The Philippine Islands Part 29

It seldom happens that a "seeding-plot" has to be allowed to run to seed for want of rain for transplanting, but in such an event it is said to yield at the most tenfold.

Nothing in Nature is more lovely than a valley of green half-ripened rice-paddy, surrounded by verdant hills. Rice harvest-time is a lively one among the poor tenants in Luzon, who, as a rule, are practically the landowner's partners working for half the crop, against which they receive advances during the year. Therefore, cost of labour may be taken at 50 per cent. plus 10 per cent. stolen from the owner's share.

Paddy-planting is not a lucrative commercial undertaking, and few take it up on a large scale. None of the large millers employing steam power are, at the same time, grain cultivators. There is this advantage about the business, that the grower is less likely to be confronted with the labour difficulty, for the work of planting out and gathering in the crop is, to the native and his family, a congenial occupation. Rice-cultivation is, indeed, such a poor business for the capitalist that perhaps a fortune has never been made in that sole occupation, but it gives a sufficient return to the actual tiller of his own land. The native woman is often quite as clever as her husband in managing the estate hands, for her tongue is usually as effective as his rattan. I venture to say there are not six white men living who, without Philippine wives, have made fortunes solely in agriculture in these Islands.

CHAPTER XVII

Manila Hemp--Coffee--Tobacco

_Hemp_ (_Musa textilis_)--referred to by some scientific writers as _M. troglodytarum_--is a wild species of the plantain (_M. paradisiaca_) found growing in many parts of the Philippine Islands. It so closely resembles the _M. paradisiaca,_ which bears the well-known and agreeable fruit--the edible banana, that only connoisseurs can perceive the difference in the density of colour and size of the green leaves--those of the hemp-plant being of a somewhat darker hue, and shorter. The fibre of a number of species of _Musa_ is used for weaving, cordage, etc., in tropical countries.

This herbaceous plant seems to thrive best on an inclined plane, for nearly all the wild hemp which I have seen has been found on mountain slopes, even far away down the ravines. Although requiring a considerable amount of moisture, hemp will not thrive in swampy land, and to attain any great height it must be well shaded by other trees more capable of bearing the sun's rays. A great depth of soil is not indispensable for its development, as it is to be seen flourishing in its natural state on the slopes of volcanic formation. In Albay Province it grows on the declivities of the Mayon Volcano.

The hemp-tree in the Philippines reaches an average height of 10 feet. It is an endogenous plant, the stem of which is enclosed in layers of half-round petioles. The hemp-fibre is extracted from these petioles, which, when cut down, are separated into strips, five to six inches wide, and drawn under a knife attached at one end by a hinge to a block of wood, whilst the other end is suspended to the extremity of a flexible stick. The bow tends to raise the knife, and a cord, attached to the same end of the knife, and a treadle are so arranged that by a movement of the foot the operator can bring the knife to work on the hemp petiole with the pressure he chooses. The bast is drawn through between the knife and the block, the operator twisting the fibre, at each pull, around a stick of wood or his arm, whilst the parenchymatous pulp remains on the other side of the knife. There is no use for the pulp. The knife should be without teeth or indentations, but nearly everywhere in Capis Province I have seen it with a slightly serrated edge. The fibre is then spread out to dry, and afterwards tightly packed in bales with iron or rattan hoops for shipment.

A finer fibre than the ordinary hemp is sometimes obtained in small quant.i.ties from the specially-selected edges of the petiole, and this material is used by the natives for weaving. The quant.i.ty procurable is limited, and the difficulty in obtaining it consists in the frequent breakage of the fibre whilst being drawn, due to its comparative fragility. Its commercial value is about double that of ordinary first-cla.s.s cordage hemp. The stuff made from this fine fibre (in Bicol dialect, _Lupis_) suits admirably for ladies'

dresses. Ordinary hemp fibre is used for the manufacture of coa.r.s.e native stuff, known in Manila as _Sinamay_, much worn by the poorer cla.s.ses of natives; large quant.i.ties of it come from Yloilo. In Panay Island a kind of texture called _Husi_ is made of a mixture of fine hemp (_lupis_) and pine-apple leaf fibre. Sometimes this fabric is palmed off on foreigners as pure _pina_ stuff, but a connoisseur can easily detect the hemp filament by the touch of the material, there being in the hemp-fibre, as in horsehair, a certain amount of stiffness and a tendency to spring back which, when compressed into a ball in the hand, prevents the stuff from retaining that shape. _Pina_ fibre is soft and yielding.

Many attempts have been made to draw the hemp fibre by machinery, but in spite of all strenuous efforts, no one has. .h.i.therto succeeded in introducing into the hemp districts a satisfactory mechanical apparatus. If the entire length of fibre in a strip of bast could bear the strain of full tension, instead of having to wind it around a cylinder (which would take the place of the operator's hand and stick under the present system), then a machine could be contrived to accomplish the work. Machines with cylinders to reduce the tension have been constructed, the result being admirable so far as the extraction of the fibre is concerned, but the cylinder upon which the fibre coiled, as it came from under the knife, always discoloured the material. A trial was made with a gla.s.s cylinder, but the same inconvenience was experienced. On another occasion the cylinder was dispensed with, and a reciprocating-motion clutch drew the bast, running to and fro the whole length of the fibre frame, the fibre being gripped by a pair of steel parallel bars on its pa.s.sage in one or two places, as might be necessary, to lessen the tension. These steel bars, however, always left a transversal black line on the filament, and diminished its marketable value. What is desired is a machine which could be worked by one man and turn out at least as much clean fibre as the old apparatus could with two men. Also that the whole appliance should be portable by one man.

In 1886 the most perfect mechanical contrivance hitherto brought out was tried in Manila by its Spanish inventor, Don Abelardo Cuesta; it worked to the satisfaction of those who saw it, but the saving of manual labour was so inconsiderable that the greater bulk of hemp shipped is still extracted by the primitive process.

In September, 1905, Fray Mateo Atienza, of the Franciscan Order, exhibited in Manila a hemp-fibre-drawing machine of his own invention, the practical worth of which has yet to be ascertained. It is alleged that this machine, manipulated by one man, can, in a given time, turn out 104 per cent. more clean fibre than the old-fashioned apparatus worked by two men.

_Musa textilis_ has been planted in British India as an experiment, with unsatisfactory result, evidently owing to a want of knowledge of the essential conditions of the fibre-extraction. One report [134] says--

"The first trial at extracting the fibre failed on account of our having no proper machine to _bruise_ the stems. We extemporized a two-roller mill; but as it had no cog-gearing to cause both rollers to turn together, the only one on which the handle or crank was fixed turned, with, the result of grinding the stems to pulp instead of simply _bruising_ them."

In the Philippines one is careful _not_ to bruise the stems, as this would weaken the fibre and discolour it.

Another statement from British India shows that Manila hemp requires a very special treatment. It runs thus:--

"The mode of extraction was the same as practised in the locality with _Ambadi_ (brown hemp) and _sunn_ hemp, with the exception that the stems were, in the first place, pa.s.sed through a sugar-cane mill which got rid of sap averaging 50 per cent. of the whole. The stems were next rotted in water for 10 to 12 days, and afterwards washed by hand and sun-dried. The out-turn of fibre was 1 3/4 lbs. per 100 lbs. of fresh stem, a percentage considerably higher than the average shown in the Saidapet experiments; it was however of bad colour and defective in strength."

If treated in the same manner in the Philippines, a similar bad result would ensue; the pressure of mill rollers would discolour the fibre, and the soaking with 48 per cent. of pulp, before being sun-dried, would weaken it.

Dr. Ure, in his "Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines," p. 1, thus describes Manila Hemp:--

"A species of fibre obtained in the Philippine Islands in abundance. Some authorities refer these fibres to the palm-tree known as the _Abaca_ or _Anisa textilis_. There seem indeed to be several well-known varieties of fibre included under this name, some so fine that they are used in the most delicate and costly textures, mixed with fibres of the pine-apple, forming _pina_ muslins and textures equal to the best muslins of Bengal. [135]

"Of the coa.r.s.er fibres, mats, cordage and sail-cloth are made. M. d.u.c.h.esne states that the well-known fibrous manufactures of Manila have led to the manufacture of the fibres themselves, at Paris, into many articles of furniture and dress. Their brilliancy and strength give remarkable fitness for bonnets, tapestry, carpets, network, hammocks, etc. The only manufactured articles exported from the Philippine Islands, enumerated by Thomas de Comyn, Madrid, 1820 (translated by Walton), besides a few tanned buffalo-hides and skins, are 8,000 to 12,000 pieces of light sail-cloth and 200,000 lbs. of a.s.sorted _Abaca_ cordage."

Manila-hemp rope is very durable; it is equally applicable to cables and to ships' standing and running rigging, but wanting in flexibility. [136]

Hemp-growing, with ample capital, appears to be the most lucrative and least troublesome of all agricultural enterprises in staple export produce in the Colony, whilst it is quite independent of the seasons. The plant is neither affected by disease nor do insects attack it, and the only ordinary risks appear to be hurricanes, drought, insufficient weeding, and the ravages of the wild boar.

Planted in virgin soil, each shoot occupies, at first, a s.p.a.ce of 20 English square feet. In the course of time, this regularity of distribution disappears as the original plant is felled and the suckers come up anywhere, spontaneously, from its root. The plant requires three years to arrive at cutting maturity, or four years if raised from the seed; most planters, however, transplant the six-month suckers, instead of the seed, when forming a new plantation. The stem should be cut for fibre-drawing at the flowering maturity; in no case should it be allowed to bear fruit, as the fibre is thereby weakened, and there is sometimes even a waste of material in the drawing, as the acc.u.mulation of fibre with the sap at the knife is greater.

The average weight of dry fibre extracted from one plant equals 10 ounces, or say 2 per cent, of the total weight of the stem and petioles; but as in practice there is a certain loss of petioles, by cutting out of maturity, whilst others are allowed to rot through negligence, the average output from a carefully-managed estate does not exceed 3-60 cwt. per acre, or say 4 piculs per caban of land.

The length of the _bast_, ready for manipulation at the knife, averages in Albay 6 feet 6 inches.

The weight of moisture in the wet fibre, immediately it is drawn from the bast, averages 56 per cent. To sun-dry the fibre thoroughly, an exposure of five hours is necessary.

The first petioles forming the outer covering, and the slender central stem itself around which they cl.u.s.ter, are thrown away. Due to the inefficient method of fibre-drawing, or rather the want of mechanical appliances to effect the same, the waste of fibre probably amounts to as much as 30 per cent. of the whole contained in the bast.

In sugar-cane planting, the poorer the soil is the wider the cane is planted, whilst the hemp-plant is set out at greater s.p.a.ce on virgin land than on old, worked land, the reason being that the hemp-plant in rich soil throws out a great number of shoots from the same root, which require nourishment and serve for replanting. If s.p.a.ce were not left for their development, the main stem would flower before it had reached its full height and circ.u.mference, whereas sugar-cane is purposely choked in virgin soil to check its running too high and dispersing the saccharine matter whilst becoming ligneous.

A great advantage to the colonist, in starting hemp-growing in virgin forest-land, consists in the clearance requiring to be only partial, whilst newly opened up land is preferable, as on it the young plants will sometimes throw up as many as thirty suckers. The largest forest-trees are intentionally left to shade the plants and young shoots, so that only light rooting is imperatively necessary. In cane-planting, quite the reverse is the case, ploughing and sunshine being needful.

The great drawback to the beginner with limited capital is the impossibility of recouping himself for his labour and recovering profit on outlay before three years at least. After that period the risk is small, drought being the chief calamity to be feared. The plants being set out on high land are extremely seldom inundated, and a conflagration could not spread far amongst green leaves and sappy petioles. There is no special cropping season as there is in the case of sugar-cane, which, if neglected, brings a total loss of crop; the plants naturally do not all mature at precisely the same time, and the fibre-extraction can be performed with little precipitation, and more or less all the year round, although the dry season is preferable for the sun-bleaching. If, at times, the stage of maturity be overlooked, it only represents a percentage of loss, whilst a whole plantation of ripe sugar-cane must all be cut with the least possible delay. No ploughing is necessary, although the plant thrives better when weeding is carefully attended to; no costly machinery has to be purchased and either left to the mercy of inexperienced hands or placed under the care of highly-paid Europeans, whilst there are few agricultural implements and no live-stock to be maintained for field labour.

The hemp-fibre, when dry, runs a greater risk of fire than sugar, but upon the whole, the comparative advantages of hemp cultivation over sugar-cane planting appear to be very great.

Hemp-fibre is cla.s.sified by the large provincial dealers and Manila firms as of first, second, and third qualities. The dealers, or _acopiadores_, in treating with the small native collectors, or their own workpeople, take delivery of hemp under two cla.s.ses only, viz.:--first quality (_corriente_) and second quality (_colorada_), the former being the whiter, with a beautiful silky gloss.

The difficulties with which the European hemp-cultivator has to contend all centre to the same origin--the indolence of the native; hence there is a continual struggle between capitalist and labourer in the endeavour to counterbalance the native's inconstancy and antipathy to systematic work. Left to himself, the native cuts the plant at any period of its maturity. When he is hard pressed for a peso or two he strips a few petioles, leaving them for days exposed to the rain and atmosphere to soften and render easier the drawing of the fibre, in which putrefaction has commenced. The result is prejudicial to the dealer and the plantation owner, because the fibre discolours. Then he pa.s.ses the bast under a _toothed_ knife, which is easy to work, and goes down to the village with his bundle of discoloured coa.r.s.e fibre with a certain amount of dried sap on it to increase the weight. He chooses night-time for the delivery, so that the _acopiador_ may be deceived in the colour upon which depends the selection of quality, and in order that the fibre, absorbing the dew, may weigh heavier. These are the tricks of the trade well known to the native. The large dealers and plantation owners use every effort to enforce the use of knives without teeth, so that the fibre may be fine, perfectly clean and white, to rate as first-cla.s.s; the native opposes this on the ground that he loses in weight, whilst he is too dull to appreciate his gain in higher value. For instance, presuming the first quality to be quoted in Manila at a certain figure per picul and the third quality at two pesos less, even though the first-cla.s.s basis price remained firm, the third-cla.s.s price would fall as the percentage of third-cla.s.s quality in the supplies went on increasing.

Here and there are to be found hemp-plants which give a whiter fibre than others, whilst some a.s.sert that there are three or four kinds of hemp-plant; but in general all will yield commercial first-cla.s.s hemp (_Abaca corriente_), and if the native could be coerced to cut the plant at maturity--draw the fibre under a toothless knife during the same day of stripping the petioles--lodge the fibre as drawn on a clean place, and sun-dry it on the first opportunity, then (the proprietors and dealers positively a.s.sert) the output of third-quality need not exceed 5 to 6 per cent. of the whole produced. In short, the question of quality in _Abaca_ has vastly less relation to the species of the plant than to the care taken in its extraction and manipulation.

The Chinese very actively collect parcels of hemp from the smallest cla.s.s of native owners, but they also enter into contracts which bring discredit to the reputation of a province as a hemp-producing district. For a small sum in cash a Chinaman acquires from a native the right to work his plantation during a short period. Having no proprietary interest at stake, and looking only to his immediate gain, he indiscriminately strips plants, regardless of maturity, and the property reverts to the small owner in a sorely dilapidated condition. The market result is that, although the fibre drawn may be white, it is weak, therefore dealings with the Chinese require special scrutiny. Under the native system each labourer on an "estate" (called in Albay Province _late_) is remunerated by receiving one-half of all the fibre he draws; the other half belongs to the _late_ owner. The share corresponding to the labourer is almost invariably delivered at the same time to the employer, who purchases it at the current local value--often at much less.

In sugar-planting, as no sugar can be hoped for until the fixed grinding-season of the year, planters have to advance to their workpeople during the whole twelve months in Luzon, under the _aparcero_ system. If, after so advancing during six or eight months, he loses half or more of his crop by natural causes, he stands a poor chance of recovering his advances of that year. There is no such risk in the case of hemp; when a man wants money he can work for it, and bring in his bundle of fibre and receive his half-share value. The few foreigners engaged in hemp-planting usually employ wage labour.

In Manila the export-houses estimate the prices of second and third qualities by a rebate from first-cla.s.s quality price. These rates necessarily fluctuate. When the deliveries of second and third qualities go on increasing in their proportion to the quant.i.ty of first-cla.s.s sent to the market, the rebate for lower qualities on the basis price (first-cla.s.s) is consequently augmented. If the total supplies to Manila began to show an extraordinarily large proportionate increase of lower qualities, these differences of prices would be made wider, and in this manner indirect pressure is brought to bear upon the provincial shippers to send as much first-cla.s.s quality as possible.

The labour of young plant-setting in Albay Province in Spanish times was calculated at 3 pesos per 1,000 plants; the cost of shoots 2 feet high, for planting out, was from 50 cents to one peso per 100. However, as proprietors were frequently cheated by natives who, having agreed to plant out the land, did not dig holes sufficiently deep, or set plants without roots, it became customary in Luzon to pay 10 pesos per 100 live plants, to be counted at the time of full growth, or say in three years, in lieu of paying for shoots and labour at the prices stated above. The contractor, of course, lived on the estate.

In virgin soil, 2,500 plants would be set in one _pisoson_ of land (_vide_ Albay land measure), or say 720 to each acre.

A hemp-press employing 60 men and boys should turn out 230 bales per day. Freight by mail steamer to Manila in the year 1890 from Albay ports beyond the San Bernardino Straits, was 50 cents per bale; from ports west of the Straits, 37 1/2 cents per bale.

In the extraction of the fibre the natives work in couples; one man strips the bast, whilst his companion draws it under the knife. A fair week's work for a couple, including selection of the mature plants and felling, would be about 300 lbs. However, the labourer is not able to give his entire attention to fibre-drawing, for occasionally a day has to be spent in weeding and brushwood clearance, but his half-share interest covers this duty.

The finest quality of hemp is produced in the Islands of Leyte and Marinduque, and in the Province of Sorsogon, especially Gubat, in Luzon Island.

Previous to the year 1825, the quant.i.ty of hemp produced in these Islands was insignificant; in 1840 it is said to have exceeded 8,500 tons. The _average annual_ shipment of hemp during the 20 years preceding the American occupation, i.e., 1879-98, was 72,815 tons, produced (annual average over that period) approximately as follows, viz.:--in Albay and Sorsogon, 32,000 tons; in Leyte, 16,000 tons; in Samar, 9,000 tons; in Camarines, 4,500 tons; in Mindanao, 4,000 tons; in Cebu, 2,500 tons; in all the other districts together, 4,815 tons.