BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 



Forests of the Philippines. — Whitford has embodied his further 

 work on the Philippine forests in a report 1 which is of considerable interest 

 to the botanist and of great value to the forester, at the same time that 

 it is of general interest as giving specific information on the extent of the 

 most valuable natural resource of our largest colonial possession. The 

 first part of the report, Forest Types and Products, describes the prin- 

 cipal types of forest in the Philippines, the uses of the various woods and 

 their physical properties, and gives considerable practical information 

 about logging and milling methods, labor conditions, and the like. A 

 statement of the classification of lands shows that virgin forests, 40,000 

 square miles in extent, occupies one-third of the area of th° archipelago, 

 and that virgin and second growth forests together occupy nearly one 

 half. An accompanying map indicates the location of these areas. 



The virgin forests are classified under ten types, five of which are 

 dominated by species of the Dipterocarpaceae, and together make up 

 75 per cent of the total virgin forest area. The largest trees of these 

 forests are said to resemble Liriodendron tulipifera in form and size. 

 In the Lauan type of forest the stand of timber, according to Whitford's 

 surveys, is 42,900 board feet per acre. The Lauan forest and two of 

 the other Dipterocarp types occupy those portions of the low coastal 

 plains which have a well-distributed rainfall. The Lauan-Apitong 

 type is found in somewhat drier regions at low elevation, and has a 

 considerable deciduous element in its make-up. The Tanguile-Oak type 

 is evergreen and is found from 1200 to 2700 feet elevation, under condi- 

 tions of more equable rainfall than the lowland forests. The types of 

 forest not characterised by Dipterocarps are: the Molave (Vitex) type, 

 occurring in limestone regions; the Pine type, occupying the plateau of 

 northern Luzon and characterised by Pinus insularis; the Mangrove 

 and Beach types, occupying the coast; and the Mossy type, occurring 

 on the highest mountain ridges, which is partially made up of the coni- 

 fers Dacrydium and Podocarpus. 



The second part of the report, The Principal Forest Trees, illustrates 



1 Whitford, H. X., The Forests of the Philippines. Bull. 10, Bureau of Forestry. 

 Part 1, pp. 94, pis. 28, map; Part 2, pp. 113, pis. 103; Manila, 1911. 



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