100 years chapters 1-3

Swarms of locusts devastated rice crops from 1901 to 1903. Famine became widespread.

Chapter11111Agriculture and Forestry

During Colonial Times

Filipinas During the Spanish Regime

Kaingin practices of upland farmers caused destructionof forest, soil erosion and floods in the lowlands.

A s a rising colonial power, Spain initially came to Filipinasin search of spices and later decided to spread Christianity andexploit the wealth of the islands. But the “Indios” in the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries had nothing except fishing, hunting and primitivesubsistence agriculture.

In the eighteenth century, the friars had successfully builtseveral churches using local labor and materials. But driven by theneed for a reliable and regular source of revenues, they created the“Friar Haciendas” based upon fraudulent land surveys and throughpurchases of large tracts of land with total disregard of ancestralproperties, thereby reducing the local farmers to the lowly status oftenants who had no recourse but to share half of their harvests withthe friars as well as with the “inquilinos” who rented and leasedextensive tracts of land from the friars.3

The islands had vast reserves of forest lands, but everyonewas free to cut trees for whatever purpose. Hence, there waswanton destruction of forests. Moreover, many “Indios” wereengaged in “kaingin” or shifting cultivation which denuded hills andmountainsides. These denuded plots were later invaded by cogonand wild tall grass (talahib), thus rendering these lands unproductive.8

In June 1863, the Spanish government in the Philippinesorganized the Forest Service or the “Inspeccion General deMontes” under the “Direccion General de Administracion Civil”headed by Chief Forest Engineer Juan Gonzales Valdez with fourassistant foresters. The main objective of the Forest Service wasforest conservation and wise use. At least five royal decrees wereissued from 1866 to 1884 spelling out rules and regulations inforestry, including the prohibition of “kaingin” farming practices andcutting of timber in Cebu and Bohol. Unfortunately, Spain had areputation for issuing comprehensive legislations and regulationswithout proper execution.10

Governor-General Basco y Vargas (1778-1787) hoped toimprove agriculture in Filipinas to generate more wealth andrevenues for the colonial government. Through a decree, heannounced cash awards to those who would open up and runplantations of cotton, mulberry, and spices such as cinnamon,pepper and nutmeg, as well as cash awards for those who wouldestablish factories for processing / manufacturing of silk, cotton, sugar,and pepper.2

But successes were generally limited and in small scale. Theplanting of millions of abaca seedlings in Pangasinan was a completefailure. Moreover, coffee plantations in Batangas and Cavite wereravaged by a serious disease.6

At that time, logging was not yet a lucrativebusiness. Meanwhile, “kaingin” farming continued unabated, causingmore destruction of forests resulting in soil erosion and floods.

4

Lack of irrigation facilitiesand drought during summer limited

rice production to one crop per year.

Forest and Farm Magazine

5

In 1842, Spanish Governor-General Salvador Hurta de Corcueraunwittingly initiated the development of the coconut industry in Filipinas.He issued a decree requiring each Indio, under severe penalties, toplant 200 coconut trees to provide food for the natives and the soldiers.5

A young farmer from Tarlac whose ancestralland was sequestered by the friars decidedto migrate with his family to the Cagayan Valley.

Tobacco, however, was altogether a different story. TheSpaniards introduced the tobacco plant from South America. The“Indios” quickly learned how to grow tobacco and how to curetobacco leaves. But the government assigned production quotas toeach farmer, and all harvests had to be sold only to the Spanishgovernment at a very low price. The manufacture of tobacco wasvirtually a monopoly of the colonial government. None could bebought except from government stores. Violators were severelypunished which included being thrown in jail.1

In the Bicol region, upland farmers planted tobacco for theirown consumption. But government agents eventually destroyed theircrops as well as burned their houses, cut down their trees, anddevastated to their fields. This led to an uprising known as the “tobacco war,” which the natives eventually lost.2

The government tobacco monopoly turned out to be highlylucrative. In 1879, the regime’s profit from the monopoly was abouthalf of the P15 million annual colonial budget.2 But this substantialgain was at the expense of the Filipino tobacco farmers sufferingfrom slavery.

Farmers proud of their healthy young coconut plant Coconut plantation

The Philippine Islands


6

Ilocana smoking a cigarTobacco as a governmentmonopoly was theSpanish colonizer’smost lucrative source ofrevenues in Filipinas.Only the well-to-docould afford to buyand smoke cigars.7

Denniston, Inc.

7

Carabaos used for threshing riceMore than 75% of the carabaos died during the Filipino-American war.

Many were slaughtered for food of soldiers, and thousands died due to rinderpest infection.

Aftermath of the Filipino-American War

American soldiers

T he Filipino-American War (1899-1902) was moreviolent and lasted longer than the Filipino revolution against Spain(1896-1898), with more loss of human life and destructionof agriculture. The number of casualties probably exceeded 400,000.A comparison of census data in 1887 and in 1903 showed largedecreases of populations in the provinces of Batangas, Cavite,Laguna, Rizal, Bataan, Bulacan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, Pampangaand Iloilo.2 Greatly decimated were the male populations, most ofwhom were farmers.

After the war, the cultivated areas, particularly rice fields,decreased by about 303,500 hectares. The abrupt decline wasattributed to deaths of farmer-soldiers and of 75 to 90 percent ofcarabaos in the different provinces.2 Rice shortage was very serious,and there was famine in 1901. Importation of carabaos from Chinawas arranged but the price of P200 or more for each carabao wasbeyond the capacity of poor farmers.

To complicate matters, the greatly reduced rice crops werethreatened by swarms of locust that ravaged the Visayas provincesin 1901, and swept the Luzon provinces the following year. In 1903,the locust plague devastated crops in 23 of 30 provinces. Faminewas widespread. The United States war secretary had to recommendto the U. S. Congress that $5,000,000 in emergency relief funds beappropriated to ease the distress in the Philippine Islands. TheCongress voted for approval of the relief fund. As it turned out, thecost of rice importation was $8,250,000, representing 26.4 percentof all imports in 1903.2

Bad turned to worst because malnutrition lowered thepeople’s resistance to diseases. A cholera epidemic broke out in1902 and continued in 1903, which caused an estimated loss ofover 100,000 lives.2

Such was the situation when the American Government tookpossession of the Philippine Islands as its colony.

8

Poor widow and children of afarmer turned soldierwho died fighting the Americansduring the Filipino-American war.

Farm-to-market road. There were few farm-to-market roads and most were impassable on rainy days even with two carabaos to a cart.4

The Isles of Fear


9

Mount Makiling in 1907 before the establishment of the UP College of Agriculture.The white patches on the mountain and at the foot of the mountain were “kaingin”sites with white flowering tall grass (talahib).

Forestry Leaves

Copeland’s Pioneering YearsChapter222221907-1917

Borrowed tents pitched up in Camp Eldridge served as classroomswhen the College was founded in 1909 by Dean Edwin B. Copeland.Typhoons toppled the makeshift quarters now and then. Four monthslater, the first temporary building rose.

Monthly Bulletin

The Bureau of Education Conceived the School

UP’s First Born: The College of Agriculture

A s early as 1903, the American colonial government felt theneed to educate farmers in better farming methods.2 But nothinghappened until 1907 when the Secretary of Public Instructionreported, “Plans have now been adopted for the establishment of alarge insular agricultural school in the vicinity of Manila. Thebuildings and equipment will cost approximately P100,000 and thismoney is available.”3 Dr. David P. Barrows, Director of the Bureauof Education, commissioned Dr. Edwin Bingham Copeland, Instructorof Botany in the Philippine Normal School, to look for an appropriatesite for a school of agriculture.4 Several prospective sites in the provincesof Rizal, Nueva Ecija, Cavite, Negros Occidental, as well as thetowns of Majayjay, Nagcarlan, and Los Baños in Laguna, wereconsidered. Copeland then recommended Los Baños because of its

relative accessibility to attract more students, and its suitability for aninsular agricultural experiment station. He surmised that theproposed school (and experiment station) would need about 100hectares of flat, tillable land, aside from the upland and forested area.

In 1908, the Bureau of Education appointed Copeland asSuperintendent of the School of Agriculture in Los Baños with theresponsibility of developing the school. Upon his appointment,Copeland began in earnest to negotiate for the purchase of land atthe foot of Mount Makiling from several “kaingeros” and other claimersof land ownership. By yearend, he successfully negotiated for thepurchase of 72.63 hectares.

T he enactment of Act No. 1870 on June 18, 1908 finallycreated the University of the Philippines. The Board of Regents(BOR), in its first meeting on March 6, 1909 which was presidedover by Hon. Newton W. Gilbert, Secretary of Public Instruction,“unanimously decided the immediate establishment of a School ofFine Arts and a College of Agriculture.” 5, 17

Upon recommendation of Dr. Barrows, who was a memberof the Board of Regents, the BOR approved the purchase of 72.63hectares at the foot of Mount Makiling in Los Baños, for the site ofthe College of Agriculture.

Later, the Escuela de Bellas Artes – more popularly known asCentro de Bellas Artes – housed in a rented place in Calle SanSebastian (now R. Hidalgo Street), Quiapo, was adopted by thefledgling University as its School of Fine Arts. Likewise, the PhilippineMedical School was absorbed by the University and renamed theCollege of Medicine and Surgery. Thus, UP began with three units:the first born, the College of Agriculture, and two adopted sons: theEscuela de Bellas Artes and the Philippine Medical School.1, 15, 17

Edgar Madison Ledyard (AB)Zoology Instructor,Secretary of the faculty,and Copeland’s right hand man

Harold Cuzner, (BS Forestry)Engineering Instructor,Superintendent of buildings, andlater also Property Officer andCashier

12

Edwin Bingham Copeland

In 1908, working under the Bureau of Education, Dr. Copeland (PhD-Botany) sought the assistance of Laguna GovernorJuan Cailles in negotiating with many farmers and “kaingineros” for the purchase of 72.63 hectares at the foot of MountMakiling. This process took over a year.

Philippine Agriculturist and Forester

13

The Bureau Served as Foster Mother

Classes Were Held in Tents

C opeland, then 37, was appointed Dean and Professor ofPlant Physiology and was given the full responsibility of establishingand developing the College of Agriculture in Los Baños, Laguna.

In 1909, all preliminary organizational problems had to besolved with the help of the Bureau of Education. Copeland recruitedthe pioneering teaching staff of the College from the Bureau of

Education teaching force, and with support from the Bureau and thePhilippine Normal School, he attracted “teacher pensionados” toenroll in agriculture.15, 16, 17 Teacher pensionados were those who hadtaught for two years in public elementary schools before appointmentto the government pension program to study in the PhilippineNormal School. Most of them were not even high school graduates.

J ust three months after the first UP BOR meeting, the firstclass began in Los Baños on June 11, 1909 with 12 students.15, 23

The house of Edgar M. Ledyard became the first office andclassroom in downtown Los Baños.

On the fourth day (June 14), some tents lent by the Bureau ofEducation to Dr. Copeland were raised by the students and facultymembers in the northwestern part of Camp Eldridge (presently the

BPI-Los Baños Botanical Garden). These tents initially served asclassrooms for four months. The students had to bring their ownstools to school. Their desks were their thighs.15

In the morning, classes were held in tents. In the afternoon,students and instructors had to hike to the College “farm” which wasfour kilometers away. The students had no recourse but to clear thearea of shrubs and trees, cogon, and talahib, and also had to dig outtree stumps and remove stones. Thus, literally carving the Collegeout of the wilderness.

One of the homes in the Student Barrio in the earlydays of the College of Agriculture. The houses in theStudent Barrio (across Molawin Creek, an area nowoccupied by the Student Union) were built by thestudents themselves at a cost of about P25 each.

14

The first building of the College of Agriculture. Called the “temporary building,” it housed classrooms, administrationoffices, tool shed, library, and later the post office. As other buildings rose on the campus, it became known as the “oldCollege building.” [This building stood in an area now occupied by the parking lot of the Physical Sciences building.].

House of Dean Copeland, his wifeEthel Faulkner, and four fast growing children.

Philippine Agriculturist


15

A Forest School Created as a Branch of theCollege of Agriculture

Division of Forest InvestigationTransferred to Los Baños

A s early as 1902, Major George P. Ahern (Ll. B., Yale, 1895),Director of the Bureau of Forestry, wanted to establish a forestryschool that would train Filipino forest personnel for the ForestDistrict Offices throughout the country. The forestry school, however,did not materialize because of inadequate technical capacity andresources, as well as lack of interested students.13

Hon. Jaime C. de Veyra of the Philippine Assembly authoreda bill which was approved in April 1910 as Act No. 1494, establishingthe “Forest School” as a branch of the College of Agriculture, and“authorizing the Director of Forestry to appoint forest pensionados(to be given P20 a month as pension) and construct temporarybuildings for their use.”13, 19

Thus, the Bureau’s dream to give birth to a School of Forestrywould become a reality. But it was named “Forest School,” and theCollege of Agriculture had to be the foster parent.

M ajor Ahern decided to transfer the Bureau’s Division ofForest Investigation from Manila to Los Baños to enable thetechnical staff to conduct studies on forestry problems in MountMakiling, as well as to serve as faculty members of the School.13

The teaching staff, all employees of the Bureau, initiallyconsisted of the following:13, 19

Royal F. Nash (AB) – In-Charge of the SchoolD.M. Matthews (MF) – Instructor, SilvicsHugh M. Curran (BSF) – Instructor, Forest ManagementH.N. Whitford (PhD) – Chief, Division of Forest InvestigationF.W. Foxworthy (PhD) – Professor of Dendrology

At the onset, the Forest School was the strongest departmentof the College of Agriculture although all members of the teachingstaff were employees of the Bureau of Forestry.22

Hon. Jaime C. De VeyraAuthor of the law creating theForest School

The law authorized the Directorof Forestry to appoint forestpensionados and constructtemporary buildings for their use.

Major George P. AhernDirector of the Philippine Bureau ofForestry from April 14, 1900 toDecember 31, 1914

He dreamed of establishing aforestry school to train Filipinoforest rangers who could help inusing and conserving the forestresources in the country.

Forester Hugh M. Curranworked hard in laying thegroundwork for the“Forest School” as abranch of the Collegeof Agriculture.

Royal F. Nash (AB)of the Bureau of Forestryserved as Instructor and thefirst Officer-in-Charge of theForest School in Los Baños.

16

Forest Investigation building in Los Baños

Major Ahern made the decision to transfer the Bureau’s Division ofForest Investigation from Manila to Los Baños so that the Bureaustaff could do research there and train Filipino forest rangers.

Golden Book-Bureau of Forestry

Makiling Echo

17

These were the forestry cottages then in theCollege of Agriculture, at the site now occupiedby the College Country Club tennis court andfaculty staff houses.Forestry students lived hereup to Class 1919.

The College Grew Despite Limited Support From UP

P art of the birth pains of the College of Agriculture was dueto the loose organization of UP. The first UP President, Dr. MurrayBartlett, was not appointed until June 1911.

From time to time, high ranking government officials expresseddoubts as to the wisdom of having situated the College in Los Baños.The main objection to the present site was its relative inaccessibilityand isolation from the rest of UP in Manila.

Dean Copeland had to lobby to get direct appropriations forgovernment public works for the College.14 The first of such directappropriation was for the construction of a two-kilometer road fromthe national road to the College site (P16,000), and the constructionof the Administration building (P30,000) and the Engineering building(P54,000) in 1910.

The student body of the College of Agriculture and Forest School in 1910

Dr. Murray Simpson Bartlett (Doctor of Divinity) became theFirst President of UP effective June 1911. He was not fullyconvinced that the administration of an agricultural college was thestate university’s task. He proposed to limit the college’s studentpopulation and to shift part of the agricultural instruction to theelementary schools.

Golden Book-Bureau of Forestry

18

The inauguration of the first permanent building (Administration building)was held on May 21, 1911 with Speaker Sergio Osmeña as guest speaker.

Administration buildingDedicated in 1911, this second building was erected on the site now occupied by the UPLB Library building.

Philippine Agriculturist and Forester


19

Agricultural Engineering building (1910),built on the site now occupied by the SEARCA building.

Seed and Harvest Laboratory (1914) and Silk Culture House (1911),located on a site now occupied by the Physical Sciences building.

Plant Physiology Laboratory building (1911), later renamed Agricultural Botany building.This building existed on a site now occupied by the Biological Sciences building.




20

Student Thesis Became a Requirementfor Graduation

-Edwin Bingham Copeland

We require more botany andchemistry than does any otheragricultural college under the Americanflag. With everyday devoted to them, thestudent gains in comprehension of theworld of nature about him. With thewidening of his horizon, his interestgrows.10

“

“D ean Copeland made it clear to all that no student would begranted a degree without satisfactorily completing a thesisresearch. Each student had to write an outline of his thesis, conductthe laboratory and/or field experiments, gather and analyze the data,and write a satisfactory report. All this had to be done under thesupervision of a faculty adviser.9, 20

Student thesis and researches of faculty members resulted inmany valuable scientific information, some of which had importantimplications to national development.

Tobacco House, Department of Agronomy (1915) locatedon the site now occupied by the Physical Sciences building.

Agronomy building (1916). The right winghoused the Division of Plant Breeding(Plant Genetics).This building was on a sitenow occupied by the UPLB Foundation, Inc.and the Post Office buildings.


21

Students Gave Birth to a Scientific Journal:The Philippine Agriculturist and Forester

Many new agricultural information and interesting researchfindings had to be published. For this purpose, the students gavebirth to the Philippine Agriculturist and Forester. Theeditor-in-chief was Manuel L. Roxas, a fourth year student inagriculture with a Bachiller en Artes degree from the AteneoMunicipal.

The first issue – Volume I, No. 1 – came out of the press inJanuary 1911 even before the inauguration of the first permanentacademic buildings of the College, and before the appointment ofthe first UP President.

Coconut trees in Cebu in 1913 showing their leavesbreaking under the weight of “voladores” or adult locusts.

Cornfield in Cebu showing leafless plantsafter the devastation wrought by a locust swarm.

Locust depositing itseggs in the soil (After Riley).

Philippine Agricultural Review


22

Coffea liberica, in addition to Coffea arabica, was found profitablewith the use of Bordeaux mixture to control coffee rust disease.

Large-scale planting of cacao betweencoconut trees was a recommended practice.

Cowpea was found adaptable to Philippine condition.

A hermaphrodite papaya, Carica papaya

A new tobacco hybrid (wrapper type) produced by the Collegewas considered by cigar factories in Manila as revolutionary.

Bureau of Plant Industry

23

Close-up of a coconut treedamaged by the Rhinoceros beetle

Oryctes rhinoceros L.

Corn plants more than 13 feet high.Taller varieties did not necessarily result in high yields.

Philippine Agricultural Review Philippine Agricultural Review

Larva Pupa

Adult maleAdult female

24

Palauan (Cyrtosperma werkusii Schott.),the largest cultivated Aroid, (Tacloban, Leyte)

Philippine Agricultural ReviewPhilippine Agriculturist

Dr.Charles Fuller Baker,an Outstanding Scientist,Arrived

T he arrival of Dr. Charles Fuller Baker inLos Baños on a caretela by the end of August 1912 was asignificant day in the College of Agriculture. He was the firstprofessional agriculturist to join the faculty of the College, aman offered to join the College of Agriculture at a salary ofnearly three times the amount paid him as Head of theBiology Department at Pomona College in Claremont,California.11

Baker had the BSA degree from Michigan StateUniversity, and the doctorate degree from Stanford University.6

Dean Copeland appointed Dr. Baker as Professor andHead of the Department of Agronomy. But he was a manbound to strengthen the College not only in agronomy, butalso in botany, entomology, plant pathology, and plant breeding.

25

First Commencement Day Held Before theInauguration of a Permanent School BuildingT he first Commencement Day of the University of thePhilippines was held in Manila on March 31, 1911, two monthsbefore the inauguration of the first permanent buildings in the Collegeof Agriculture and three months before the appointment of the firstUP President.

Manuel L. Roxas, the editor-in-chief of the PhilippineAgriculturist and Forester, received the degree of Bachelor ofScience in Agriculture (BSA).

Clodoaldo Tempongco and Jose Zamora both received thedegree of Bachelor of Agriculture (BAgric).

There were also three graduates from the College ofMedicine, and four from the College of Liberal Arts.

First graduating class of the College of Agriculture in 1911Left to right: Clodoaldo Tempongko, Jose Zamora, and Manuel L. Roxas,the editor-in-chief of the Philippine Agriculturist and Forester


26

First Batch of 15 Forest RangersGraduated Under the Bureau

O f the 25 enrollees in 1910, including one from China, 15completed the course for Forest Ranger in 1912.13

The Forest School, being under the Bureau of Forestry, hadits own graduation program for forest rangers held in Los Bañoswhere the Director of the Bureau of Forestry distributed thecertificates to the graduates.

The “Forest School” Became Independentwith the Bureau Director as Dean

A s a branch of the College of Agriculture, theForest School had only temporary buildings. However, by 1915, ithad already graduated 122 Forest Rangers and two BS Forestrystudents: Antonio P. Racelis ’14 and Anecito Villamil, ’14.

Act No. 2578 passed on February 4, 1916 established theForest School as a separate entity from the College of Agriculture.But it was still considered a part of the University.13 Thus, it becamean independent school. However, according to Act No. 2578, the

Director of the Bureau of Forestry would be the ex-officioDean of the School.

Permanent buildings had to be constructed whichrequired a much larger area. Thus, the Forest School hadto leave its site in the College of Agriculture campus andmove further up at the foot of Mount Makiling.13 Itbecame the upper campus of UP in Los Baños, and theCollege of Agriculture, the lower campus.

Three of the first graduates of the Forest School:Left to right: Florencio Tamesis, Cayetano Barros, andFelix Franco.

School of Forestry inthe upper campus in 1917,showing students’ dormitories;Mt. Banahaw in the background.

Makiling Echo

27

Dean Copeland Retired at Age 44 Dueto Political Problems

F rom the very beginning, Copeland had to fight for moresupport for the College. Local politicians interested in theindependence of the islands from the Americans were moresupportive of the College of Law and Liberal Arts, but not of theCollege of Agriculture.

Joseph A. Cocannouer, one of the American assistant professorsin the College, wrote, “Politics crept into the schools. Natives weretaking over the important positions and many were not competent todo so. For one thing, it was impossible to make visiting nativeofficials understand that the demonstration plots were being carriedon for the purpose of securing valuable information, and not merelyto provide them with choice products to be hauled away for theirown use. In the midst of turmoil, Dr. Copeland left the College.”7

Dean Copeland did not just leave the College. At age 44, hedecided to retire in 1917 under the Osmeña Act.12 As the pioneerDean and his wife, Ethel Faulkner, and five children prepared toleave the College, a pall of sadness covered the entire campus.

Copeland at his desk (right)with faculty membersof the College

With his wife, Ethel Faulkner, and five children

28

His old bamboo and nipa house

PHOTOS TAKEN BEFORE DEAN COPELAND RETIRED AND LEFT THE COLLEGE

View of Campus from the NorthwestThis is how the campus looked when Dean Copeland left the College and returned to the USA on August 31, 1917.

On the extreme right is the Administration building on the site where the UPLB Library now stands. Below theAdministration building are the Agricultural Engineering and Plant Physiology buildings. On the extreme left is theSeed and Harvest Laboratory on the site where the Physical Sciences building is now located. At the center is thePower House and Cooperative Store.


29

The College at the Foot of Mount Makilingcatioinsp

Historic DevelopmentsUnder Baker

33333Chapter

1917-1927

Philippine Agricultural ReviewAbaca standards for export The College improved the standard classifi-on of abaca fibers to enhance the quality of exports. Governmentectors (above) ensure that standards were being followed.

First World War: Overwhelming Response to theCall for Volunteers to the National Guard

rofessor Edwin B. Copeland, founder and firstDean of the College of Agriculture, retired at age 44.He sailed with his family for the homeland on August31, 1917.

On a year’s leave of absence beginning May 1,1917, Dr. Charles Fuller Baker was in Singaporeserving as Assistant Director in charge of tropicalplantings.

W ith the First World War raging in Europe, worldconditions were uncertain in 1917 and 1918. Early in October 1918,the government called for volunteers to serve in the PhilippineNational Guard.24

One hundred and ninety-three out of three hundred studentsoffered themselves to the National Guard. Of the 32 facultymembers, 27 enlisted including two ladies of the staff.

On October 10, 1918, Senate President Manuel L. Quezonsent a telegram to Dean Baker: “Congratulate you and your collegeupon this splendid showing of devotion to country.”

The National Guard was organized and training began inManila. However, armistice was signed by the Allied Forces andGermany in November 1918. For this reason, the National Guardhad to be disbanded and the faculty members and students whovolunteered had to return to their normal lives in Los Baños.

Student volunteers of the College of Agriculture leaving for Camp Claudio in 1918. The mass enlistmentof faculty and students in the National Guard on October 10, 1918, is now commemorated every year as Loyalty Day


P

32

Steps were taken to secure Baker’s services tosucceed Professor Copeland as Dean of the College.He had the “unanimous approval” of both the facultyand student body of the College.13, 17 Upon his appoint-ment as the new dean, Dr. Baker had to cut short hisleave of absence and return to Los Baños in December1917.

Successful Lobbying for the Central AgriculturalExperiment Station

D ean Baker initiated a campaign to establish a centralexperiment station for the College of Agriculture. He enlisted the aidof all important elements: professors, alumni, students and friendsoutside the College. This resulted in greater UP allocation for theDepartment of Agronomy, and the passage of Act. No. 2730 in1918 that provided for the establishment of an Experiment Stationand appropriating P 125,000 for that purpose.14

Hon. Guillermo Flavier PabloRepresentative for Zambalesand author of Act No. 2730 ofthe Philippine Legislature,providing for the establishmentof an Experiment Station at theCollege of Agriculture

Hon. Bienvenido Maria Gonzalez B. Agr. (U.P., 1913) and M.S. (Wisconsin, 1915) Elected as the First Alumnus Member of the Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines in 1918.

With this appropriation, the following wereaccomplished:

Expropriation of more than 250 hectaresof suitable agricultural land adjoining theCollege grounds divided as follows: Agronomyexperimental fields – 139.73 ha and AnimalHusbandry pasture lands – 122.03 ha.Construction of laboratory facilities, includingpermanent poultry houses, barn, hog sheltersand silosPurchase of fairly respectable number of workand dairy animals, including special types ofcarabaos

Agricultural Chemistry Laboratory (1919)Entomology-Plant Pathology Laboratory (1919)on a site now occupied by the UPLB Administration building

33

The Department of AnimalHusbandry and pasture land,

a part of the Central AgriculturalExperiment Station, as developed

by Dr. B.M. Gonzalez

Campus Development and Planting of Royal Palms

I nstructors in Agronomy and Animal Husbandry worked closelywith Dean Baker in planning and developing the agriculturalexperiment station. Professor Harold C. Cuzner (BSF), head of theDepartment of Rural Engineering and Mathematics, planned andsupervised the construction of practically all permanent buildings ofthe College of Agriculture.8

Aside from almost all the physical facilities on the campus which heplanned and built, one of Prof. Cuzner’s lasting legacies were the

royal palm trees that lined the main roads of the College. FranciscoC. Bernardo ’23 said, “Our class in engineering planted the royalpalms. Prof. Cuzner required us to use the transit to ensure that weplanted the royal palms in straight and perfectly parallel rows.”

As a forest-engineer, Prof. Cuzner made an excellent choice ofplants for landscaping in the College of Agriculture. Thecolonnades of royal palms with lofty crowns along roadsidestruly added beauty and majesty to the campus.

Palm Drive

The main road of the campus, leading fromthe gate through the grounds to the Schoolof Forestry and Mount Makiling National Park.At the left is the Entomology-Plant PathologyLaboratory building.

34

Strengthening of the Socio-economicDimension of College Programs

Studies showed that the farmers of Cagayan and Isabela received no more than 33 percent of the wholesaleManila price of tobacco, and the middlemen received 67 percent. Competition among buyers was hardlyknown. The channel of distribution was found to be tortuous, leaf tobacco passing through three to as many asfive middlemen before reaching the tobacco factory.

W hen Prof. Evett D. Hester joined the College in 1919, heorganized the Department of Rural Economics and strengthened thesocio-economic dimension of College programs in instruction,research and extension. He undertook a lot of research on economicdevelopment of the Philippines and on tenancy problems in farming,and attracted many students to major in rural economics.38

Dean Baker said, Prof. Hester’s “proficiency in economicsand sociology was most unusual, and he had a comprehensive graspof Philippine problems.”

Philippine Agriculturist The Pateros duck industry could be improved byadopting technologies developed by the College.

Benguet mountaineer Igorot farmer on the trail

Interesting socio-economic findings:

35

The College of Veterinary Science Transferred fromPandacan to Los Baños

T he College of Veterinary Science started holding classes inJune 1910 at the medical compound and in the premises of thePhilippine Normal School while waiting for the construction ofVeterinary Science buildings near the animal quarantine station inPandacan. In 1912, the College was well settled in Pandacan.

However, in 1918, the Board of Regents, believing that thecountry would benefit if the College of Veterinary Science and theCollege of Agriculture worked together, voted for the transfer of theformer from Pandacan to Los Baños.6

In Los Baños, the College of Veterinary Science occupiedtemporarily the Tobacco House and one wing of the Pathology-Entomology Laboratory building, while construction of a newpermanent building for the College was going on near the gate of theCollege of Agriculture. During this period, Dean Baker of Agricultureserved as Acting Dean of the College of Veterinary Science.Dr. Alonzo S. Shealy, DVM (Iowa State College), served as ActingDean in the absence of Dean Baker.7, 9

Under Dean Baker’s leadership, four new faculty memberswere added in 1920:12

Dr. Louis P. Koster, DVM (University of Pennsylvania)Dr. Gregorio San Agustin, DVM (University of the Philippines)Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, PhD (George Washington University)Dr. Lester Neer, DVM (Ohio State University)

A class in surgery at the clinic of theCollege of Veterinary Science

Veterinary science students castrating anative carabao bull.

Treating a case of spavin

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Administration building – College of Veterinary Science (1920)-a building constructed near the main gate of the College of Agriculture when Dr. Charles F. Baker wasActing Dean of the College of Veterinary Science

College of Veterinary Science buildings in Pandacan

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Glorious Victories of Los Baños in UniversityAthletic Competitions

I n university athletic competitions against units in Manila, theCollege of Agriculture, Forest School, and College of VeterinaryScience combined as the “Agriculture unit,” with Prof. Otto A.Reinking of the Department of Plant Pathology as athletic director.

For many years, all of the three university championshipcompetitions in baseball, basketball, and track and field events werewon by the Agriculture unit by very wide margins as shown in the1920 scores below:5

Basketball

Agriculture – 44 vs. Education - 5Agriculture 58 vs. Medicine - 7Agriculture – 46 vs. Engineering - 15Agriculture – 84 vs. Law - 12Agriculture – 104 vs. Liberal Arts - 9Record of Agriculture: Ten consecutive universitychampionships in basketball

Track and Field Standing

Agriculture–81½Law – 34 ½Medicine – 9Engineering – 5Education – 3Liberal Arts - 1

In baseball, the Agriculture unit won the Malcolm trophy forthree consecutive times.

Champion baseball team of Los BañosChampion basketball team of Los Bañoswith Professor Otto Reinking as coach

Los Baños track team

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Offering of BS Sugar Technology in 1920

D r. Manuel L. Roxas was the first to obtain the MS degreefrom UP in 1913, and the first Filipino to earn the PhD (Chemistry)degree, which he obtained from the University ofWisconsin in 1916.

Upon his return to Los Baños in 1917, Dr. Roxas focused onimproving sugar cane production in the field, and increasing theefficiency of sugar milling. When he started teaching a course insugar technology, he needed a sugar mill for demonstrationpurposes. Being resourceful and inventive, “he developed a sugarmill using tin cans and odds and ends of laboratory materials,” whichcreated a big impression on administrators and visitors. Leaders ofthe sugar industry who were planning to establish sugar centrals inLuzon and Negros Oriental provided financial support for theconstruction of a small scale sugar mill in the College, and theyencouraged Dr. Roxas to train graduates highly specialized on sugartechnology to help run sugar centrals.23

In 1920, the Board of Regents approved the new curriculumleading to the Bachelor of Science in Sugar Technology, a five-yearcourse. Only high school graduates were permitted to enroll for thiscourse.23

The College Sugar Mill, circa 1938

Dr. Manuel Luz RoxasProfessor of Agricultural Chemistry, who became thefirst Director of the Bureau of Plant Industry

The College Sugar Mill in 1925

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Unexpected Large Enrolments in 1920-1921 with Studentsfrom China, Siam, Java, India, Japan, and Guam

E nrolment in 1920 was unexpectedly large, with 528undergraduate students and 21 graduate students. There were 289new students, a 24 percent increase over that of 1919. Only theprovinces of Agusan, Bukidnon, Davao, and Lanao were notrepresented in the student body. Moreover, there were foreignstudents from China, Siam, Guam, Java, India, and Japan15.

Enrolment in 1921 was even larger, with 627 students, or a 16percent increase over the previous year. This was surpassed onlyby the College of Liberal Arts in Manila which had 662 students in1921.

Although these unexpected increases in enrolment caused greatdifficulties to the College in terms of lack of teachers and inadequatehousing for students, there was reason to rejoice. Many Filipinoswere beginning to realize the importance of agriculture as a profession,and neighboring countries in Asia were sending students to Los Baños,a clear sign that they recognized the high quality of education beingoffered by the College of Agriculture.

Panorama of campus showingsome student bungalowsalong Molawin Creek.On the left, partly hidden, is theMolawin Mess Hall.

Student dormitories and houses on Copeland HeightsBehind the two College dormitories, hidden amongst the banana plants, are the homes of many students.

These houses were built by the students principally from locally available materials.



College Extension Function Highlighted:First Laguna Farmers Day (1922) andFirst Laguna Provincial Fair (1924) Heldon the Campus

D r. Inocencio Elayda, MS ’16, the President of theCollege of Agriculture Alumni Association, organized the FirstLaguna Farmers Day held at the College on November 30, 1922with support from different departments.23

In view of Dr. Elayda’s demonstrated interest in organizingfield extension activities, Dean Baker had him appointed Director ofExtension and this underscored the College trilogy of functions,namely: Instruction, Research, and Extension.

In 1924, the First Laguna Provincial Fair wasorganized as a one-week affair of the College.25

Hundreds of farmers – rice and corn farmers,vegetable and fruit growers, and livestock raisers – aswell as government officials and alumni trooped to thecampus to view the exhibits and to ask for seeds andplanting materials. The improved breeds of hog, cattle,and chicken attracted much attention.

Visiting Delegation of Provincial Governors

Participants of the FourthAgricultural Congress visitingthe College of Agriculture

College extension activities resulted in increasedgarden production of quality vegetables.

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Release of High-Yielding Sugar Cane Varieties Re-sistant to Diseases

P lant breeders and plant pathologists of the College workedtogether to produce sugar cane varieties with high productivity andresistance to Fuji and mosaic diseases, the two most destructivepests of sugar cane. Breeding work began in 1919. Variety CAC87 proved resistant to both diseases, but was too hard a cane forsmall millers. This was crossed with P.B. 119, a soft and high-yieldingvariety. From about 50,000 hybrid seedlings, selections were madeand tested in the following stations:21

· Pampanga Sugar Co. Lt.· Calamba Sugar Estate· Alabang Breeding Station, BPI· La Carlota Experiment Station (Occ. Negros)

This collaborative efforts yielded varieties CAC 111, CAC 112,and others which were disease-resistant, soft, good stooler, and withhigh percentage of sucrose.18 The widespread use of these varietiesgreatly increased sugar cane production in the country.

High-yielding and disease-resistant sugarcane hybrid (P.B. 119X CAC87) producedby the College.

Sugar cane productivityincreased in Canlubangwith the use of sugar canehybrids produced by theCollege.


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T wo very promising sweet potato selections (SBY98 andBLo38) from breeding work

· Crop rotation to control wilt disease of eggplant, tomato,and tobacco

· New varieties of Hibiscus (gumamela) with various de-grees of pink, red, white, yellow, and salmon colors

· Drying mangoes at 67oC proved to be better than sun-drying in terms of appearance and flavor of the product

· Production of industrial alcohol from cassava· A working model of charcoal kiln· New college copra dryer· Giant fresh water shrimp· Hand rice thresher· Model farm septic tank

Other Research Outputs and Breakthroughs

Outstanding tobacco hybrids

Tobacco hybrid lines of Havana and Baker’s SumatraNote the taller and more vigorous lines at the left and right rows.

Tobacco hybrid lines of Florida and Baker’s Sumatra.Note the tall and vigorous line at the left row.

A field of Cayenne Pineapple from Hawaii

This standard grain drill from the USA was improvedby College engineers for planting upland rice in thePhilippines.


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Dean Charles Fuller Baker Passed Away

H e was ill and hospitalized in Manila. After three weeks,on July 22, 1927 at age 55, he passed away. The whole College ofAgriculture grieved without end.17

Dr. Edwin B. Copeland, the first Dean and founder of theCollege, built a very solid foundation of the school with a strongtradition in research that ranked with the best in the world. On theother hand, Dean Baker was primarily responsible for the substantivegrowth of the College. From 56 students, five faculty members, nobuilding, and 72 hectares of wild land, the College grew to becomean institution with a faculty of 88, about 800 students, 61 buildings,and about 400 hectares of improved land.19 The library holdings hadincreased from 566 volumes to 7325. The campus had showersand bathrooms where none existed before. Electricity had replacedcandles and oil lamps and for the first time, ice was available.

In 1927, the University of Illinois sent a team to the Philippinesto evaluate the quality of university-level education in the differentcolleges of UP The survey results showed that only the College ofAgriculture was rated “A.”

Dr. B.M. Gonzalez said, “When Professor Baker’s work inagronomy was well started, he saw the enormous ravages done tocrops by plant diseases. With the aid of more advanced students, heinitiated investigations along this line. This work later developed intoour Department of Plant Pathology. We thus had in Dean Baker anagronomist, botanist, entomologist, plant breeder, and plant pathologistin one; and he was an accomplished worker in every one of them.”

At age 45, Dean Baker declared, “I have put into each day asmuch as most people put into two days; therefore, I have lived about90 years.”

The living room in Dean Baker’s house in downtown Los Baños.Dean Baker called his house a “workshop home”.

Baker’s shelves of insect collections in his house.

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Charles Fuller Baker 1872-1926 – and still going strong: Tired at the moment from fourteen years of intensive work in the building of a university college without a vacation during that time, but good for twenty-five years more. (Written by the Dean on this photograph, January, 1926.)

100 years chapters 1-3

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