The Philippine Islands Part 28

In the Northern Philippines "clayed" sugar (Spanish, _Azucar de pilon_) is made. The _ma.s.secuite_, when drawn from the pans, is turned into earthenware conic pots containing about 150 lb. weight. When the ma.s.s has set, the pot is placed over a jar (Tagalog, _oya_) into which the mola.s.ses drains. In six months, if allowed to remain over the jar, it will drain about 20 per cent, of its original weight, but it is usually sold before that time, if prices are favourable.

The mola.s.ses is sold to the distilleries for making Alcohol, [131] whilst there is a certain demand for it for mixing with the drinking-water given to Philippine ponies, although this custom is now falling into disuse, in Manila at least, because mola.s.ses is never given to the American imported horses.

From nine tests which I made with steam machinery, of small capacity, in different places in the northern provinces, without interfering with the customary system of manipulating the cane or the adjustment of the mill rolls, I found the--

Average juice extraction to be 56.37% Average moisture in the mega.s.s on leaving the mill 23.27% Average amount of dry mega.s.s [132] 20.36% 100.00%

The average density of juice in the cane worked off as above was 10 3/4 Beaume.

In Negros the process is very different. The juice is evaporated in the pan-battery to a higher point of concentration, so that the mola.s.ses becomes incorporated with the saccharine grain. It is then turned out into a wooden trough, about 8 feet long by 4 feet wide, and stirred about with shovels, until it has cooled so far as to be unable to form into a solid ma.s.s, or lumps. When quite cold, the few lumps visible are pounded, and the whole is packed in gra.s.s bags (_bayones_). Sugar packed in this way is deliverable to shippers, whereas "clayed" sugar can only be sold to the a.s.sorters and packers (_farderos_), who sun-dry it on mats and then bag it after making up the colour and quality to exporter's sample (_vide_ p. 173).

The Labour system in the Northern Philippines is quite distinct from that adopted in the South. The plantations in the North are worked on the co-operative principle (_sistema de inquilinos_). The landowner divides his estate into tenements (_aparcerias_), each tenant (_aparcero_) being provided with a buffalo and agricultural implements to work up the plot, plant, and attend to the cane-growth as if it were his own property. Wherever the native goes to work he carries the indispensable bowie-knife (Tagalog, _guloc_; Spanish, _bolo_). When the cutting-season arrives, one tenant at a time brings in his cane to the mill, and when the sugar is worked off, usually one-third, but often as much as one-half of the output, according to arrangement, belongs to the tenant. The tenant provides the hands required for the operations of cane-crushing and sugar-making; the cost of machinery and factory establishment is for the account of the landowner, who also has to take the entire risk of typhoons, inundations, drought, locusts, [133] etc.

During the year, whilst the cane is maturing, the tenants receive advances against their estimated share, some even beyond the real value, so that, in nearly every case, the full crop remains in the hands of the estate-owner. In the general working of the plantation hired day-labour is not required, the tenants, in fact, being regarded, in every sense, as servants of the owner, who employs them for whatever service he may need. Interest at 10 to 12 per cent. per annum is charged upon the advances made in money, rice, stuffs, etc., during the year; and on taking over the tenant's share of output, as against these advances, a rebate on current price of the sugar is often agreed to.

In the South, plantations are worked on the daily-wages system, (_sistema de jornal_), and the labourer will frequently exact his pay for several weeks in advance. Great vigilance is requisite, and on estates exceeding certain dimensions it is often necessary to subdivide the management, apportioning it off to overseers, or limited partners, called "Axas." Both on European and native owners' estates these _axas_ were often Spaniards. The _axas'_ interest varies on different properties, but, generally speaking, he is either credited with one-third of the product and supplied with necessary capital, or he receives two-thirds of the yield of the land under his care and finds his own working capital for its tilth, whilst the sunk capital in land, machinery, sheds, stores, etc., is for the account of the owner.

In 1877 a British company--the "Yengarie"--was started with a large capital for the purpose of acquiring cane-juice all over the Colony and extracting from it highly-refined sugar. The works, fitted with vacuum-pans and all the latest improvements connected with this cla.s.s of apparatus, were established at Mandaloyan, about three miles from Manila up the Pasig River. From certain parts of Luzon Island the juice was to be conveyed to the factory in tubes, and the promoter, who visited Cebu Island, proposed to send schooners there fitted with tanks, to bring the defecated liquid to Mandaloyan. The project was an entire failure from the beginning (for the ordinary shareholders at least), and in 1880 the machinery plant was being realized and the company wound up.

The cla.s.sification of sugar in the South differs from that in the North. In the former market it is ranked as Nos. 0, 1, 2, 3 Superior and Current. For the American market these qualities are blended, to make up what is called "a.s.sorted Sugar," in the proportion of one-eighth of No. 1, two-eighths of No. 2, and five-eighths of No. 3. In the North the quality is determined on the Dutch standard. The New York and London markets fix the prices, which are cabled daily to the foreign merchants in Manila.

From a series of estimates compiled by me I find that to produce 7,000 to 10,000 piculs, the cost laid down in Yloilo would be, say, P2.00 per picul (P32.00 per ton); the smaller the output the larger is the prime cost, and _vice-versa._

Fortunes have been made in this Colony in cane-sugar, and until the end of 1883 sugar-planting paid the capitalist and left something to the borrowing planter; now it pays only interest on capital. From the year 1884 the subsidized beet-root sugar manufacturers on the continent of Europe turned out such enormous quant.i.ties of this article that the total yield of sugar exceeded the world's requirements. The consequence was that the cane-sugar manufacture declined almost at the same ratio as that of beet-root advanced, as will be seen from the subjoined figures:--

Tons.

The world's production in 1880; cane sugar 3,285,714 The world's production in 1880; beet sugar 1,443,349 ========= 4,729,063

Tons.

The world's production in 1887, cane sugar 2,333,004 The world's production in 1887, beet sugar 2,492,610 ========= 4,825,614

Tons.

Beet sugar Increase 1,049,261 Cane sugar Decrease 952,710

The world's output was Increased 96,551

Since the above date, however, the output of Beet Sugar has become about double that of Cane Sugar, as will be seen from the following figures, viz.:--

World's Production. Season of 1899-1900. Season of 1900-1901.

Tons. Tons.

Cane sugar 2,867,041 3,425,022 Beet sugar 5,607,944 6,096,858 ========= ========= 8,474,985 9,521,880

On estates already established at old prices, cane-sugar production pays an interest on capital, but the capitalist is not necessarily the planter and nominal owner, as has been explained. Since the American occupation the cost of labour, living, material, live-stock, and all that the planter or his estate need, has increased so enormously that the colonist should ponder well before opening up a new estate for cane-growing in world-wide compet.i.tion. For figures of Sugar Shipments _vide_ Chap, x.x.xi., "Trade Statistics."

_Rice_ (_Oryza_) being the staple food of the Filipinos, it is cultivated more or less largely in every province of the Colony. Its market value fluctuates considerably according to the stocks in hand and the season of the year. It appears to be the only branch of agriculture in which the lower cla.s.ses of natives take a visible pleasure and which they understand thoroughly. In 1897 about 80,000 tons were raised.

The natives measure and sell rice (Tagalog, _bigas_) and paddy (Tagalog, _palay_) by the caban and its fractions; the caban dry measure is as follows, viz:--

4 Apatans = 1 Chupa; 8 Chupas = 1 Ganta; 25 Gantas = 1 Caban,

the equivalent of which in English measure is thus, viz:--

1 Atapan = .16875 of a pint.

1 Chupa = .675 of a pint.

1 Ganta = 2 quarts, 1 2/5 pints.

1 Caban = 16 gallons, 3 quarts, 1 pint.

Rice of foreign importation is weighed and quoted by the picul of 133 1/3 lbs. avoirdupois, subdivided as follows, viz.:--

16 Taels = 1 Catty; 10 Catties = 1 Chinanta; 10 Chinantas = 1 Picul.

Thirty years ago rice was exported from the Philippines, but now not even sufficient is produced for home consumption, hence this commodity is imported in large quant.i.ties from Siam, Lower Burmah, and Cochin China to supply the deficiency. In 1897 nearly 65,000 tons of rice were brought from those countries, and since the American occupation the annual receipts of foreign rice have increased to fivefold. Sual (Pangasinan), on the Gulf of Lingayen, was, thirty-five years ago, a port of importance, whence rice was shipped to China (_vide_ p. 261). This falling off of rice-production did not, however, imply a loss to the population in Spanish times when imported rice was sold cheaply, because, in many provinces, land formerly used for rice-growing was turned to better account for raising other crops which paid better in a fairly good market.

The natives everywhere continue to employ the primitive method of treating rice-paddy for domestic and local use. The grain is generally husked by them in a large mortar hewn from a block of _molave_, or other hardwood, in which it is beaten by a pestle. Sometimes two or three men or women with wooden pestles work at the same mortar. This mortar is termed, in Tagalog dialect, _Luzon_, the name given to the largest island of the group. However, I have seen in the towns of Candava (Pampanga), Pagsanjan (La Laguna), near Calamba in the same province, in Naig (Cavite), in Camarines Province, and a few other places, an attempt to improve upon the current system by employing an ingenious wooden mechanical apparatus worked by buffaloes. It consisted of a vertical shaft on which was keyed a bevel-wheel revolving horizontally and geared into a bevel pinion fixed upon a horizontal shaft. In this shaft were adjusted pins, which, at each revolution, caught the corresponding pins in vertical sliding columns. These columns (five or six)--being thereby raised and allowed to fall of their own weight when the raising-pins had pa.s.sed on--acted as pounders, or pestles, in the mortars placed below them. Subsequently, notable progress was made in Camarines Province by Spaniards, who, in 1888, employed steam power, whilst in Pagsanjan (La Laguna) animal motive power was subst.i.tuted by that of steam. Also, near Calamba, in the same province, water power was eventually employed to advantage. In Negros, near the village of Candaguit, there was one small rice-machinery plant worked by steam power, brought by a Spaniard from Valencia in Spain. Presumably it was not a success, as it remained only a short time in use.

Finally the Manila-Dagupan Railway gave a great stimulus to the rice-husking and pearling industry, which was taken up by foreigners. There are now important rice steam-power mills established at Calumpit, Gerona, Moncada, Bayambang, and other places along the line from Calumpit towards Dagupan, which supply large quant.i.ties of cleaned rice to Manila and other provinces, where it is invariably more highly appreciated than the imported article. Also, at Nueva Caceres (Camarines), in 1896, a large steam-power rice mill was being worked by Don Manuel Pardo, who had a steamer specially constructed in Hong-Kong for the transport of his output to the provincial markets.

The average yield of cleaned rice from the paddy is 50 per cent., whilst no special use is found for the remaining 50 per cent. of coa.r.s.e paddy-bran. The fine bran, almost dust (called in Tagalog _Tiki Tiki_), serves, however, for several purposes on the farm. The rice grain which is broken in the husking is known as _Pinaua_ in Tagalog.

The customary charge for husking and winnowing a caban of paddy is 12 1/2 cents, so that as two cabans of paddy give one caban of rice, the cost of this labour would be 25 cents per caban of rice.

The average amount of rice consumed by a working man per day is estimated at four chupas, or, say, close upon eight cabans per annum, which, on the old reckoning--that is to say in Spanish times, taking an average price of 1 peso per caban of paddy = 2 pesos per caban of rice, plus 25 cents for cleaning = 2.25 pesos per caban of clean rice--amounts to 18 pesos per annum. A native's further necessities are fish, an occasional piece of buffalo, betel-nut, tobacco, six yards of cotton print-stuff, and payment of taxes, all of which (including rice) amounted to say P50 in the year, so that a man earning 20 cents per day during 300 days lived well, provided he had no unforeseen misfortunes. c.o.c.k-fighting and gambling of course upset the calculation.

There are, it is said, over 20 different kinds of rice-paddy. These are comprised in two common groups--the one is called _Macan_ rice (Spanish, _Arroz de Semillero_) which is raised on alluvial soil on the lowlands capable of being flooded conveniently with water, and the other has the general denomination (in Luzon Is.) of _Paga_ or _Dumali_ (Spanish, _Arroz de Secano_) and is cultivated on high lands and slopes where inundation is impracticable.

The _Macan_, or low-land rice, is much the finer quality, the grain being usually very white, although _Macan_ rice is to be found containing up to 25 per cent. of red grain, known in Tagalog as _Tangi_, or _Malagcquit_. The white grain is that most esteemed. The yield of grain varies according to the quality of the soil. In the north of Bulacan Province the average crop of _Macan_ rice may be taken at 80 cabans of grain for one caban of seed. In the south of the same province the return reaches only one-half of that. In the east of Pampanga Province, in the neighbourhood of Arayat, Magalang, and Candava villages, the yield is still higher, giving, in a good year, as much as 100 cabans for one of seed. In Negros a return of 50 cabans to one may be taken as a fair average.

_Paga_ rice always shows a large proportion of red grain, and the return is, at the most, half that of _Macan_ yield, but whilst rarely more than one crop per annum is obtained from low-lands (_Macan_ rice)--taking the average throughout the Islands--in most places up to three crops of _Paga_ rice can be obtained.

Besides the ordinary agricultural risks to which rice cultivation is exposed, a special danger often presents itself. The _Paga_ rice is frequently attacked by flies (Tagalog, _Alutangia_), which suck the flower just before seeding, and the person in charge of the plantation has to stroll in the evenings and mornings among the setting to whisk off these insects with a bunch of straws on the end of a stick, or catch them with a net to save the grain. Both _Macan_ and _Paga_ are sometimes damaged by an insect, known in Ilocos Province as _Talibatab_, which eats through the stalk of the plant before maturity, causing the head, or flower, to droop over and wither, but this does not happen every season.

To plant _Macan_ rice the grain or seed is sown in the month of June on a piece of land called the "seeding-plot," where, in six weeks, it attains a height of about one foot, and, provided the rains have not failed, it is then pulled up by the roots and transplanted, stem by stem, in the flooded fields. Each field is embanked with earth (Tagalog, _pilapil_) so that the water shall not run off, and just before the setting is commenced, the plough is pa.s.sed for the last time. Then men, women, and children go into the inundated fields with their bundles of rice-plant and stick the stalks in the soft mud one by one. It would seem a tedious operation, but the natives are so used to it that they quickly cover a large field. In four months from the transplanting the rice is ripe, but as at the end of November there is still a risk of rain falling, the harvest is usually commenced at the end of December, after the grain has hardened and the dry season has fairly set in. If, at such an abnormal period, the rains were to return (and such a thing has been known), the sheaves, which are heaped for about a month to dry, would be greatly exposed to mildew owing to the damp atmosphere. After the heaping--at the end of January--the paddy, still in the straw, is made into stacks (Tagalog, _Mandala_). In six weeks more the grain is separated from the straw, and this operation has to be concluded before the next wet season begins--say about the end of April. On the Pacific coast (Camarines and Albay), where the seasons are reversed (_vide_ p. 22), rice is planted out in September and reaped in February.

The separation of the grain is effected in several ways. Some beat it out with their feet, others flail it, whilst in Cavite Province it is a common practice to spread the sheaves in a circular enclosure within which a number of ponies and foals are trotted.

In Negros Island there is what is termed _Ami_ rice--a small crop which spontaneously rises in succession to the regular crop after the first ploughing.