A survey of the educational system of the Philippine islands by the Board of educational survey, created under acts 3162 and 3196 of the Philippine Legislature.

626 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

imported from Indo-China in order to make up the deficiency of home
production. This fact alone is sufficient to show the need of improved
methods of rice cultivation. Nowhere else in the world will the abaca
plant grow from which Manila hemp, so essential to the manufacture of
rope, is made. Probably it is because the Philippines have a monopoly
of the supply that the product is by no means up to high standards.
Other instances of unsatisfactory results of agricultural production might
be enumerated. Another reason for special attention being given to the
subject is the large area of unoccupied public land and forest ready
for farming, grazing, and lumbering. These areas are suited to homesteaders who ought to be prepared to develop it according to improved
and not wasteful methods of production. In this respect the Filipino
people are the most fortunately situated of all the people in the Far East.
Everywhere else, in China, Japan, India, and Java we find the pressure
of population upon land and resources. The Filipinos have in this
respect a wonderful heritage and should learn from the unfortunate
history of the United States the wisdom of adopting early a policy of
intelligent conservation. In all probability Mindanao alone could supply the United States with all its needs in rubber. The sugar industry
is making remarkable advances. The various products of the coconut
tree and of fibrous plants await well-directed development. Probably
in no area of like extent in the whole world are there greater possibilities
of agricultural development in tropical products than in the Philippine
Islands.
The Philippine Government is aware of its duty and opportunity in
this respect and the Bureau of Education has established a number of
well-organized farm and agricultural schools throughout the Islands.
Moreover, the College of Agriculture, beginning its class work in June,
1909, was the first college to be organized as part of the University. Its
career was excellent from the start for the pioneers who were put in
charge at the time "had literally to carve their institution out of the
wilderness." From the little group of fifty-six students in the first year
the college has steadily grown and in 1924-1925 enrolled 550 men in
its various courses. The college is located at Los Baiios, in the Province
of Laguna, one of the richest agricultural provinces in the Islands. It
occupies and operates 377 hectares of land at the foot of Mount
Makiling near Lake Bay. Mount Makiling itself is held under the
Bureau of Forestry as a reserve and is the scene of operations of the
Forest School which adjoins the College of Agriculture. The college is
well equipped with herds of animals and with agricultural apparatus
for purposes of instruction. It is provided with special apparatus for
teaching certain subjects, such as a small-scale sugar mill. In 1918
the Philippine Legislature appropriated money for the establishment

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