The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-02-27

nous. | have seen some hardwood |
trees 50 big that YOU could not reach
haV"ay aroun them with Your two
arms. and they rose $50 feet from
the ground without a branch. Ma !
hogany boards six feet wide are now
and then TO be seen. and I have been
told that the Islands have produced
rosewood logs nine feet in diameter.
l have ridden on horseback over
bridges planked with mahogany and
rosewood. and | saw floors in Manila
the boards Of which would have made
excellent piano cases. Mr.. Fox
worthy, OF the College Of Agriculture
IN Luzon. says that the Philippine
forests have five times as many diff
ferent woods as we have in the
United States. and that there are
several hundred commercial varieties.
There is a Benguet pine which IS soft.
n there are many ~hardwoods fit
ted for furniture.
Mai. George =. Ahern. the director
of the bureau Of forestry, says tina
a properly equipped lumber company
would run no risk Of failure in the
Philippines.
The margin Of profit is too wide.
1t costs nothing to secure a conces-
sion. but the company must show
that it has a large enough capital
to properly exploit the tract hic
- oh>1 pAlNl 8 Vail bC
granted up to tracts Of several hun
dred Quare miles in extent. and that
for twenty years. Only the stump
age is sold. the land remaining in
the possession Of the
The woods are divided by law into
four classes. and there is a govern
ment charge which ranges from one
to five dollars per thousand board
feet for the cut. The government has
maps Of the forests and it is ready to
furnish Information to prospective in
NeStOrS.
Fortunes in Mines.
We are Just beginning to discover
the mineral wealth Of the Philip
pines. The bureau Of science at
Manila has had mining engineers and
m~etallurgists looking W the POSSIBLE
ties and mapping the country. They
say that the islands hold districts
which are rich in gold. copper and
iron. and they have recently discov-
cred extensive underground gold
workings which were made by the
Igorrotes. The openings Of these
were so small that a man Of good
size could hardly get in, but farther
or when the mineral was reached
large rooms had been ~excavated and
hundreds OF tons Of gold ore taken
out. This ore was crushed in rock
mills. many Of which are still to be
seen, Il the gold was then PANIED
) and melted into bars. It is said that
the islands LAY been yielding gold
as far back as the third century A
D., and during the last two hundred
t years there ~ been numerou:
; mines operated by the natives, Span.
iards. E~nglishmen and Americans.
) The Spaniards and Englishmer
were not allowed to work in the
. Mountain Province on account Of The
!, Igorrotes and other head hunters
) but since the Americans came Q u
miners have scattered over the coun-
try and some Of them are now hold
ing and developing properties which
were located some years ago.
! One Of the best districts IS neal
Basuio. where is now the summe'
t capital Of the Philippines. There i
t n mpan there which has thirty
S five claims. in which are 1876 veins O.
gold. These veins range from on
!; to twenty feet in width, and ON
can be traced for two miles alon'
\ the surface. One has tn
ore developed for 800 feet below tn
g grass roots and has blocked out
half-million tons Of ore. In SOM
I of the mills they are crushing tn
ore and taking it out on amlganna
q ton plates. In others the ore j
: treated with cyanide. The above in
Il formation comes from Frank 6. Ed
+ dingfield. who is a mining englnee
Of the bureau of science
Another mining district which i
now being exploited is in the littl
Island Of Masbate. This was ais
worked by the Chinese, and 1t Ia
three companies working in it today
y Some of the veins average s14 pc
! ton. and it is gotten out with al
drills.
They are mining gold on the east
ern coast Of Luzon. about $50 mile
from Manila. This region is san Of
one and much Of the output come
q from placer mines. There IS q trat
1t Of river fats upon which the sold
e washed down from the adjacent hill.
e Some New Zealanders are getting tn
q gold out with dreCgeS and other
are now bringing ii dredges TO TAX
Is up and wash out the soil. Quart
r powders are sometimes found at tn