The rainy season commences with the S. W. monsoon, and ends in October. The rice (the aquatic sorts) is planted by hand in July and August, and reaped in December. The upland rice, of which they have two varieties, is planted earlier, and comes sooner to maturity. The cane is planted in the manner called "en canon" by the French, that is, the plant piece is stuck diagonally into the ground; and thus, from the roots being often on the surface, the plant suffers frequently from drought, and they have seldom two crops from a piece of cane: their sugar, though clumsily manufactured, is of excellent grain, and highly esteemed by the refiners of Europe. The indigo plant is very fine; and though, as in all countries, a precarious crop, yet it is far from being so much so as in India: it has been manufactured equal to Guatemala, but in the present day is of a very inferior quality: this arises from various causes, of which the principal are ignorance in the manufacture of it, a want of capital, and spirit of enterprise. They have no tanks of masonry, the whole process being carried on in two wooden vats of a very moderate size, from which the fecula is taken once a week. It is needless to remark, that the quality of the indigo is materially injured by this alone: it is also subject to many adulterations in the hands of the Mestizos, before being brought to market. The coffee plant was almost entirely unknown about 40 years ago, a few plants only existing in the gardens about Manila. It was gradually transported from thence to the towns in the neighbourhood of the lake, where it has been since multiplied to an amazing degree by an extraordinary method. A species of civet cat with which the woods abound, swallows the berries, [84] and these passing through the animal entire, take root, and thus the forests are filled with wild plants. This fact may be depended upon, and the major part of all the coffee exported from Manila is produced from the wild plants, and is equal or superior in flavour to that of Bourbon. The government, in 1795 or 96, made an attempt to force its cultivation in the province of Bulacan, but forgot, as one of their own officers naivement observes, "Que no habia compradores ni consumidores"--that there were neither consumers or customers for it! It of course fell to the ground, and in the next passage of the same work, the Indian is partly blamed for it! The cultivation of cotton is as yet but very partial. It is of the herbaceous species, of a very fine quality, almost equalling the Bourbon, but excessively adherent to the grain: so much so indeed, that none of the attempts to separate it from the seed by machinery have hitherto succeeded; the grains passing through the rollers, and staining the cotton. It is cleared by the natives by means of a hand-mill, very clumsy in its construction, and performing so little work, that the cleaning costs six dollars per pekul.