The Manila school of agriculture was created by royal decree of
November 29, 1887, and established at Manila, July 2, 1889. [167]
The objects of the school were: the theoretical and practical
education of skilled farmers; the education of overseers; the
promotion of agricultural development in the Philippines, by means
of observation, experiment, and investigation. In order to enter
officially into the study of scientific agriculture, it was necessary
to be vouched for by a valid certificate, to be of good health, and
to have studied and have passed examinations in some institution of
secondary education, or other properly accredited institution. It
opened with 82 students, but in the following year there were only
50. Agricultural stations were established in Isabela de Luzón,
Ilocos, Albay, Cebú, Iloílo, Leyte, Mindanao, and Joló. Those of
Joló and Leyte were abolished by royal decrees, dated September 10,
1888, and December 7, 1891, respectively. The course of studies was as
follows: First year--elements of agriculture; mathematical problems;
practical work in topography; linear and topographical drawing. Second
year--special methods of cultivation; elements of stockbreeding;
agricultural arts; practical work in cultivation and the industries;
setting up and management of machines; drawing applied to machines
and to plants. Third year--elements of rural economy; accounts and
agricultural legislation; general practical work in cultivation,
stockbreeding, and industry; drawing of plans. The education of the
overseers was carried on in the agricultural stations, which have
been created for the purpose of doing technical work in analyses of
earth, systems of irrigation, studies of seed, acclimatization of
vegetables and animals, study and treatment of epizootic, epiphysis,
etc. The professors in the school were agricultural engineers and their
assistants skilled farmers. The expenses were defrayed entirely by the
government, but the direction was in the hands of the priests. The
university of Santo Tomás, both of itself, and through the Ateneo
Municipal, issued certificates to skilled farmers and surveyors, for
which it required mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural history,
agriculture, topography, and linear and topographical drawing. The
government school cannot be said to have been a success, for the
Filipinos, while inclined to readily adopt the professions, have
never shown any marked inclination for industrial pursuits.
Since American occupancy. By section 19 of act 74 of the Philippine
Commission it was provided that there should be established and
maintained a school of agriculture in the island of Negros, and by
section 24 of the same act, the sum of $15,000 was appropriated out
of any funds in the insular treasury not otherwise appropriated for
the organization and maintenance of the school for the year 1901. It
was suggested that such a school be established on the government
plantation at La Carlota, but it is an inaccessible place, and it
was proposed to find a more convenient place. The organization of
the school was delayed in order to bring it into connection with the
proposed experimental sugar plantation in Negros. By act no. 512,
passed November 10, 1902, the work of establishing an agricultural
college was transferred from the bureau of public instruction to the
bureau of agriculture, and the government farm at La Granja in western
Negros was set aside as a site for this school, and for an experiment
station to be conducted in connection with it. After a long delay,
plans were submitted for a main building to contain laboratories,
class-rooms, offices, and also a dormitory. Twenty-five thousand
dollars were appropriated for its construction. Arrangements were
made, however, by which certain teachers in the provinces were to
be employed to coöperate with the bureau of agriculture in making
various experiments and in gathering such information as might be
useful in promoting knowledge of the agricultural conditions of the
islands. At the same time the law establishing secondary instruction
in provincial schools provided for the extension of the curriculum
beyond the ordinary course of high-school instruction and instruction
in agriculture, which meant that the provincial schools might, on
a larger or smaller scale, as the authorities of the province might
determine, carry on instruction and experiments in such branches of
agriculture as might be supposed to be adapted to the conditions in
the province in which any provincial school was established. March 25,
1903, a director of the experiment station was appointed in order
that he might take charge of the government property on the estate
and begin the work of getting land under cultivation. [168]