AMERICAN FORESTRY 



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An Old Style Saw Mill. 



note how the heavy hardwood logs were cut into boards by man power somewhat in the same way the work 



is done in some districts of china to this day. 



peculiar appearance of man>' pine trees 

 from which all of the branches, except 

 a few at the top, had been carefnlly cut. 

 I found that the individual trees were 

 all "owned" but that the owners were 

 not allowed to fell them until they had 

 attained a certain minimtmi size, al- 

 though they might meanwhile cut the 

 lower branches for firewood. Noting 

 the excellent reproduction which was 

 occurring on some of the hillsides I 

 found upon inquiry that the young 

 trees were being protected from grass 

 fires. 



Unfortunately similar wisdom has 

 not been displa3^ed by the inhabitants 

 of any other region in the archipelago 

 and \A'anton forest destruction has iDcen 

 practiced, with little interference, from 

 the time of the Spanish discovery until 

 the American occupation. 



One might suppose that the sparse 

 population of the islands could at the 

 worst make comparatively little im- 

 pression on their vast forests. Unfor- 

 tunately this is not the case. The 

 islands produce several rank tropical 



grasses commonly known collectively 

 as cocon, the wind-driven seeds of which 

 fly for long distances and promptly 

 germinate in land cleared for agricul- 

 tural purposes. It has been difTcull 

 successfully to combat them with such 

 machinery and implements as have here- 

 tofore been available, and for untold 

 centuries there has prevailed the custom 

 of obtaining land for agriculture bv 

 felling and burning the forest trees. 

 Newly cleared lands have been aban- 

 doned as soon as cogon made its appear- 

 ance. This pest is more than capable 

 of holding its own against all comers. 

 Its wide-spreading and sharply pointed 

 roots not only make the soil acid but bore 

 through any moderately soft obstacles 

 which they encounter. Furthermore, 

 cogon burns readily and fiercely during 

 the dry season, destroying any young 

 trees which may have established them- 

 selves, with the result that a deforested 

 area which becomes a cogondl remains a 

 cogondl unless man intervenes. 



He is now intervening in the Philip- 

 pines with legislation forbidding the 



