l of L3,000,000. It gave great impulse
to the trade by soon starting with five factories and purchasing
four estates ("San Antonio," "Santa Isabel," "San Luis," and "La
Concepcion"), with buying-agents in every tobacco district. Up to
1898 the baled tobacco-leaf trade was chiefly in the hands of this
company. Little by little the company launched out into other branches
of produce-purchasing, and lost considerable sums of money in the
provinces in its unsuccessful attempt to compete with the shrewd
foreign merchants, but it is still a good going concern.

PRICES AND WEIGHTS OF SOME OF THE BEST CIGARS MANUFACTURED IN
MANILA PACKED IN BOXES READY FOR USE OR SHIPMENT.

Per Thousand. In Boxes of Per Thousand. In Boxes of
lbs. Pesos lbs. Pesos

30 500 10 17 45 50
30 200 25 17 40 50
17 150 25 12 30 50
25 125 25 16 24 50
23 70 25 12 20 100
17 60 50 16 18 100
18 50 50 4 1/2 13 100

Cigars and cigarettes are now offered for sale in every town, village,
and hamlet of the Islands, and their manufacture for the immense home
consumption (which, of cigars, is about one-third of the whole output),
and to supply the demand for export, constitutes an important branch
of trade, giving employment to thousands of operatives.

CHAPTER XVIII

Sundry Forest and Farm Produce
Maize--Cacao--Coprah, Etc.

Maize (_Zea mays_), or "Indian Corn," forms the staple article of
food in lieu of rice in a limited number of districts, particularly
in the South, although as a rule this latter cereal is preferred.

Many agriculturists alternate their crops with that of maize, which, it
is said, does not impoverish the land to any appreciable extent. There
is no great demand for this grain, and it is generally cultivated
rather as an article for consumption in the grower's household than
for trade. Planted in good land it gives about 200-fold, and two crops
in the year = 400-fold per annum; but the setting out of one caban of
maize grain occupies five times the surface required for the planting
of the same measure of rice grain. An ordinary caban of land is 8,000
square Spanish yards (_vide_ Land Measure, p. 271), and th