Some Facts about Hemp-growing.
Hemp-growing is the least troublesome of the agricultural operations in the Philippines, and gives the best returns for the expense involved. In starting a plantation the colonist chooses forest land, clearing away the smaller growth, but leaving the large trees to shade the plants and the young shoots. Where the soil is virgin, each shoot occupies, at first, a space of ground thirty-six Spanish square feet in extent. When the original plant is felled, the suckers come up anywhere, growing spontaneously from the parent root, and yielding a much denser plantation.
A Hemp Warehouse, Manila.
The abacá can be raised from seed; in which case it requires four years to flower. Planters, however, generally transplant the six-months-suckers, which, as I have said, reach maturity in three years. Maturity, for commercial purposes, signifies the flowering stage. In no case is the plant allowed to bear fruit, because fruit-bearing weakens the outer fibre.
Ample capital is necessary for success in hemp-growing, inasmuch as three years or more must pass before any profit can be had. After that, the grower can depend upon an annual yield. But even then, when he is the owner of a flourishing plantation, he has serious difficulties to contend with. The amount of waste is enormous, some thirty per cent. of the fibre being lost through carelessness and negligence. The natives often cut the leaf-stalks before they reach maturity. In other cases, they fail to do so till they have rotted on the plant.
Inefficiency takes still other forms, but, despite this, there is abundant margin for gain, since no agricultural operation is conducted with less risk. The dense protecting forest-growth shields the plants from hurricanes, while the high land on which they grow is safe from inundation. Fire can make no headway among their green leaves and moist stems. Locusts will not touch the hemp plant, and beetles and other insects harm it but little. As the crop comes to maturity at successive periods, it can be leisurely gathered, from time to time, the year round. No ploughing is needed, and therefore there is no live-stock to be purchased, fed, and cared for. There is no expensive machinery, and no highly-priced machinists needed to run it. Weeding must be carefully attended to, but this is the work of the natives, and is done very cheaply. The enemies of the hemp planter are an occasional drought when his plants are in the ground, and the danger of fire to his dried bales before they reach their destination. His greatest annoyance must come from the steady thirty per cent. of what seems like unnecessary waste, due to the causes stated.