NEWS AND NOTES 



315 



That would offer an incentive for every 

 owner of lands fitted for forest growth, to 

 protect his young timber against fire and to 

 do everything possible to encourage the 

 growth of trees, these to be utilized by the 

 coming generation. Others have suggested 

 that the state require the owner of cut-over 

 lands to replant trees, paying for the work 

 by increasing the valuation of both timbered 

 and cut-over lands and using the taxes so 

 collected for doing the work. Others again 

 have proposed that the state take care of all 

 cut-over lands and plant them. I am not dis- 

 posed to advocate any particular plan to-day, 

 realizing as I do the great diversity of in- 

 terests which will be affected by any plan 

 which may be proposed. I wish to empha- 

 size the importance of this question, how- 

 ever, and point out that in this as in all 

 other matters of great moment, the volun- 

 tary action of a man, or group of men, who 

 have a personal interest in any lands will be 

 worth more than any enforced rule or regu- 

 lation which the state may promulgate. If 

 you or I find that we can plant trees or grow 

 trees with profit, we will only have to be 

 shozun, and no one will have to drive us 

 (that's what we do is Missouri). A com- 

 pulsory action will only too frequently be 

 followed by giving up the whole matter, and 

 in the end defeat the very object striven for. 

 I can see no more vital problem for the 

 conservation commission to take hold of 

 than this question of timber land taxation. 

 We should study it in all its stages and 

 above all we should work out some plan 

 which will hold in all the states. The va- 

 rious commissions could get together and 

 act in absolute harmony. What is proper 

 in one state is bound to apply in all the 

 others. Let us not forget that the principle 

 of self-interest, the show-me spirit, which 

 controls most of our business operations, will 

 work with timber lands in the same manner. 

 If no taxes can be devised whereby the 

 individual can be induced to engage in prac- 

 tical forestry, there is the other alternative 

 of state or government control of cut-over 

 lands. The state or federal government might 

 purchase millions of acres of cut-over lands 

 at very low figures, and on such reservation 

 timber culture could then be carried on, also. 

 Some states have already established state 

 reserves and others are working out some 

 such plans. This point is one for each 

 state commission to consider in connection with 

 the tax question." 



^ «? Jt' 

 A Correction 



In Professor Swain's article, published in 

 our April issue, on page 230, there was an 

 error in the use of quotation marks. Re- 

 ferring to a point made by Professor Moore, 

 Professor Swain's paper was made to say 

 "He says 'the floods have not increased. I 



do not know definitely about forests, there- 

 fore the forests have no effect on floods.' " 

 This should have read without any quota- 

 tion marks : He says in effect, etc. Professor 

 Swain was giving in his own words the sub- 

 stance of the argument of Mr. Moore as 

 he understood it. 



i^ «? ^ 



Bejuco (Rattan) 



Very few people realize the importance of 

 the minor forest-products industry of the 

 Philippines. This industry is the collecting 

 and selling of firewood, gums, resins, rattans, 

 and all other forest products except lumber. 

 Of these products, rattan or bejuco, as it is 

 commonly called in the Philippines, is by 

 no means the least important. 



In the year 1905-6, forest charges were paid 

 on over 45,000,000 pieces, and in the following 

 year the output reached over 50,000,000 pieces, 

 each about four meters long. 



The best bejucos are obtained from the 

 mountains, and are usually collected by moun- 

 tain people. Those that come froin the low- 

 lands are usually inferior in strength and 

 fineness of fiber. 



Rattan has a wide range of uses. The 

 largest and strongest pieces of the choicest 

 kinds are made into furniture and ornaments 

 of various kinds. When split into strips, 

 bejucos are woven into chair and bed bot- 

 toms, and for use around bottles. In some 

 places they are used for flooring, as a sub- 

 stitute for bamboo. By far the largest local 

 use to which bejuco is put is for tying pur- 

 poses. Bejucos are cheap, strong, and abund- 

 ant, and therefore preferable to hemp for 

 packages, when exposed to weather. They 

 are universally used in the Philippines as a 

 substitute for nails. The parts of many 

 houses are entirely bound together by means 

 of bejucos. Especially large pieces are 

 stretched across streams, as cables for ferries. 



Bejucos are well known to manufacturers 

 all over the world, and are in great demand. 

 At present, they are abundant in the more 

 remote provinces of the Philippines, but if 

 they are wasted or the reproduction is not 

 considered, they will be as scarce as they 

 are at present in many thickly populated prov- 

 inces. Therefore, the Bureau of Forestry is 

 using care in granting licenses to cut bejucos 

 and is trying to bring the industry under 

 more conservative management. 



«r' &' «r' 



The National Grange on Conservation 



The platform of the National Grange, Pa- 

 trons of Husbandry, recently issued by the 

 legislative committee, contains the following 

 paragraph on "Conservation of Timber and 

 Mineral Lands" : 



