Soil Science in, the Philippines /

':, ,. " - B y ' ' '-." •• •• ••Robert L. Pendleton / .

In these Islands soil seiencfe has. made distressingly littleprogressY considering the very-great-'.importance of the soilto agriculture. And agriculture will always, be our basicand most important industry, for we hsvs neither the work-ing conditions, the power, nor the raw materials to makethis an industrial country. The lack of progress in soilscience is also deplorable because we must here .develop the.science anew; vie cannot rely upon Our knowledge or experiencewith temperate soils to accurately interpret the phenomena . .that relate to these tropical eoils We are just discover-ing, however, that we do not have, to do all the pioneeringin this field of tropical soils, -for. the Dutch in the Nether- •lands Indies have done a great deal* Their work has beenlargely unknown to us in the past, because o.f the publicationi n Dutch. . . . . . .

Thg_ First Work

In 1903 Dorsey of the U. S. Bureau of Soils made for thePhilippine Bureau of Agriculture, a soil survey of the Batangasarea, southwestern Luzon, He also, visited sons other importantagricultural regions of the Islands,, and, publi.shed his generalobservations; t>baca soils received his roein attention in thesenotes. A. M. Sanchez followed Dorsey in the Bureau of Agricul-ture, but there was a failure of" financial support, and the onlyknown result of his work here is the publication of some fieldnotes on the soils around Baguio, Mountain Province, and in theCagayan Valley, northern Luzon. These field observations wereaccompanied by some chemical analyses pade by the Bureau ofGovernment laboratories. .

_______Y- • • '; "• ' •________________^_I/ Contribution from the Experiment Station, College of Agri-

culture , University -tDf the. Philippines, No. 626.

2/ Professor of. Soil Technology, College of Agriculture,University of the Philippines.

Soil Science in' the Philippines

The Intermediate 'Period •

Nothing more of much interest "to soiliets appeared until1910 when the Bureau of Agriculture ,is-sued Herbert Walker's"Sugar Industry ia the Island of Negros, ": "This work includednumerous analyses, both cfiemicel and physical, of the sugarcane soils of that island, as .g part of a general study of •the problem of sugar i cane and sugarVpf oductioa.

Geologists were making a few observations upon the soils,incidental to/ their own work: Adams, Eveland, Pratt, andSmith might be mentioned, the -last two really contributingsoiretbing of interest about .our soils. The work of thesemen wa-s published largely "in the Philippine Journal of Science,

The Bureau of Agriculture had been functioning for nearlya decade, as the field and extension activity in scientificagriculture, but apart from 'Walker's study, had done little :or nothing on soils. The Bureau cff Government Laboratories, -later known as the Bureau of SQ ience, was now entirely re- :sponsible for the more purely scientific laboratory work' QHsoils, as well as in the other fields of science~-geology,entomology, botany, ornithology, medicine, etc. • -

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A little later there was renewed activity on the part o'fthe Government, and the Bureau of Science soils laboratory wasat work on mechanical and chemifcai analyses. -pratt, Cox -andArguelles published in the -Philippine Journal of Science severalpapers on these subjects,' treating nsainly of the soils of theisland of Luaon. The earlier mechanical analyses, includingthose of ¥alker, were according to the U. S. Bureau of .Soilsmethod, .-'while the later .analyses have been according to amodified Schole method. This change of method is unfortunate..The chemical analyses have been nade according to the usualstrong acid digestion 'methods. . • " ' - ' - '

The Go liege of Agriculture,, of the University of 'thePhilippines , was eetablishe.d in :1909. In time there wasdeveloped limited, facilities for soilfi work. But the con-stantly changing faculty and the extremely limited facilitiescompelled -research projects to .be of the simple st type » and •also compelled that they be .o\oiie ' on or near the Gampus, forthere were no funds available for travel to1 a:riy distance.Conditions ale o "conpelled that 'tb-e projects' 'be -of ehortduration. In fac t , practically all the soils studies reported1

from the College, of .^griculture, and published in the official"Philippine Agriculturist" have been of the undergraduate-thesis

type. Rice soils, received .much, attention in these studies; therewere studied the nitrogen content or changes,-the. amounts of phoe-phorus or manganese, or the effects on the eoil of the burning ofgrass on the surface, etc. Sugar cane soils .also received someattention. Trelease, Mirasol, Panganiban, Jimenez, Ureta, Albano,and Cayabab have published in this period.

Thers have/more recently been carried on at the College: a •number of short projects on. soil erosion;, fossil soils, soildepth variability, local soil surveys, acidity as measured by>the quinhydrone electrode.and colorimetric methods, mechanicalanalyses, and soil drainage. These studies are as yet unpublished.

The: la s.t Deca de

.With the development of the mod-era sugar centrals in thePhilippines has come t.he use of commercial fertilizers, parti-cularly for sugarcane. Nearly two million dollars worth offertilizers were imported last year. :. lt should be mentioned thatthe sugar industry here. -is. based upon/the sugar central or millproducing no sugar oane itself , iuVnferely milling the cane pro- •duced by the nuaierous Filipino or other owners , or tenants of theplantations surrounding the mill. .'The cane Is accepted by the • • ' • • • -mill af ter weighing, and analysing -the juice in the^process ofmilling, the cane is milled for ,the planter, the »ili retain- .ing about half the resulting sugar for the o'ost -af transporting- •and milling the cane, and for : its profit. '

The Philippine .Sugar Association, an organization of -sugarmillers and. planters, hag now. for ^nearly eeven years been con-ducting plot tests to deterioine the be'st k'inqs and. quantitiesof fertilizer? to apply to sugar' cane. . .&$ the Aa'sociati on does ; .not have any permanent experiment station,, it has been compelledto conduct the experiments very much at ' the pleasure of the •farmers on whose lands the experiments .. could e located* Hence .the experiments have usually been but for .one year on any onesite. This has limited the:value of the work, although the con- ,eiderable number of experiraen ts" laid ^but have yielded reeult s ofdefinite value. These have ehovn tba,t aldost never is potaesiumof value fof sugar .cane r that, phosphorus ..is needed on many of themore weathered, upland ^oils.j :aad that for; most soils and condi-tions, nitrogeo is the only limiting element of the three; Anpori-:ium sulphate is proving iteeif-the most generally econoniioal ferti-lizer t$ supply- nitrogen alone,: while one of the a BHflpniitiB phosphatesis in favor where -.phosphorus a-8 well as nitrogen Is (Jeficieot.Mixed fertilizere .of the 10-6-2 type .^ re gtill popular in some r

dustriotg.. ' - . " . • . . • •".: . - . ' . . ' ' ' ;.-....: ;;. ' .,•/. ': '- . - / ' . , . / / " , ' ' " ' ; •

Thepe:-ha.y,e;b-^en.s6:me atteinpts :t6 de'tetttiifre t&e fertiliser-

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needs of- sugar cane, or the available phosphorus- and potassium /^in s«gar cane, soils through ,the_ analysis of the sugar cane juicesat .the. milie for th.e amounts^ of. these .elements. It seems very..1. ,dif fieultr-to get a correlation, between these values and the .actual responses of the cane to these" elements when applied as, ':fertilizers on the various soils.

Lime., at times gives .significant results.on sugar cane , . thoughthere has beep little correlatipn found between the reaction of :...the soij and the "lime requirement The Sugar Association is nowengaged upon this subject, in: the -enlarged program of. researchwork on soils. As the Association has no laboratory of its own,,it is using,t-he facilities of the Bureau -of Science, in Manila.Soil Microbiology has also.been undjertaken... Alicante has been .and is the main worker in these fields; he has left the Bureauof Science and is no-yi/ in the employ c-f the Sugar Association..For -the field work of the Association, and the plot work, LeePritchett, and Roxas nave been *the leaders. . M o s t of *he re-sults of the experimental work are published in Sugar News,Manila, and in the Annual Committee Reports of the Sugar Associa-tion, and in the Proceedings of the Annual Conventions of theAssociation. . . - - . , - • • > - •

... The large sugar Cioaipanies are directed by progressive and-wellfinformed people, and they have,be'en leaders in having soilsurveys -wa.de. These surveys, for. the^ most part, have been by,the Bureau of; Soils methods. Only, One. of .these, surveys has beenpublished, that of the Silay-Saravia area, Occidental Negros; itwas made by Pendleton fo.r the Hawaiian-Philippine Company, and"appeared in- Sugar Ness. A muaberi of other Surveys have been -made, eorne- in detail and some tm a reconnaissance scale.. Atthe present; tirae one. of the largest sugar companies is havingmade of its district a very, detailed survey; the field work Tie"done on plantation maps on .a scale of 1:4,6op» while the data , .is compiled on a scale, of. IrSQ^OOO-., It is; planned to supplementthisr survey with.: a consider.able'^ajupuat of' chejaical work,, some-,thing ;.8ft,e.r-the methods recommenced^ by Arrhenius for;/the. Javasugar cane^ soils . pther soil .surveys/have been.made in* connec-tion v;ith proposals for the., drainage, of", large areas of/sugarcane lands, or as a preliminary study'with reference to thepossibility, of ;iestablishing, cen-traJLs . in new, regions.. ... :.

Some of the failures of .commercial sugar ventures .or govern-mental QQloni?.atioB ,pro.jfcts in previously*unfarmed^ landsbeen ascribed directly to a lack,-of knowledge, of the soils othe districts opened up.. Obviously a soil, survey^.in. advanceof the. development would •ha.ve/been.of help, and in s,pme in-stances at least, wo;uld; have: epf bied\ the projepte. to have '..been,..laid: ou.t in a raannar. to eiiminatJe at lea et some of .the causes of fa-ilurey"

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Abaca (Manila hemp) soils have-- recently received some- atten-tion from Sherman,-working, at the Bureau of Science. He advocateEthe use 'of potassium carrying fertilisers. But as yet the-re is noaccepted practice for the use of fertilizerp of any kind on thisimportant crop. •

The raising of cocoanuts for copra or dessicated cocoanut isan important industry in the Philippines i But at the present timethere is little-or no tillage or fertilization of the eocoanutsoils, &»d there is no definite inforfflation as to what fertiliza-tion, if any, is profitable oh our e-o-ils-. Sissinger, of theCalamba Sugar Estate, has plot tests now under way to determinethe fez'tilizer responses of the: palms oh one of the important '•-• •soil types of the cocoanut region of Luzon.

As to special, surveys for other crope; Baldwin of the U. S. .Bureau of Soils made a report on the soils, especially of theIsland of Mindanao, suitable for the"productionof Hevea rubber.

The Present Situation

governmental support for soils work in the Philippines isentirely inadequate to produce the results needed-as a basis fordeveloping an intelligent and progressive agricultural policy. •A further unfortunate circumstance is- thet ^he little supportthat is available for soils;work is:divided between a number ofdifferent governments! agencies, vizi the 'Bureau of Agriculture,the Bureau of Science, gnd the College "of Agriculture. And atpresent there is not possible any method of correlation1of work :or policy. *A further difficulty is thai.there ie riot here anyFederal support of agricultural experimental work. We have,noFederal Experiment; Station-, although'Hawaii, Guam, Alaska, PortoRico, and i'he Virgin Islands have; nor -do we have ny funds fromany of the special1 acts or appropriations from the Federal Govern-ment to a'ssist us ih our work.' This has the further disadvantagethat we do hot receive the competition trom Federal inveetigatorsnor the stinnius of Faderai supervisioH- ot cooperation-

The Fourth I n-Pacific Science Congress, which met iv Javain May of this year, 1929,, went on record as strongly urging allof the countrie? in this p~art pt the world to undertake soilsurveys and classification, and to use an international method,founded upon and following-as closely as possible the U. S.Bureau of1 Soils method; The third"Congress of the laternationa1Society of Sugar Cane- Techrrologists*' al p meeting iq Java thisyear, went on record to a similar effect* .It is 'hoped that therecoramendatioae of these two important^^ groups "will be givfeu heedto by the Philippine Islands Government, and that there will be

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established soon a real soil survey, ia cooperation with the-U- S.Bureau of Chemistry and Soils—a survey that will consistentlycarry out a soil survey of all the'important agricultural regionsof the Islands.

Conclusion

• Th-e'soil su-rvey and other soils work of the Philippines be-gan well,• s#on after Aaettc&n occupation, but it^has languishedfor lack of support and interest. Scattered efforts have b.e'enmade to study our soils, but there is nothing tivat gives us anyadequate idea of the-nature of our soils as a "whole. . Privatecapital and initiative, EH inly" through*the Philippine S«garAssociation, are now in the lead in carrying out fertilizer.:tests, soil chemistry, and soil survey projects. This privatework has reference principally to soils that are now, or thatare intended for the production of sugar caMe. The suryey ofagricultural soils in g-enerel, or'even of the-soile used forthe main agricultural crops>-'has'not beea continued. -We are. ..lacking adequate support for a soil survey or soil fertilitystudies, and even the funds which the Insular Government does

expend: for soils research a re-les£ effectively spent than theyshould be;,'-due to lack of coordination; while the FederalGovernment is giving no supportat all to agricultural re-search here. The recent i&terest taken in soil survey andclasslfication by the-tw&;inte-rBa%Idnal congresses whicla' ,'ftiet iw Java this year ehould help i«- getting in-creae-edintereet" xn and support for th'S inS-eetigation of the soilproblems of :the Philippine