) is generally planted in Luzon, whilst Java cane
(red) is most common in the southern islands. _Tubo_ is the Tagalog
generic name for sugar-cane.
The following equivalents of Philippine land-measures may be useful,
viz.:--
1 Quinon = 40,000 square varas = 10,000 square brazas.
= 5 cabans = 6.9444 acres = 2.795 hectares.
1 Balita = 4,000 square varas = 1,000 square brazas.
= .69444 acre = .2795 hectare.
1 Loan = 400 square varas = 100 square brazas.
= .06944 acre = .02795 hectare.
1 Square Braza = 3.3611 square English yards.
= 4,355.98 square English inches.
1 Square Vara = .8402 square English yards.
= 1,088.89 square English inches.
1 Acre = 5,760 square varas = 1.44 balitas.
= .72 caban = .404671 hectare.
The average yield of sugar per acre is about as follows, viz.:--
Pampanga Province,
say @ 6 1/2% extraction = 1.95 Tons of Sugar.
Other Northern provinces,
say @ 5 1/2% extraction = 1.65 Tons of Sugar.
Negros Island (with almost exclusively European mills),
say @ 7 1/2% extraction = 2.75 Tons of Sugar.
From Yloilo the sugar is chiefly exported to the United States,
where there is a demand for raw material only from the Philippines
for the purpose of refining, whilst from Manila a certain
quantity of crystal-grain sugar is sent, ready for consumption,
to Spain. Consequently, in the Island of Luzon, a higher class of
machinery is employed. In 1890 there were five private estates, with
vacuum-pans erected, and one refinery, near Manila, (at Malabon). Also
in 1885 the Government acquired a sugar-machinery plant with vacuum-pan
for their model estate at San Ramon in the Province of Zamboanga; the
sugar turned out at the trial of the plant in my presence was equal
to 21 D. S. of that year. Convict labour was employed. During the
Rebellion half the machinery on this estate was destroyed or stolen.
It is a rare thing to see other than European mills in the Island of
Negros, whilst in every other sugar-producing province roughly-made
vertical cattle-mills of wood, or stone (wood in the south and stone
in the north), as introduced by the Chinese, are still in use. With
one exception (at Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija), which was a failure,
the triple-effect refining-plant is altogether unknown in this Colony.
The sugar-estates generally are small. There are not a dozen estates
in the whole Colony which produce over 1,000 tons of raw sugar each
per season. An estate turning out 500 tons of sugar is considered a
large one. I know of one estate which yielded 1,500 tons, and another
1,900 tons in a good season. In the Island of Negros there is no port
suitable for loading ships of large tonnage, and the crops have to
be carried to the Yloilo market, in small schooners loading from 40
to 100 tons (_vide_ p. 263). From the estates to the coast there are
neither canals nor railroads, and the transport is by buffalo-cart.
The highest tablelands are used for cane-planting, which imperatively
requires a good system of drainage. In Luzon Island the output of sugar
would be far greater if more attention were paid to the seasons. The
cane should be cut in December, and the milling should never last over
ten weeks. The new cane-point setting should be commenced a fortnight
after the milling begins, and the whole operation of manufacture
and planting for the new crop should be finished by the middle of
March. A deal of sugar is lost by delay in each branch of the field
labour. In the West Indies the planters set the canes out widely,
leaving plenty of space for the development of the roots, and the
ratoons serve up to from five to twenty years. In the Philippines
the setting of cane points is renewed each year, with few exceptions,
and the planting is comparatively close.
Bulacan sugar-land, being more exhausted than Pampanga land, will
not admit of such close planting, hence Bulacan land can only find
nourishment for 14,300 points per acre, whilst Pampanga land takes
17,800 points on average computation.
In Negros, current sugar is raised from new lands (among the best) and
from lands which are hardly considered suitable for cane-planting. Good
lands are called "new" for three crops in Negros, and during that
period the planting is close, to choke the cane and prevent it becoming
aqueous by too rapid development.
In the Northern Philippines "clayed" sugar (Spanish, _Azucar de pilon_)
is made. The _massecuite_, when drawn from the pans, is turned into
earthenware conic pots containing about 150 lb. weight. When the mass
has set, the pot is placed over a jar (Tagalog, _oya_) into which the
molasses drains. In six months, if allowed to remain over the jar,
it will drain about 20 per cent, of its original weight, but it is
usually sold before that time, if prices are favourable.
The molasses is sold to the distilleries for making Alcohol,
[131] whilst there is a certain demand for it for mixing with the
drinking-water given to Philippine ponies, although this custom is
now falling into disuse, in Manila at least, because molasses is
never given to the American imported horses.
From nine tests which I made with steam machinery, of small capacity,
in different places in the northern provinces, without interfering
with the customary system of manipulating the cane or the adjustment
of the mill rolls, I found the--
Average juice extraction to be 56.37%
Average moisture in the megass on leaving the mill 23.27%
Average amount of dry megass [132] 20.36%
100.00%
The average density of juice in the cane worked off as above was 10
3/4 deg. Beaume.
In Negros the process is very different. The juice is evaporated
in the pan-battery to a higher point of concentration, so that the
molasses becomes incorporated with the saccharine grain. It is then
turned out into a wooden trough, about 8 feet long by 4 feet wide,
and stirred about with shovels, until it has cooled so far as to be
unable to form into a solid mass, or lumps. When quite cold, the few
lumps visible are pounded, and the whole is packed in grass bags
(_bayones_). Sugar packed in this way is deliverable to shippers,
whereas "clayed" sugar can only be sold to the assorters and packers
(_farderos_), who sun-dry it on mats and then bag it after making up
the colour and quality to exporter's sample (_vide_ p. 173).
The Labour system in the Northern Philippines is quite distinct
from that adopted in the South. The plantations in the North are
worked on the co-operative principle (_sistema de inquilinos_). The
landowner divides his estate into tenements (_aparcerias_), each tenant
(_aparcero_) being provided with a buffalo and agricultural implements
to work up the plot, plant, and attend to the cane-growth as if it
were his own property. Wherever the native goes to work he carries the
indispensable bowie-knife (Tagalog, _guloc_; Spanish, _bolo_). When
the cutting-season arrives, one tenant at a time brings in his cane
to the mill, and when the sugar is worked off, usually one-third,
but often as much as one-half of the output, according to arrangement,
belongs to the tenant. The tenant provides the hands required for the
operations of cane-crushing and sugar-making; the cost of machinery
and factory establishment is for the account of the landowner, who
also has to take the entire risk of typhoons, inundations, drought,
locusts, [133] etc.
During the year, whilst the cane is maturing, the tenants receive
advances against their estimated share, some even beyond the real
value, so that, in nearly every case, the full crop remains in the
hands of the estate-owner. In the general working of the plantation
hired day-labour is not required, the tenants, in fact, being
regarded, in every sense, as servants of the owner, who employs them
for whatever service he may need. Interest at 10 to 12 per cent. per
annum is charged upon the advances made in money, rice, stuffs, etc.,
during the year; and on taking over the tenant's share of output,
as against these advances, a rebate on current price of the sugar is
often agreed to.
In the South, plantations are worked on the daily-wages system,
(_sistema de jornal_), and the labourer will frequently exact his
pay for several weeks in advance. Great vigilance is requisite,
and on estates exceeding certain dimensions it is often necessary to
subdivide the management, apportioning it off to overseers, or limited
partners, called "Axas." Both on European and native owners' estates
these _axas_ were often Spaniards. The _axas'_ interest varies on
different properties, but, generally speaking, he is either credited
with one-third of the product and supplied with necessary capital,
or he receives two-thirds of the yield of the land under his care and
finds his own working capital for its tilth, whilst the sunk capital in
land, machinery, sheds, stores, etc., is for the account of the owner.
In 1877 a British company--the "Yengarie"--was started with a large
capital for the purpose of acquiring cane-juice all over the Colony
and extracting from it highly-refined sugar. The works, fitted with
vacuum-pans and all the latest improvements connected with this class
of apparatus, were established at Mandaloyan, about three miles from
Manila up the Pasig River. From certain parts of Luzon Island the
juice was to be conveyed to the factory in tubes, and the promoter,
who visited Cebu Island, proposed to send schooners there fitted with
tanks, to bring the defecated liquid to Mandaloyan. The project was
an entire failure from the beginning (for the ordinary shareholders
at least), and in 1880 the machinery plant was being realized and
the company wound up.
The classification of sugar in the South differs from that in the
North. In the former market it is ranked as Nos. 0, 1, 2, 3 Superior
and Current. For the American market these qualities are blended,
to make up what is called "Assorted Sugar," in the proportion
of one-eighth of No. 1, two-eighths of No. 2, and five-eighths
of No. 3. In the North the quality is determined on the Dutch
standard. The New York and London markets fix the prices, which are
cabled daily to the foreign merchants in Manila.
From a series of estimates compiled by me I find that to produce
7,000 to 10,000 piculs, the cost laid down in Yloilo would be, say,
P2.00 per picul (P32.00 per ton); the smaller the output the larger
is the prime cost, and _vice-versa._
Fortunes have been made in this Colony in cane-sugar, and until the
end of 1883 sugar-planting paid the capitalist and left something to
the borrowing planter; now it pays only interest on capital. From
the year 1884 the subsidized beet-root sugar manufacturers on the
continent of Europe turned out such enormous quantities of this article
that the total yield of sugar exceeded the world's requirements. The
consequence was that the cane-sugar manufacture declined almost at
the same ratio as that of beet-root advanced, as will be seen from
the subjoined figures:--
Tons.
The world's production in 1880; cane sugar 3,285,714
The world's production in 1880; beet sugar 1,443,349
=========
4,729,063
Tons.
The world's production in 1887, cane sugar 2,333,004
The world's production in 1887, beet sugar 2,492,610
=========
4,825,614
Tons.
Beet sugar Increase 1,049,261
Cane sugar Decrease 952,710
The world's output was Increased 96,551
Since the above date, however, the output of Beet Sugar has become
about double that of Cane Sugar, as will be seen from the following
figures, viz.:--
World's Production. Season of 1899-1900. Season of 1900-1901.
Tons. Tons.
Cane sugar 2,867,041 3,425,022
Beet sugar 5,607,944 6,096,858
========= =========
8,474,985 9,521,880
On estates already established at old prices, cane-sugar production
pays an interest on capital, but the capitalist is not necessarily the
planter and nominal owner, as has been explained. Since the American
occupation the cost of labour, living, material, live-stock, and all
that the planter or his estate need, has increased so enormously that
the colonist should ponder well before opening up a new estate for
cane-growing in world-wide competition. For figures of Sugar Shipments
_vide_ Chap, xxxi., "Trade Statistics."
_Rice_ (_Oryza_) being the staple food of the Filipinos, it is
cultivated more or less largely in every province of the Colony. Its
market value fluctuates considerably according to the stocks in
hand and the season of the year. It appears to be the only branch
of agriculture in which the lower classes of natives take a visible
pleasure and which they understand thoroughly. In 1897 about 80,000
tons were raised.
The natives measure and sell rice (Tagalog, _bigas_) and paddy
(Tagalog, _palay_) by the caban and its fractions; the caban dry
measure is as follows, viz:--
4 Apatans = 1 Chupa; 8 Chupas = 1 Ganta; 25 Gantas = 1 Caban,
the equivalent of which in English measure is thus, viz:--
1 Atapan = .16875 of a pint.
1 Chupa = .675 of a pint.
1 Ganta = 2 quarts, 1 2/5 pints.
1 Caban = 16 gallons, 3 quarts, 1 pint.
Rice of foreign importation is weighed and quoted by the picul of
133 1/3 lbs. avoirdupois, subdivided as follows, viz.:--
16 Taels = 1 Catty; 10 Catties = 1 Chinanta; 10 Chinantas = 1 Picul.
Thirty years ago rice was exported from the Philippines, but now not
even sufficient is produced for home consumption, hence this commodity
is imported in large quantities from Siam, Lower Burmah, and Cochin
China to supply the deficiency. In 1897 nearly 65,000 tons of rice
were brought from those countries, and since the American occupation
the annual receipts of foreign rice have increased to fivefold. Sual
(Pangasinan), on the Gulf of Lingayen, was, thirty-five years ago,
a port of importance, whence rice was shipped to China (_vide_
p. 261). This falling off of rice-production did not, however,
imply a loss to the population in Spanish times when imported rice
was sold cheaply, because, in many provinces, land formerly used for
rice-growing was turned to better account for raising other crops
which paid better in a fairly good market.
The natives everywhere continue to employ the primitive method of
treating rice-paddy for domestic and local use. The grain is generally
husked by them in a large mortar hewn from a block of _molave_,
or other hardwood, in which it is beaten by a pestle. Sometimes
two or three men or women with wooden pestles work at the same
mortar. This mortar is termed, in Tagalog dialect, _Luzon_, the name
given to the largest island of the group. However, I have seen in
the towns of Candava (Pampanga), Pagsanjan (La Laguna), near Calamba
in the same province, in Naig (Cavite), in Camarines Province, and
a few other places, an attempt to improve upon the current system
by employing an ingenious wooden mechanical apparatus worked by
buffaloes. It consisted of a vertical shaft on which was keyed a
bevel-wheel revolving horizontally and geared into a bevel pinion
fixed upon a horizontal shaft. In this shaft were adjusted pins,
which, at each revolution, caught the corresponding pins in vertical
sliding columns. These columns (five or six)--being thereby raised
and allowed to fall of their own weight when the raising-pins had
passed on--acted as pounders, or pestles, in the mortars placed below
them. Subsequently, notable progress was made in Camarines Province
by Spaniards, who, in 1888, employed steam power, whilst in Pagsanjan
(La Laguna) animal motive power was substituted by that of steam. Also,
near Calamba, in the same province, water power was eventually employed
to advantage. In Negros, near the village of Candaguit, there was
one small rice-machinery plant worked by steam power, brought by a
Spaniard from Valencia in Spain. Presumably it was not a success,
as it remained only a short time in use.
Finally the Manila-Dagupan Railway gave a great stimulus to
the rice-husking and pearling industry, which was taken up by
foreigners. There are now important rice steam-power mills established
at Calumpit, Gerona, Moncada, Bayambang, and other places along the
line from Calumpit towards Dagupan, which supply large quantities of
cleaned rice to Manila and other provinces, where it is invariably
more highly appreciated than the imported article. Also, at Nueva
Caceres (Camarines), in 1896, a large steam-power rice mill was being
worked by Don Manuel Pardo, who had a steamer specially constructed
in Hong-Kong for the transport of his output to the provincial markets.
The average yield of cleaned rice from the paddy is 50 per cent.,
whilst no special use is found for the remaining 50 per cent. of coarse
paddy-bran. The fine bran, almost dust (called in Tagalog _Tiki Tiki_),
serves, however, for several purposes on the farm. The rice grain
which is broken in the husking is known as _Pinaua_ in Tagalog.
The customary charge for husking and winnowing a caban of paddy is
12 1/2 cents, so that as two cabans of paddy give one caban of rice,
the cost of this labour would be 25 cents per caban of rice.
The average amount of rice consumed by a working man per day is
estimated at four chupas, or, say, close upon eight cabans per annum,
which, on the old reckoning--that is to say in Spanish times, taking
an average price of 1 peso per caban of paddy = 2 pesos per caban
of rice, plus 25 cents for cleaning = 2.25 pesos per caban of clean
rice--amounts to 18 pesos per annum. A native's further necessities
are fish, an occasional piece of buffalo, betel-nut, tobacco, six
yards of cotton print-stuff, and payment of taxes, all of which
(including rice) amounted to say P50 in the year, so that a man
earning 20 cents per day during 300 days lived well, provided he had
no unforeseen misfortunes. Cock-fighting and gambling of course upset
the calculation.
There are, it is said, over 20 different kinds of rice-paddy. These
are comprised in two common groups--the one is called _Macan_ rice
(Spanish, _Arroz de Semillero_) which is raised on alluvial soil
on the lowlands capable of being flooded conveniently with water,
and the other has the general denomination (in Luzon Is.) of _Paga_
or _Dumali_ (Spanish, _Arroz de Secano_) and is cultivated on high
lands and slopes where inundation is impracticable.
The _Macan_, or low-land rice, is much the finer quality, the grain
being usually very white, although _Macan_ rice is to be found
containing up to 25 per cent. of red grain, known in Tagalog as
_Tangi_, or _Malagcquit_. The white grain is that most esteemed. The
yield of grain varies according to the quality of the soil. In the
north of Bulacan Province the average crop of _Macan_ rice may be
taken at 80 cabans of grain for one caban of seed. In the south of
the same province the return reaches only one-half of that. In the
east of Pampanga Province, in the neighbourhood of Arayat, Magalang,
and Candava villages, the yield is still higher, giving, in a good
year, as much as 100 cabans for one of seed. In Negros a return of
50 cabans to one may be taken as a fair average.
_Paga_ rice always shows a large proportion of red grain, and the
return is, at the most, half that of _Macan_ yield, but whilst rarely
more than one crop per annum is obtained from low-lands (_Macan_
rice)--taking the average throughout the Islands--in most places up
to three crops of _Paga_ rice can be obtained.
Besides the ordinary agricultural risks to which rice cultivation is
exposed, a special danger often presents itself. The _Paga_ rice is
frequently attacked by flies (Tagalog, _Alutangia_), which suck the
flower just before seeding, and the person in charge of the plantation
has to stroll in the evenings and mornings among the setting to whisk
off these insects with a bunch of straws on the end of a stick, or
catch them with a net to save the grain. Both _Macan_ and _Paga_
are sometimes damaged by an insect, known in Ilocos Province as
_Talibatab_, which eats through the stalk of the plant before maturity,
causing the head, or flower, to droop over and wither, but this does
not happen every season.
To plant _Macan_ rice the grain or seed is sown in the month of June
on a piece of land called the "seeding-plot," where, in six weeks,
it attains a height of about one foot, and, provided the rains have
not failed, it is then pulled up by the roots and transplanted, stem
by stem, in the flooded fields. Each field is embanked with earth
(Tagalog, _pilapil_) so that the water shall not run off, and just
before the setting is commenced, the plough is passed for the last
time. Then men, women, and children go into the inundated fields
with their bundles of rice-plant and stick the stalks in the soft
mud one by one. It would seem a tedious operation, but the natives
are so used to it that they quickly cover a large field. In four
months from the transplanting the rice is ripe, but as at the end of
November there is still a risk of rain falling, the harvest is usually
commenced at the end of December, after the grain has hardened and
the dry season has fairly set in. If, at such an abnormal period, the
rains were to return (and such a thing has been known), the sheaves,
which are heaped for about a month to dry, would be greatly exposed
to mildew owing to the damp atmosphere. After the heaping--at the
end of January--the paddy, still in the straw, is made into stacks
(Tagalog, _Mandala_). In six weeks more the grain is separated from
the straw, and this operation has to be concluded before the next
wet season begins--say about the end of April. On the Pacific coast
(Camarines and Albay), where the seasons are reversed (_vide_ p. 22),
rice is planted out in September and reaped in February.
The separation of the grain is effected in several ways. Some beat
it out with their feet, others flail it, whilst in Cavite Province
it is a common practice to spread the sheaves in a circular enclosure
within which a number of ponies and foals are trotted.
In Negros Island there is what is termed _Ami_ rice--a small crop
which spontaneously rises in succession to the regular crop after
the first ploughing.
It seldom happens that a "seeding-plot" has to be allowed to run to
seed for want of rain for transplanting, but in such an event it is
said to yield at the most tenfold.
Nothing in Nature is more lovely than a valley of green half-ripened
rice-paddy, surrounded by verdant hills. Rice harvest-time is a lively
one among the poor tenants in Luzon, who, as a rule, are practically
the landowner's partners working for half the crop, against which they
receive advances during the year. Therefore, cost of labour may be
taken at 50 per cent. plus 10 per cent. stolen from the owner's share.
Paddy-planting is not a lucrative commercial undertaking, and few
take it up on a large scale. None of the large millers employing
steam power are, at the same time, grain cultivators. There is this
advantage about the business, that the grower is less likely to be
confronted with the labour difficulty, for the work of planting out
and gathering in the crop is, to the native and his family, a congenial
occupation. Rice-cultivation is, indeed, such a poor business for the
capitalist that perhaps a fortune has never been made in that sole
occupation, but it gives a sufficient return to the actual tiller
of his own land. The native woman is often quite as clever as her
husband in managing the estate hands, for her tongue is usually as
effective as his rattan. I venture to say there are not six white
men living who, without Philippine wives, have made fortunes solely
in agriculture in these Islands.