Note 4 — Chapter XXXIII · Commercial Possibilities of the Philippines

The first thing that impresses one who studies their agriculture is the extremely primitive state of development to which it has attained. Rice is the bread of the people and is produced in large quantities, but as a rule land is prepared for planting it by ploughing with what is little better than a crooked stick, which may or may not have an iron point, and by subsequent puddling with a muck rake, both instruments being drawn by carabaos. As the ground cannot be worked in this fashion until the rains come on, and the young plants should be set in the ground very shortly thereafter, the period during which the soil can be prepared is brief, and the amount brought under cultivation is correspondingly small. Rice is usually planted in seed beds and transplanted by hand, the object of this procedure being to give it a start over the weeds which would otherwise swamp it. It is a common thing to see a crowd of men, women and children setting it to the music of a small string band, with which they keep time. Organizations which have the reputation of maintaining a rapid rhythm are quite in demand because of the increased amount of rice set! Ordinarily, in the lowlands at least, comparatively little attention is paid to subsequent weeding, and when harvest time comes the crop is usually gathered by cutting off the heads one at a time. Threshing is frequently performed in the open air on a floor made of clay and carabao dung. Often the grain is trodden out under the feet of the owners themselves; sometimes it is stripped off by drawing the heads between the teeth of an instrument somewhat resembling an inverted iron rake; again it is beaten off against stones; a more advanced method is to drive horses, carabaos or cattle over the straw until the grain has been loosened from the straw. The palay4 is usually winnowed in the wind, although crude fanning mills are sometimes employed for this purpose. The threshing takes much time, and while it is in progress great loss results from the depredations of rats and wild hogs, from unseasonable rain-storms, and from the carrying off of the grain by the threshers. A large part of the palay employed for local domestic use is husked by pounding it in wooden mortars and winnowed by tossing it in flat baskets. As a result of such methods the Philippines, which ought to export rice, are compelled to import it, the figures for the last 15 years being as follows:—