STUDIES IN THE VEGETATION OF THE PHILIPPINES, I. I'll 



manual labor) is groat, but the ruling higb prices justify tbe expense. 

 The cost of extracting tbe softer woods by the same methods is as great 

 or nearly as great because the logs are usually much larger in size. The 

 price paid for such logs is comparatively low so that the profits, if any, 

 arc much lower. Tbe introduction of modern logging machinery will 

 reduce and is reducing the cost of logging greatly. 



;5. The demand for great amounts of cheap construction timbers is 

 supplied by bamboo stems or palms, and small or young dicotyledonous 

 trees. 



4. No widespread attempt has ever been made to place the general 

 construction woods of the tropics on the markets of temperate zones. 



It is shown from the above that the volume per acre of the dipterocarp 

 forests of the. Philippines is great enough to allow lumbering operations 

 on a large scale, and the supply is sufficient to allow a large per cent for 

 export of the cheaper classes of timber. It is believed that in time such 

 timbers will be exported to temperate regions and sold at a price that will 

 allow them to compete successfully with timber of a like grade. That it 

 is not done at the present time is due to certain unfavorable economic 

 conditions, which will in time be overcome. 



The amount of timber in the Philippines is limited, principally because 

 the land area of tiie Philippines (about 120,000 square miles) is small, 

 with a virgin forest area of approximately 40,000 square miles. What 

 proportion of this will ultimately be absolute forest land, to yield con- 

 tinuous crops of timber is not yet known. Large deforested areas are 

 on non-agricultural land. It is shown that so far as the Philippines 

 are concerned the forests yield mostly general construction timbers, which 

 are as a rule practically unknown to the temperate zone markets of the 

 world. Borneo with an area approximately two and one-half times that 

 of the Philijmines is rich in dipterocarps and because of its smaller popu- 

 lation probably has a much larger percentage of virgin forest area than 

 the Philippines. There as well as in other parts of the thinly settled 

 Malayan regions, so far as is known, no attempt has been made to take 

 an inventory of tbe forest resources. In thickly settled Java nearly all 

 of the accessible virgin forest area has been removed. With the exception 

 of eng (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus Eoxb.) and sal (Shorea robusta 

 Gaertn.), the dipterocarps of Burma and tropical India are little known 

 outside local markets. Concerning the forests of Burma I quote the 

 following from a letter of M. L. Merritt who recently visited a small 

 portion of this region. "Naturally I saw more of the plains and low 

 hill forests than any other. Here teak (Tectona grandis) and pyingado 

 (Xylia doldbriformis) are the two species which they regard as being 

 most valuable. The former is very scattered and I doubt if there will 

 be one-half to one-third trees to the acre. Pyingado is more numerous 

 and will run approximately one to three trees per acre. The dipterocarps, 

 Dipterocarpiis alatus and Diptcrocarpus laevis, both of which resemble 



