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.
Natives Preparing the Ground for Sugar-cane Planting.
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.