RESOURCES OF THE PHILIPPINES.
At the Spanish conquest--Rice--the lowest use the land
can be put to--How the Americans are misled--Substitutes
for rice--Wheat formerly grown--Tobacco--Compania
General de Tabacos--Abaca--Practically a monopoly of the
Philippines--Sugar--Coffee--Cacao--Indigo--Cocoa-nut oil--Rafts of
nuts--Copra--True localities for cocoa palm groves--Summary--More
sanguine forecasts--Common-sense view.
Agricultural.
The great wealth of the Archipelago is undoubtedly to be found in
the development of its agriculture. Although the Central and Ilocan
Mountains in Luzon and parts of Mindanao are rich in gold, it is the
fertile land, the heavy rainfall and the solar heat, that must be
utilized to permanently enrich the country. The land is there and the
labour is there, and all that is wanting is capital, and a settled
government that will make roads and bridges and keep them in repair,
clear the rivers of obstructions and improve the ports, and above
all, establish and maintain some tolerable courts of justice. The
sun, the rain, the soil, and the hardy Philippine farmer will do the
rest--a population equal to that of Java could live in affluence in
the Philippines.
The agriculture of the Philippines at the time of the first arrival
of the Spaniards consisted mainly in the cultivation of rice. It is to
the Spaniards that the natives owe the introduction of maize, coffee,
cacao, sesame, tobacco, the indigo plant, the sweet potato, and many
fruits. They also imported horses, horned cattle, and sheep. But
the great development of the cultivation of sugar and hemp is almost
entirely due to British capital, with some assistance from Americans.
The natives probably learned from the Chinese how to terrace the
hillsides and the sloping lands, and how to erect the pilapiles, or
small dykes, for retaining the rain. At that time, and for centuries
after, taxes were paid in paddy as they have been in Japan until
quite recently.
Under the heading "Tagals," a description is given of the planting
of paddy, and an illustration shows the aspect of a newly-planted
paddy-field or tubigan. Mountain rice-lands are called bacores or
dalatanes. The cutting and harvesting of paddy is paid for in kind,
sometimes in Camarines Sur, a third of the crop is given for getting
it in, but in the province of Manila it is cultivated in equal shares
to the farmer and the owner of the land.
By looking at the illustration it will be seen that, the fields
being divided into such small patches of irregular shapes at
different levels, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to use a
reaping-machine. I have elsewhere given the reasons for my opinion
that the cultivation of rice is the lowest use that the land and
the husbandmen can be put to, and whenever the cultivation is given
up, it is probably an indication that the cultivators are raising
some more profitable crop, and earning money by exporting valuable
produce, wherewith to import rice from countries in a lower stage
of civilisation.
This is most certainly the case in the Philippines, and year by year,
as the exports of hemp, sugar and tobacco have increased, the imports
of rice from Saigon and Rangoon have risen correspondingly. And yet the
United States' Department of Agriculture, issued in the latter part of
1899 a circular with the title,'Plant Products of the Philippines,'
[15] which, amongst other inaccurate appreciations, says: "It seems
strange that an almost exclusively agricultural country should not
produce enough food for its own population, but such is at present the
case with regard to the Philippines." It proceeds to say that in some
years the value of rice imported into Manila from Saigon was valued
at $2,000,000. But I would point out to the author of that circular
that the export of the three great staples of the Philippines in
those years averaged, perhaps, $30,000,000, and this, evidently,
could not have been accomplished if they had cultivated their own rice.
The Spaniards sometimes raised this same groundless clamour, and,
perhaps, the author of the circular took it from them; but I look
upon it as a great mistake arising from insufficient knowledge of
the subject. The rice imported into Manila is largely shipped to the
tobacco and hemp provinces, Cagayan and Albay, where the people are
exclusively employed in the cultivation and preparation of those
valuable products, and are far richer, and on a higher grade of
civilisation than the rice-growers of Cochin China.
In the Philippines themselves, the people of the rice-growing districts
are the poorest and most backward of all.
Besides paddy, the natives cultivate the dava or mijo (Panicum
miliaceum), the mongo, a species of lentil (Phaseolus mungo), called
in some provinces balat or balatong, for their own consumption.
When rice is dear, they mix a certain amount of maize with it, and
when it is really scarce they eat the seeds of the sorghum (Holcus
saccharatus) instead of it. They also make an infusion of these seeds,
which is not unlike barley-water. The camote (Impomoea batata) is
the principal food of the more uncivilised tribes.
All the natives find a great resource in the banana, which the Tagals
called saguin. The following varieties are excellent: Bungulan,
Lacatan, Ternate, and Tindoc.
Wheat was formerly grown in northern Luzon. The late Archbishop
of Manila, Fray Pedro Payo, informed me that, when he was a parish
priest years ago, he always ate bread made from Philippine flour,
which he thought far better and safer than the Californian flour that
had superseded it.
Tobacco is an important crop in the Philippines, and from the year
1781 was cultivated in Cagayan as a government monopoly. In the
villages of that province the people were called out by beat of drum
and marched to the fields under the gobernadorcillo and principales,
who were responsible for the careful ploughing, planting, weeding,
and tending, the work being overlooked by Spanish officials. Premiums
were paid to these and to the gobernadorcillos, and fines or floggings
were administered in default. The native officials carried canes,
which they freely applied to those who shirked their work.
In another part of the book I have referred to the series of abuses
committed under the monopoly: how the wretched cultivators had to
bribe the officials in charge of the scales to allow them the true
weight, and the one who classified the leaves, so that he should
not reject them as rubbish and order them to be destroyed; in fact,
they had to tip every official in whose power it was to do them any
injustice. Finally, they received orders on the treasury for the
value of their tobacco, which were not paid for months, or, perhaps,
for years. They sometimes had to sell their orders for 50 percent of
the face value, or even less.
However, even the Spanish official conscience can be aroused, and at
the end of 1882 the monopoly was abolished.
Here it is only right to honourably mention a Spanish gentleman to
whom the natives of the Cagayan Valley in a great measure owe their
freedom. Don Jose Jimenez Agius was Intendente General de Hacienda,
and he laboured for years to bring about this reform, impressed
with the cruelty and injustice of this worst form of slavery. The
Cagayanes were prohibited from growing rice, but were allowed as
an indulgence to plant a row or two of maize around their carefully
tilled tobacco-fields.
Possibly this circumstance has led the author of the circular I have
before quoted to make the extraordinary statement: "Tobacco, as a
cultivated crop, is generally grown in the same field as maize." Does
he think it grows wild anywhere?
In 1883, the "Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas" was established
in the islands, the capital being raised in Paris and Barcelona.
This Company has been under very capable management; the technical
department being overlooked by M. Armand Villemer, a French engineer
of great ability and experience. The Company has done a great deal
to improve the cultivation of the plant and the preparation of the
leaf. They run light draught paddle-steamers and barges on the Cagayan
River, and sea-going screw-steamers from Aparri to Manila.
Their estates are mentioned under the heading "Cagayanes."
Besides the Cagayan Valley, the following Provinces produce tobacco
in considerable quantities.
In Luzon, the Ilocos North and South, Abra, Union, Nueva Ecija. Also
Masbate, Ticao, and most of the Visayas Islands. The Igorrote also
raise a considerable quantity.
The quantity of tobacco and cigars exported since 1888 is given in
the Appendix; and, seeing the enormous extent of land still available
in the Cagayan Valley, there can be no doubt that the production can
be very largely increased as the demand grows.
The export of leaf tobacco from Manila, the only shipping port, has
increased from 204,592 quintals in 1888, to 287,161 quintals in 1897,
and during the same period the export of cigars has increased from
109,109 mil to 171,410 mil.
The cultivation of the Musa textilis is almost a monopoly of the
Philippines, and, indeed, of certain parts of them.
Volcanic soil, a certain elevation above the sea, and exposure to
the breezes of the Pacific, a bright sun and an ample rainfall,
seem necessary to the production of a fine quality of this fibre.
Several attempts have been made to produce this fibre elsewhere; the
Government of British India sent a gentleman to Manila to study the
question. He wrote a report, but I have never heard that any abaca
was produced.
The plant was said to grow wild all along the Sarawak rivers; but
here again some mistake must have been made, for nothing seems to
have come of it.
There is, in fact, nothing so far to compete with it, and there
is an immense and growing market. The price has lately fluctuated
enormously, and I do not intend to prophesy what profits might be
made in planting it.
In 1897, no less than 915,338 bales were exported, about 114,400
tons, and if we take the average price at that time as $15 per bale,
we get a sum of over $13,730,000 as the value of that year's export,
the largest in quantity, but not in value.
The export of hemp has been almost entirely developed by British and
American enterprise, and dates from very recent times.
The spread of the sugar-cane cultivation in the Philippines from the
year 1870 was rapid, and is in great measure due to the advances
made by British and American houses to the planters. It was for
many years a most profitable business, and this is proved by the
large and handsome houses of the planters in the towns of the sugar
districts. The continual increase of the beet sugar production, however
brought down prices to such an extent as to reduce the profits below
the heavy interest paid on loans or advances. But it seems now that
bottom has been reached, and that rising prices and more economical
methods of financing and of manufacturing will give the planters a
fresh start. Those who know what has been and is being done by central
sugar factories in Cuba, will not doubt the possibility of doing
better in the Philippines, where labour is cheaper and is on the spot.
Under the headings Pampangos, Pangasinanes, and Visayas, will be found
many interesting particulars of the working of sugar plantations in
these provinces.
In 1893, the export of sugar amounted to 260,000 tons; since then it
has declined, but in 1897 it still amounted to close on 200,000 tons.
The export of coffee has almost entirely ceased, and the cause is
ascribed to the ravages of an insect which destroys the bushes. Lipa,
in Batangas province, was the great coffee centre, and became one
of the richest towns in Luzon. Notwithstanding this prosperity, the
plantations were never cultivated with proper care. Weeding was much
neglected. In 1888, the export reached 107,236 piculs, but in 1897
it had fallen to 2111 piculs.
There is an opening for coffee-planting on many of the elevated
plateaux of the islands, and capital with skill ought to find its
reward.
The Moros of Lake Lanao export a certain quantity of coffee of
indifferent appearance but excellent flavour.
Cacao grows well in many parts of the Archipelago, but I have never
seen any large plantations of it. A few trees may be seen in the
gardens of old houses, but they must be protected from insects and
rats, and require looking after.
The quantity raised in the islands is not sufficient to supply the
home demand, so that cacao beans are imported from Venezuela and
chocolate from Spain.
It is a risky business to plant cacao in the northern Philippines;
the trees are delicate and suffer from the typhoons. And the produce
is so valuable that, unless watched at night or protected in some way,
the cones may when nearly ripe be carried away by thieves.
In Palawan, where the typhoons do not ravage, I have seen cacao trees
30 feet high, with an abundant crop.
The plant from which indigo is elaborated was cultivated in former
years to a considerable extent in some provinces, notably the Ilocos,
but the export trade was destroyed by the adulterations of the Chinese.
In 1895, 6672 quintals were exported from Manila, but only 462 quintals
in 1896. Ten specimens of Ilocos indigo were shown at the Madrid
Exhibition of 1887, and the price varied from $12 to $67 per quintal.
For home use the dye is sold in a liquid form, contained in large
earthen jars called tinajas. It is known as Tintarron.
Sesame and other oil-giving seeds are cultivated to a small extent
in several provinces, but neither the seed nor the oil figure in the
list of exports.
The cocoa-nut palm grows in most of the lowlands of the Philippines,
except in the North of Luzon. In suitable soil it grows to the very
edge of the sea, as in the Cuyos Islands, In the provinces of Laguna
and Tayabas there are large numbers of these trees and a lively
business is carried on in making oil from nuts or in sending them to
Manila for the market or for shipment.
When large quantities are to be sent, they are formed into rafts in
a very ingenious manner, each nut being attached by a strip of its
own fibre without any rope being required.
These rafts are sometimes a hundred feet long and ten or twelve feet
wide, and are navigated across the lake and down the Pasig. Finally
they are brought alongside a steamer, the nuts are cut adrift and
thrown into the hold through the cargo ports.
The nuts that are to be used for making oil are stripped of their
husks and cut in halves. They then pass to a workman who is provided
with an apparatus called a Cutcuran. This is mounted upon a trestle
and consists of a revolving shaft of hard polished wood, carrying
on its overhanging end an iron disc about three inches in diameter
having teeth like the rowel of a spur.
This is set edgeways in a slot in the shaft. On each side of the
trestle near the ground is a treadle; from one of these a cotton
cord passes over the shaft taking a round turn and is made fast
to the other treadle. The operator sits astride the trestle with a
foot on each treadle. By working them alternately he produces a rapid
revolution of the shaft in alternate directions, and the cutting disc
being double-edged it cuts both ways. By holding a half nut against
the revolving cutter he in a few seconds rasps out every particle of
the nut which falls upon a tray in fine shreds.
The shredded material is then heated in a cast-iron pan over a slow
fire, and whilst hot is filled into bags of strong material which
are placed in the press.
This is constructed entirely of hard wood, and the pressure is obtained
by driving wedges with a heavy mallet.
The system is primitive, but all the apparatus is practical and
very cheap.
D. Carlos Almeida of Binan stated to me in 1890 that 400 large
cocoa-nuts gave by this process one tinaja or jar of oil, equivalent
to 101/2 English gallons, which was then worth on the spot six Mexican
dollars. It is sold in Manila. At this time cocoa-nuts were sold in
Santa Cruz, the capital of the Laguna, for about $15 per thousand. The
oil cake was used either to feed pigs or as a manure about the roots
of coffee-plants. The owner of cocoa-palm groves in Luzon or Visayas
lives in anxiety during several months of each year, for should
the vortex of a typhoon pass over or near his plantation, a large
proportion of his trees may be destroyed.
The true locality for such plantations is in the southern and western
parts of Mindanao and Palawan, to the south of a line drawn from
the northern point of Mindanao to Busuanga Island in the Calamianes,
preferring the most sheltered spots.
In this region the danger from typhoons is inconsiderable, and the
trees flourish exceedingly. I have been shown trees in bearing at
Puerta Princesa which I was assured were only three years old. I
saw older trees bearing immense bunches of nuts, too many to count,
and it seemed wonderful to see a slender trunk bearing aloft sixty
feet in the air so heavy a load. From fifty to one hundred trees
can be planted on an acre according to the space allowed to each,
and when in full bearing after six or seven years each tree might
give eighty nuts in a year. The crop goes on all the year round.
Copra is prepared from the nuts either by drying the whole nut under
cover in the shade, allowing the water to become absorbed and then
breaking up the kernel for bagging, or else by breaking it up first
of all and drying it in the sun.
In the first case a large airy shed is required, and the process takes
three months. In the latter case three days of sunshine will suffice,
but the kernels must be protected from the dew at night and from any
chance shower of rain. Artificial heat does not produce good copra,
and besides is expensive to apply.
Making copra is one of the most paying enterprises in the Philippines,
but it requires capital to be laid out several years beforehand,
unless a plantation can be bought to start with.
Previous to 1890, the quantity of copra exported was so small that
no record was kept of it. In that year 74,447 piculs were exported,
and the trade has gone up by leaps and bounds, so that in 1897 no
less than 811,440 piculs were sent out, over fifty thousand tons.
The present position of agriculture seems to be that there are in
the Philippines somewhere about six millions of civilised Christian
people tilling eight million acres of land, and exporting some thirty
million dollars' worth of produce each year. They also raise a large
quantity of food-stuffs for their own consumption, but import perhaps
a couple of million dollars' worth of rice because it is cheaper to
buy it than to grow it, as we in England import wheat for the same
reason. The area of land under cultivation is computed at one-ninth
of the total area of the islands.
The author of the circular Plant Products of the Philippines, to
which I have before referred, makes the following remarks: "In view of
the natural fertility of the soil and the vast extent of these rich
lands not yet under cultivation, it is safely assumed that the total
agricultural production of the islands could be increased tenfold."
This gentleman seems to be of a sanguine disposition, and he reminds
me rather of Oscar F. Williams' cheerful optimism. But in one way he
is more cautious than that gentleman. He does not fix a time for his
prophecy to be accomplished.
I would point out, however, that in the seventy-five million acres
comprised in the islands there are volcanic cones, peaks of basalt,
stony plains, unexplored regions, swamps and other undesirable
localities for establishing farms or plantations, and that some of the
good lands are held by warlike tribes who would resent any intrusion
into their domains.
There are, it is true, great tracts of land in Mindanao and Palawan,
and no doubt in time they will come under cultivation.
Taking everything into consideration, I hold to my view that with
peace, honest government and a good Vagrancy law, the export of
produce might be doubled in twenty years if capital is forthcoming in
sufficient amount. The land is worth nothing without the husbandmen,
and it will take the Philippines a long time to recover from the
devastating effects of the insurrection of 1896-7 and the American
war of subjugation.