Agriculture--The Chief Industry.
The land is the mainstay of the Philippines, and farming is the native
occupation. Manufacture is a diversion to which the natives do not
take kindly. The only industrial art that has made any progress is
the rolling of tobacco into cigars and cigarettes. Many thousands
of people are engaged in this occupation at Manila, but, otherwise,
manufacture is almost at a standstill. A little cordage is made;
some straw or split-bamboo hats are fashioned and shipped; in some
provinces split-cane and Neto hats and straw mats are made. Iloilo
yields a rough cloth,--sinamay, made from selected hemp fibre. Piña
muslin, made of pure pine-leaf fibre, and husi, of mixed pine-leaf and
hemp, are fabricated. Those, with a few other articles, make up the
native manufactured products. They do not occupy the attention of the
people, the greater part of the population getting their livelihood
from the fields.
Plantation life is the industrial unit of the islands. The soil is
divided up into plantations, large and small, according to the capital
and enterprise of the planter. As a rule, the planters are of the Malay
race, and the work of the fields is done by other Malays, as many as
five or six hundred being employed on large plantations. The laborers
live in little bamboo houses, the planters furnishing them both food
and clothing. The food consists of rice and fish,--very cheap provender
in the Philippines,--and the clothing is of a primitive character,
that costs little. Yet, at the end of the season, the laborer has
usually exhausted his wages and may be in debt to the planter.
On the other hand, though the planter holds the land, he is
generally obliged to borrow the capital to work it. This he obtains
from a middleman, who stands between him and the great merchants,
the exporters of the island-produce. The middlemen are generally
mestizos. They contract for the crop in advance, on behalf of the rich
exporters, from whom they obtain the money lent to the planters. This
capital is lent at an interest-rate of from ten to twelve per
cent. They, in turn, lend it to the planters at a considerable
advance,--say, twenty to thirty, and often as much as fifty, per
cent. I have heard of even one hundred per cent. being demanded. Thus
the planter is ground between the upper and nether millstone,--the
exporter and the middlemen. They alone make any money, the producer
being normally in debt, as his laborers are likewise to him.
The Principal Products of the Colony.
The products of the islands are various, including maize, rice, cotton,
coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, the cocoanut, the abacá, or manila hemp
plant, and a large number of dye-woods, medicinal, and other useful
plants, such as ebony, sapan-wood, tamarind, bamboo, numerous palms,
fibrous plants, etc. But I am now concerned only with the agricultural
products, and shall therefore confine this chapter to a consideration
of two of the more important--rice and sugar.
In former years, the few that faced the obstacles to agriculture in an
unworked country succeeded in obtaining fair returns in wealth from
the cultivation of the main staples. But those palmy days exist no
longer: prices have declined to one-third their former level, while
the wages of the laborers have risen. The buffalo, the indispensable
aid of the farmer, could then be obtained for one-fifth its present
cost, on account of the limited demand. Trade in those days was much
less than at present, but the native producers and traders occupied
a sounder position, and comfort existed, where penury now prevails.
Of late years, hundreds have gone into agriculture with much too little
capital. They hold the land, but frequently without the deeds to show
for it. Hence, their property is not negotiable, and they are thrown
into the hands of the money-lender, who squeezes the life-blood from
the unlucky planter. As agriculture yields less than thirty per cent.,
and this or more has to be paid in interest on capital, the contract is
likely to end in the money-lender getting the land. Few of the planters
succeed in saving their estate and throwing off their load of debt.
The Cultivation of Sugar-cane.
The species of sugar-cane cultivated in the Philippines (saccharum
violaceum) differs from that grown in the west, but it is the same as
that found throughout Malaysia and Polynesia generally. The culture and
manufacture are conducted in a very slovenly fashion, consequently
the sugar produced is coarse of grain and poor in quality. The
yield, however, is large, and leaves, after the demands of the
islands are supplied, some 250,000 tons annually for export. With
proper cultivation this could be very much increased and its quality
greatly improved.
The culture of the cane extends through the islands of Negros,
Panay, Cebú, Luzon, and, in some measure, throughout the entire
Archipelago. The yellow variety is grown in Pampanga (Luzon), the
purple in Panay and Negros. The price of cane-land varies considerably,
according to its facilities for drainage, transportation, and the
like. Thus, in the province of Bulacan, adjoining Manila, whose soil
has been exhausted by long cultivation,--the yield being but 20 tons
per acre,--land is held at the high figure of $115 per acre. In the
more distant province of Pampanga, land can be had for $75, though
the yield per acre is 30 tons. Nueva Eciji, still farther away, and
presenting difficulties of transportation, yields 35 tons to the acre,
yet the land-price is little over $30. The development of an extensive
railroad-system would change all this.
The high price of land in Bulacan is due mainly to sentimental
considerations. The cane plantations there were laid out centuries
ago, and have been held in the same families for many generations. In
consequence, the natives cling to them with the strength of hereditary
affection, and will part with the family estates only for fancy
prices. Nature has made the soil of the Philippines so wonderfully
rich and fertile, that artificial fertilizers are never employed, the
land being expected, year after year, and century after century, to do
its duty and yield its full return. In view of these considerations,
it need hardly be said that American capital and enterprise would
make a remarkable change in the land.
The finest sugar-cane region is the island of Negros, in the Visaya
district. This island is about equal to Porto Rico in size. The
culture of the cane began there about 1850, in which year the crop
was 625 tons. Not more than half its area is cultivated, from lack
of capital, but it now sends to the port of Iloilo over 80,000 tons
of sugar for exportation. Uncleared sugar-land there is held at $35
per acre, cleared land at $70, the average yield being estimated at
40 tons per acre on new, and 30 tons on old, estates. But the latter
give sugar of much higher grade, and need less labor in handling,
so that there is no loss in the value of the crop.
Methods of Manufacturing Sugar.
The process of manufacture differs in the north and the south. In
Negros the cane-juice is evaporated to that point of concentration
in which the molasses is incorporated with the grain. Then the liquid
is placed in wooden troughs of about eight by four feet in size, and
stirred with shovels until cooled sufficiently not to form a solid
mass. When cold, the lumps are pounded and broken up, and the whole
is packed in grass-bags for shipment. In the north the process is
carried further, efforts being made to get rid of the molasses. When
the boiled mass has set, the pots containing it are put over pots
into which the molasses drains. If left thus for six months, twenty
per cent. of the original weight will drain off. The molasses is
sold to distillers to make alcohol, and there is some demand for it
to mix with water for horses.
The Iloilo sugar generally comes to the United States, being shipped
in the raw state, to be refined there. In Manila the manufacture of
sugar has been more developed, and a quantity of crystal grain is
produced there for export to Spain. The old method of grinding the
cane, introduced by the Chinese, consists in the use of two rough
vertical cutting mills,--cylinders of wood being used in the south;
of stone in the north. These are fitted with wooden teeth, between
which the grain is crushed. Mills of this primitive kind are still in
use in parts of the country, but are being superseded by iron rollers
sent from England, and, like the former, revolved by buffaloes. Steam
mills are also being introduced. In Negros, where foreign influence
is predominant, nearly all the mills are of European make.
It may be said, further, in this connection, that the sugar-estates
are generally small, not a dozen in the country yielding more
than 1,000 tons of raw sugar a year. One that yields 500 tons is
declared large. And the lack of transportation, too, greatly checks
enterprise. In Negros there are no canals or railroads to the coast,
and the annual crop needs to be painfully hauled in buffalo carts, to
be loaded on schooners, for carriage to the port of Iloilo. Buffaloes
on this island, five years old, bring $30. In Luzon they can be
bought for half that price. The wages paid to laborers average about
one and a half dollars weekly. But, in estimating the comparative
comfort to be derived from this, we must consider the low price of
food and clothing, and the primitive habits of the islanders.
The highest table-lands are most suitable for cane-planting,
good drainage being a necessity of the situation. The shoots are
planted in February, and the cane is cut in the following December
or January. In the West Indies the canes are planted widely, and the
ratoons, or root-stocks, last from five to twenty years, sending up
new shoots annually. In the Philippines, however, the planting is
renewed annually, the canes being set much closer. After cutting,
the milling should be done in ten weeks, delay causing much loss in
sugar. The whole process of milling and planting should be completed
by the middle of March, the remainder of the year being left to the
growth and culture of the crop.
The Several Systems of Labor.
In the north the co-operative principle of labor is largely employed,
each tenant being provided with the necessary buffaloes and implements,
and attending to the cane as if it were his own. He provides the hands
for cane-crushing and sugar-making, while the land-owner supplies other
necessaries, and has to take the risk of typhoons, droughts, locusts,
and the like. The tenants receive, as their share, from a third to a
half of the crop, according to the bargain made. Nevertheless, they
are generally in debt to the owner and are looked upon as his servants.
In the south the plantations are worked on the wage system. Here
great vigilance is needed to keep the men properly to their tasks,
overseers being employed, who have an interest in the crop. The
overseer in some instances provides his own capital, and receives
two-thirds of the yield as his share. In 1877 a British company,
with large capital, organized, to buy the cane-juice and to extract
from it highly-refined sugar. Every preparation was made, but from the
first the enterprise was a failure, and the concern wound up in 1880,
the stockholders suffering severely for their faith. Yet fortunes have
been made in Philippine sugar, and until 1883 the crop could usually be
depended on to pay a good profit to the capitalist and leave something
for the borrower. The custom introduced in Europe, in 1884, of paying
subsidies to the beet-root cultivator, proved ruinous to the islanders,
and interest on capital is now the only return to be looked for.
The Rice Crop.
Turning now from the sugar to the rice crop, I may say that it is the
staple food of the people, the crop upon which the very existence of
the people depends. It is grown in every province, rice-cultivation
being the only branch of agriculture that the people thoroughly
understand, and into which they enter with the zest of evident
enjoyment. Rice, a native plant of the East, has from time immemorial
been the leading food-product of all the nations of Eastern Asia. The
wild plant, from which all the cultivated varieties have been derived,
is still plentiful in the marshy, tropical countries of southern Asia
and northern Australia; while the people of India, China, and the
islands of the ocean live very largely on this nutritive grain. It
is known by as many as 1,300 different local names, and it is said
that Bengal alone has displayed 4,000 distinct forms of rice. These
differences are in color, shape, and size, and may be all referred to
a few well-marked varieties of Oryza sativa, the rice plant. In India
and the Philippines rice in the husk is called paddy, and this word
comes constantly into play in speaking of the cultivation of the plant.
Formerly, rice was the main crop of the Philippines; a considerable
quantity being exported. Twenty years ago Sual was an important
port for the shipment of rice to China. It has now declined to an
insignificant village. In fact, the extension of sugar culture has
so reduced that of rice, that not enough is now produced for use, and
large quantities are imported from Siam, Burmah, and China. Pangasinan
is still a large rice-growing province, but all its product is consumed
within the country. Sugar is a much better-paying crop, its minimum
profit being equal to the maximum profit on rice. Rice-planting, in
fact, is not profitable, and few carry it on largely; yet, inasmuch
as it is necessary for the subsistence of the populace, some degree
of attention compels its culture.
Methods of Rice-cultivation.
There are over twenty different kinds of rice-paddy grown in the
Philippines. These constitute two groups,--the highland rice, grown in
localities where inundation cannot be used, and the lowland, with which
inundation is easy. The latter, known as Macan, is of much the finer
quality, the most esteemed variety being that of white grain. Paga,
or highland rice, is in large proportion of red grain. Its return is
but half that of the Macan rice, but only one crop of the latter can be
grown annually, while usually three crops of Paga rice are raised. One
difficulty in Paga rice-cultivation is the presence of a fly that
sucks the flower and prevents seeding. These the planters whisk off
morning and evening with a bunch of straw, tied to the end of a stick.
The Macan grain is sown in June, in a plot set aside for seeding,
and saturated with water until it is a mass of mud. Here in six weeks
the plants grow to the height of a foot. They are then pulled up by
the roots and transplanted in the flooded fields, in which the final
growth is to be attained. Around these fields banks of earth are raised
to prevent the water from flowing off. The men raise and separate
the plants, and the women set them out again, one plant at a time,
wading through the soft mud, in which they often sink to the knees. The
process seems a tedious one, but I have often been surprised to see the
rapidity with which the natives perform it. It is a process in which
they are thoroughly trained, and at which they are remarkably quick.
Four months more are needed for the ripening of the grain, during
which the fields are kept clear of weeds, the natives wading back and
forth through the mud in their task. After cutting and heaping, the
paddy is made into stacks. In six weeks more the grain is separated
from the straw by treading or by the use of the flail, or by causing
ponies to trot over it. It may be said that there is nothing in
nature more beautiful than a valley of green ripening rice in the
midst of verdant hills. In the flood of rich color beneath my eyes,
I have gazed upon such a scene with inexpressible delight.
Primitive Machines, and Importance of the Rice Crop.
No rice-husking, winnowing or pearling-machines are in use in the
Philippines other than some small ones for domestic use. The great
number of kinds of rice-paddy hinders their use on a large scale,
since the mill adapted to one field would not clean the crop of
another. The grain is generally husked in a large hard-wood mortar,
where it is beaten with a pestle, several men and women at times
working over one mortar. There is also in use a primitive wooden mill
worked by buffaloes. In this a series of pins engage with each other,
causing a column to lift and fall, thereby serving as a pestle as it
falls. Steam and water-power have recently been brought into use in
some localities.
It is said that one quinon (about seven acres) of land will yield
from 250 to 300 cavans (about 96 pounds each) of rice, but the yield
could be greatly increased if a system of irrigation were generally
in use. At present, the dependence is largely on the rains. The yield
from seed varies from 40 to 100 grains of crop to one seed, 50 grains
being a good average. A family of five persons will consume about
250 pounds of rice per month. It is used in almost every native dish,
and takes the place of bread. The paddy, or unhulled rice, is to feed
horses, cattle, and fowls.
It may be said in conclusion, that the rice and sugar planters have
many insect enemies to contend against. One of the worst is the locust,
which makes its appearance at times in overwhelming multitudes, and
whose ravages I have elsewhere described. In some degree it replaces
the food it destroys, the natives cooking and eating their foes,
and in some districts, looking upon them as a luxury whose coming is
worth praying for.
The average annual production of rice is a million and a half piculs,
and almost a million piculs are imported.