The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-02-02

wealth. OF the P0llpplneS
will lie mainly In the vast forests OF
- valuable timber which they contain
This view is entertained by the admins
tration. and the most far-seeing measures
have been adopted TO conserve the extern
sive areas OF public woodland.
The archipelago has never been com
pletely surveyed, but the official esti-
mates. from which the following figures
are deducted, probably approximate to ex-
actness. The total land area of the ISL
ands Is upward Of $1,000, 900 acres. OF
this more than &C, OO0, 900 are the property
OF the state. and about 45,Oo0.o 600 acres
of this public domain are wooded. leay-
ing 2, 10000 acres of land mostly capa-
BILE Of cultivation.
OF course, In Luzon the proportion OF
cleared area is very much greater than
the average, but even In this island there
are at least 100000 acres OF virgin
forest. Extensive tracts are TO be found
In the provinces of Cagayan. Isabella and
Nueya Viscaya-in fact, the entire coast
of LuZon south Of Antimonan is a virgin
forest. the timber OF this and other dis
tricts will be rendered readily availa Bile
for market by the railroads in course of
construction, but at the present time. in
spite of the almost unlimited resources,
the demand for lumber In Manila is never
fully met. This Is due to the crude meth
DDS of numbering which have prevailed
heretofore, and to the limited facilities
for internal transportation. Aside from
the short road from Manila north. there
have been no railroads in operation, and
the forest lands within reach of this line
were long since depleted.
great deal of the forest area Is sun-
piled with streams of sufficient size 10
admit of logging. but many of them re-
quire a little clearing. and a moderate
obstacle is quite enough to deter the en-
terprise Of the native lumberman. There
Is today fine tract OF timber In the
vicinity Of Manila which has been ef.
fectuaIly protected by an obstruction In
the river that an American compapy
would remove In few days and at a
nominal expense. But the chief deterrent
to logging in the Philippines is the hazard
inseparable from the operation, at least
until some preventive measure is devised
Most of the timber of the islands is hard
wood of such density that 1t will rot
noat without assistance Bamboo RATS
~ SIC II OOOg y, ana not in
frequently these structures are accident
any oroken up with serious resultant loss
The native lumberman, therefore. de-
pends In the main upon cardiac, or water
buffalo. to haul his logs to the beach, and
II may readily be imagined that this
primitive means Of transportation entails
strict limitations upon the operations
The carabao Is a powerful animal, but
dragging log over Uneven and numbered
ground is a difficult task. The larger
trees are seldom got out, though they are
frequently destroyed in order to secure
comparatively small portions of them. If
an extra length is needed for a banoa
suitable tree is felled and the boat is
made on the spot, to be hauled away in
an almost finished state The methods
employed are crude and wasteful in the
extreme. croSS-cut saw Is quite un-
known in the Philippine forest All the
Telling and other work of cutting is done
with long. narrow. single-bitted AK A
large tree Is always cut at an extrava-
CANT height from the ground-sometimes
as high as Is feet-after having been first
partially burnt through to facilitate the
job II is believed by the officials OF the
Forestry Bureau that hardly one-third of
the marketable timber that Is cut comes
out Of the forest. Ii is usual for a IL
censee to contract with native loggcrs TO
deliver certain kinds of hewn logs on the
beach In this connection = popularity
of the Philippine forests should be under
stood Except in the fr and pine regions
the trees do not grow there in extensive
stands of one species as in the United
States An acre OF Philippine woodland
may contain 20 different varieties and
more than score OF the same kiEd of
tree are seldom found growing together.
The loggers naturally pick out the most
accessible trees and those most easily TO
be feIled. ruthleSSIy burn into the trunks,
cut OF such lengths as their carabao viii
drag and leave from 40 TO 60 per cent. OF
remainder upon the ground to decay.
The effect of these methods of easy lum-
herring are seen in cleared belts. two or
three miles in breadth. upon the coasts.