Through the Church and its zealous missionaries, the Filipinos learned new techniques and procedures involving

the cultivation of agricultural crops introduced from Mexico, one of Spains colonies in the New World. For example, prior to the imposition of Castilian rule, the Filipinos practiced swiddening or slash-and-burn agriculture. This farming technique involved clearing a hillside or a patch of land, cutting down the trees, burning the trunks, the branches and the leaves, removing the rocks, and then planting through the use of a pointed stick to create a hole on the ground into which seeds were thrown. Then the farmer simply waited for harvest time to arrive. This situation changed when the missionaries taught the Filipino natives horticultural techniques requiring intensive cultivation of land through better irrigation and water management so as to lessen their dependency on rainfall. In addition to teaching the Filipinos new farming methods and introducing to them new crops such as maize, avocado, tomato, and cacao, from which the nutritious drink of chocolate was derived, the Spanish friars taught the rudiments of reading and writing to the natives, not to mention useful trades such as painting, baking and locksmithing.