1859. May 10—Project regarding agriculture and commerce.
(We have endeavored to make note of the important activities in which the said society has taken the initiative or has shared since 1860, up to the date of the printing of the Manual; and here is the result of our investigations.)
1860. February 11—The society makes a subscription of five thousand pesos to defray, in part, the expenses of the African war.
1861. October 8—The society votes to contribute two thousand pesos from its funds for the expenses of sending articles from Filipinas to the London exposition. Efforts are made to acclimate in Filipinas the cochineal insect.
1862. March 8—It decides to give a prize to the cotton-grower who produces most. May 26—Full report by the society in favor of the establishment of a school of agriculture, theoretical and practical. Report on conducting water to the capital.[19] September 30—The society resolves to obtain seed of cotton from Egypt, to distribute it among the farmers. October 30—The society receives official notice of the prizes awarded to the Philippine exhibitors in the London exposition.
1863. May 23—A specimen of spirits of turpentine is presented to the society, having a strength of 37° by Cartier’s areometer, obtained from the trees of the country; a prize is granted to the person who prepared it. October 27—The society subscribes five hundred pesos to relieve the necessities of the artisans and laborers who suffered in the earthquake of June 3.
1864. July 8—Full report regarding the rebate of import duties on wheat flour.
1865. July 17—The society votes three gold medals and five of silver, and five prizes of one hundred pesos each, for the owners of new houses which may be built, which in the greatest degree shall combine the requirements of solidity and economy, and in which no nipa shall be used. October 31—Full report on the establishment of a quarantine station in the bay of Manila. The society resolves to contribute a sum monthly for the promotion of the botanical garden, a practical school of botany.[20]
1866. December 22—The society votes seven prizes in money for the best exhibitors, in the fair at Batangas: for cows with their calves, for the two finest female carabaos [caraballas] with their calves; for the two finest mares with their colts; to the female weaver who shall present [specimens of] the best ordinary fabrics of cotton or abacá for common use in the garments of the people; for the best fabrics of silk; for rewarding makers of hats or petacas; and for the horse-races.
1867. October 30—The society resolves to spend five hundred pesos in purchasing plows, spades, and other farming implements, to distribute them among the farmers of Ilocos and Abra who may have suffered the greatest losses in consequence of a terrible inundation.