a 
2 
; 
375 
be taken during the wet season only (corresponding to the summer season 
of temperate regions) they would be grossly misleading. . It might be 
assumed that the winter chresard of temperate regions is nothing, but 
the physiological evidence is entirely against such an assumption. Con- 
iferous trees are known to use water throughout the so-called unfavorable 
season and even the bare twigs of deciduous trees may give off water. In 
many portions of the temperate regions the conditions are such that 
vegetative activity is considerable during the winter and especially the 
very early spring months. Granted that the chresard is the controlling 
factor, no general classification based upon exact methods of measurement 
can be made until the measurements show chresard conditions during the 
unfavorable as well as the favorable season. 
However, Clements’s work marks a new epoch in ecological studies. In 
a word, it reduces ecology more nearly to a physiological basis and some 
of the mooted questions raised in this paper could have been decided had 
_ his methods been adopted. Nevertheless, it is my belief that much prelim- 
inary work can be done and indeed is necessary before careful measure- 
ments are made. Especially is this true in a region where little is known 
of the floristic composition of the vegetation. Attention must be focused 
on obtaining a knowledge of the flora, including not only an enumeration 
of the species but also a determination of the quantitative importance of 
each. Without this, no progress can be made toward an explanation of 
the ecological factors controlling distribution. Although the vegetation 
of the strand in the Tropics has been fairly well studied, but little is 
known of the composition of inland formations in these regions. The 
quantitative analysis of some forty plots, the results of which are given in 
this paper in such a way as to show what vegetation exists in different 
physiographic situations at different altitudes, is therefore a distinct 
contribution. During this study an effort has been made to discover what 
factors control distribution. How successfully this attempt has been 
realized will be shown by the paper which follows. 
It is not too much to say that ecological botany, more than any other 
branch of the science, has a practical as well as a scientific value. 
Stripped of its business aspects, forestry is nothing more or less than 
forest ecology. One of the first essentials of forestry is a knowledge of 
the composition of the forest and the only scientific means of obtaining 
this knowledge is by a study of plots similar to those recorded in this 
paper. Indeed, with the addition of tree measurements, these plots are 
the “valuation surveys” of the forester. In many places in the Philip- 
pines, especially along the coasts where transportation is easily available, 
local forest famines already prevail. The valuable timber trees have 
been removed and “‘weed” trees have taken their place, or clearings have 
been made, found to be unprofitable, and have been abandoned and a 
knowledge of the natural succession of vegetation in these places is an 
