Cultivated Plants and Trees.—­Near every settlement will be found a number of small gardens, in which a variety of vegetables are grown.  Occasionally a considerable planting of bananas will be found, while many villages are buried beneath the shade of coconut trees, but in comparison with rice the cultivation of other crops becomes insignificant.  Nevertheless, a considerable amount of food stuff, as well as of plants and trees used in household industries, are planted in prepared land; while many of wild growths are utilized.  The following list is doubtless incomplete, but still contains those of special value to this people. [220]

Next to rice the camote (Convolvulus batatas) is the most important food product.  Occasionally it is raised in the gardens or rice terraces, but, as a rule, it is planted in hillside clearings from which one or two crops of rice have been removed.  The tuber is cut into pieces, or runners from old plants are stuck into the ground, and the planting is complete.  The vine soon becomes very sturdy, its large green leaves so carpeting the ground that it even competes successfully with the cogon grass.  If allowed, the plants multiply by their runners far beyond the space originally allotted to them.  The tubers, which are about the size of our sweet potatoes, are dug up as needed, to replace or supplement rice in the daily menu.  Both roots and plants are also cooked and used as food for the pigs and dogs.

Aba (Colocasia antiquorum Schott) is raised, [221] but as it requires a moist soil, and hence would occupy land adapted to rice, it is chiefly limited to the gardens.  It has large fleshy roots which are used like those of the camote, while the leaves and young shoots are also cooked and eaten.  Other tubers known as obi (Dioscorea sp.), gakad (Dioscorea divaricata Blanco), annaeg (Dioscorea fasciculata), and kamas (Pachyrhizus angulatus D.C.) are raised to a limited extent in the gardens.

Corn, mais, bukel, and red corn, gasilan (Zea mays L.) seems to have been introduced into Abra in comparatively late times, for despite the fact that it is one of the most important crops, it has neither gathered to itself ceremonial procedure, nor has it acquired a place in the folk-lore.  A considerable amount is raised in the village gardens, but generally it is planted by dibbling in the high land.  When ripe, the ears are broken from the stalk, the husks are turned back, and several are tied together.  These bunches are then placed over horizontal poles, raised several feet from the ground (Plate LVIII), and after being thoroughly dried, are hung from the house rafters.  The common method of grinding is to place the corn on a large stone, over which a smaller stone is rocked until a fine flour is produced (Plate LIX).  Stone disk grinders, imported from the coast, are also in use.  These consist of grooved stones, the upper of which revolves on the lower.  Grain is fed into an opening at the top as needed.  Dried corn, popped in the embers of a fire, is much relished by the children.