Evening star., 1901-09-21
A Wealth of Timber Growing on tn
Islands.

A Wealth of Timber Growing on the
| Islands.
| From the Manila American.
Immense wealth lies in the forests of the
| Philippine Islands. There are great tracts
| Of most valuable timber in great demand
| in most all the industries where wood is
used awaiting the advent of the skilled lum-
bermen. To reach these sources Of wealth
| much patience and financial backing will be
required. Difficulties Of transportation will
have to be overcome and laborers who are
willing and capable of performing the work
Of Telling and removing the timber will
have to be organized.
| The forestry bureau in the Philippine
Islands was organized in April, 1900 Its
work was only practically begun, but much
has already been accomplished. Sufh-
cient force of men competent for the work
of exploiting the forest growth in detail
has not yet been assembled, and, in fact,
men with the necessary technical knowl-
edge, who are willing to affiliate with the
bureau, have not yet been secured
I am satisfied that when the nature OF
those woods Is known 1t will tend to d.
vert the attention of our furniture makers
from Central and South America to the
Philippines. vast amount of hard wood
is imported into the United States each
year at a very high price. Many of the
varieties in the islands are OF fine quality
and would find a ready market with our
furniture makers.
The bureau has now 665 varieties of ma
tive woods listed and every one Of them Is
of value in various industries Each month
more varieties are being added, and be-
lieve the forest growth Of the Philippines
will show a total of nearly 1000 species OF
trees, many Of which will be Of service in
the arts and sciences.
The public forest lands comprise from
ore-fourth to possibly one-half of the area
of the Philippine Islands, or from 10000, 600
to 10000, 600 acres. There are fully 5,000, 900
acres of virgin forest owned by the state
in the islands of Mindora and Paragua.
The Island of Mndora, with an area Of
more than 20,OO0.0O0 acres, is almost en-
tirely covered with timber. In the province
of Gagayan, in the Island of Luzon, there
are more than 2,O0OOO0 acres of forest.
Besides the timber there is a great va
riety Of valuable gum, rubber and gutta
percha trees.
The bureau has list of seventeen dye
woods the revenue from which, if properly
exploited, should pay a large part of the
government expenses.
The ylang lang tree abounds there, its
blossoms producing an oil which is the
base of many Of the renowned perfumes.
Quite a revenue is gained by owners and
cultivators of these trees.
The western slope of Romblon Is a mass
Of cocoanut palms from the waters edge to
the mountain top, every tree bringing in
| revenue yearly of from 81 to 81. and when
it is realized that several hundred trees
may be grown on an acre one Is struck
Win the income from SuCn possessions. In
all parts of our southern islands these
trees seem to grow without any effort or
care.
The gutta percha forests are especially
valuable, and it will be an important work
Of the bureau to develop them. The great
Importance Of gutta percha at this time Is
in connection with the large amount of
submarine cables projected by the United
States and other countries for the near
future. Gutta percha is at present con-
sidered the only suitable material for the
installation OF deep-Sea ocean cables. the
use of rubber for insulation is steadily ad-
vancing, and at present none Of the leading
submarine cable manufacturers would care
to take the responsibility of constructing
an ocean cable 1000 miles in length Of rub
ber insulation.
Gutta percha is hardly known at present
as Philippine export, except by very
few foreign dealers who have guarded their
secret we'll Its value is not generally ap-
preciated. and there has been no systematic
attempt to gather 1t or estimate it's extent.
Valuable quantities, however. are being
gathered by the natives and sold locally to
Chinese merchants, who make enormous
profits by shipping it to Singapore.
The natives in gathering this forest pro-
duct instead Of extracting from incisions
in the standing trees In the proper man
ner. ruthlessly destroy the trees by telling
them to facilitate their work. To prevent
this the United States government in the
Philippines should institute effective means
for preventing the Telling of these trees
and for supervising the gathering OF the
product.
In the work of the forestry division OF
the Philippines provision has already been
made for this. but the fear will be in a
lack of means Of carrying the orders into
effect throughout the extensive forest re-
gions.
There seems to be danger that the worlds
supply of this material will become ex-
hausted, and the steady and tremendous
advance in the price of the product within
the last two years is perhaps the best m
dication of the growing difficulty in meet
Ing demands.
Aside from the demand for gatta percha