AGRICULTURE% Though agriculture is the most important source of wealth, it is in a very back ward condition. Farming implements are of tire most primitive sort. The cultivator, farm roller, and many other implements were never seen in the Philippines till the United States authorities opened the Government experimental farm. The natives do not understand the use of fertilizers, and know so little about forage crops that all the fodder for the horses and mules in the Govern ment service has been imported. The indolence of the natives has also been unfavorable to large agricultural development. Nearly all the tilled lands are between sea level and 700 feet above the sea. The staple products in order of im portance are Manila hemp (abaci), tobacco, sugar', coffee, and rice. Hemp is produced chiefly in the provinces of Luzon south of Manila, in the islands of Samar and Leyte. and on a smaller scale in the other islands north of Min danao, and on the north coast of The bast, or fibrous outer leaf, yields the coarse, strong fibre which is the best material fur sail cloth and cordage. From the fibre yielded by the inner stalks are woven fabrics that are superior in softness and lightness. These fabrics are seldom exported, but the bast. of which, under the best conditions, 3000 pounds to the acre are produced, is the greatest export com modity, the average yearly shipments amounting to nearly 100,000 long tons. Cotton and ramie fibre are also produced to some extent. but cotton has declined, owing to the increased use of for eiL,m textiles. Tobacco is of excellent quality. though it does not equal the favorite grades of the Cuban crop. The best leaf is grown on the wide plain of the Rio Cagayan (Isabela and Cagayan provinces), North Luzon. This favored tobacco region supplies most of the leaf sent to foreign lands or manufactured in The inferior. though good. tobacco grown in tire more southern islands is chiefly consumed at home. but the leaf of North Luzon is famous throughout Southeastern Asia and many Western countries. Sugarcane, grown in all the islands, is of great importance, and though it is cultivated with little intelligence, and raw sugar is produced by the crudest methods, its value for export is second only to that of hemp. The coffee of Luzon and
is of excellent quality. comparing fa vorably with Jaya, but the crop has declined on account of insect enemies. Rice is grown every where, and is the great food staple of the common people. It was formerly exported to China, but for years the supply has been short of the home demand, and large quantities are imported front Cochin-China. Maize thrives throughout the archipelago and is grown especially on land that is not fitted for rice. While its use as food is increasing, many natives do not eat it. Among other products are cocoanuts, cocoa, wheat, indigo, sesame, peanuts, many varieties of vegetables, and spices in the south. Large quantities of copra, the dried meat of the cocoa nut, are prepared for export. The pastoral industries are extensive. Some of the islands, as Masbate, have comparatively little tilled ground and depend more largely upon live stock. It is es timated that Masbate has 10.000 carabaos, 55,000 cattle, and 5000 horses. Cattle of a small humped variety are raised for beef on several islands. Swine and fowls are found in every native settlement. The Government experimental farm near Manila is for the purpose of encouraging the production of crops. Experiments with alfalfa and other forage plants have been very successful, and most of the vegetables grown in the United States, excepting melons and white potatoes. yield well. The Government distributes seeds and is giving special attention to coffee-growing. Very little land is owned by the peasantry, who rent their small holdings, paying half the crop to the owners. About 500,000 acres of the best tillable lands are owned by three of the Boman Catholic societies which do not encourage thrifty farming; it is likely that their lands will be purchased by the Government and sold to the tenants. The settlement of the land question is of the highest importance, as it is impossible in most cases to give a safe title to lands.