HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



green, the stock was biilUoil down instead of being put on sticks. 

 It has been there now^ for four or five months. Apparently the 

 owner of the lumber has been so busy studying out scientific 

 methods for use elsewhere that he has forgotten all about the 

 stock piled up down in the country. It has checked and split 

 and done about everything else imaginalde, and some of the 



boards are even stuck together with the sap which has oozed 

 from their sides. 



Perhaps scientific management should not be blamed for this 

 sort of criminal waste. But certainly a little common sense and 

 a little less effort to do the unusual would have helped mightily 

 here. 



^yK!y.';:au/to>o^<^x>x;X/{cacei^^ 



Philippine Timber l^eivs 



I 



The Bureau of Forestry iu the Philippine Islands issues a quar- 

 terly news letter to acquaint the public with what is being done. 

 Major George P. Ahern is director and W. F. Sherfesee, assistant. 

 The commercial relations between the United States and the 

 islands become closer from year to year. The export of Philip- 

 pine lumber to this country is not yet large, but it is increasing, 

 and steps have been taken to put the business on a satisfactory 

 basis. 



In consultation with representatives of the various lumber com- 

 panies and with the principal wood-using bureaus of the govern- 

 ment, a tentative set of grading rules has been drawn up. These 

 rules will be used provisionally by the Bureau of Supply to try 

 how far they can be applied. The adoption of a set of rules for 

 the grading of Philippine lumber will mark a long step in ad- 

 vance. Their need has been felt for many years, but it is only 

 now that co-operation between the principal parties concerned 

 has made it possible to formulate them. 



During the fiscal year which closed on June 30, 1913, the forest 

 revenues exceeded the expenses of the Bureau of Forestry by 

 $82,000. 



An increasing number of visitors from the United States and 

 Europe are looking into the possibility of securing large and reg- 

 ular shipments of Philippine lumber, particularly for special pur- 

 poses for which the available supply of woods formerly used has 

 become exhausted or seriously depleted. The use of Philippine 

 woods for veneers has attracted special attention and a trial 

 shipment of several species has been made to Europe for veneer 

 purposes. Other shipments have been arranged for and will soon 

 be made. Small shipments have also been made by private firms 

 to the United States for built-up panels stock and for wagon and 

 wheel material. 



Ranger Luis J. Reyes has recently completed a report on the 

 musical instrument industry in Manila. All of the shops were 

 visited and answers to a complete series of questions have been 

 compiled giving full data on the kinds of wood used for instru- 

 ments, the sources from which the material comes and the special 

 fitness of certain species for given parts of instruments. Inci- 

 dentally Mr. Reyes has been of assistance to Mr. Fischer in ob- 

 taining the co-operation of a prominent instrument maker in in- 

 stalling a comprehensive exhibit at the coming Philippine Expo- 

 sition. This is only the first of a series of such studies to be 

 taken up by Mr. Reyes. He is now engaged in investigating the 

 sculptors', picture-frame makers' and carvers' shops. He has 

 also compiled tables showing the provinces from which all of the 

 more important commercial woods of the Philippines have been 

 reported, together with their dates of flowering and fruiting. This 

 will be used in connection with ma]>3 of the archipelago show- 

 ing the distribution of the various species. 



On September 24 the director of forestry sent out advertise- 

 ments for a proposed twenty-year exclusive license agreement (or 

 concession as it is popularly called) for a forest tract on the 

 south shores of Pangil Bay, Lanao District, More Province. The 

 tract embraces approximately 100,000 acres mostly of virgin tim- 

 ber. The more prominent species on the tract are yacal, gui.io, 

 white, red and other lauans, apitong, tanguilo and lumbayao. The 

 area is unusually rich in desirable species and presents an ex- 

 cellent opportunity for a prospective lumberman who has an ex- 

 port trade in view. 



Bids will be opened in the office of the director of forestry in 

 Manila at noon on December 10. Among the minimum require- 

 ments are an output during the first two years of approximately 

 2,000,000 cu. feet of timber; not less than 1,320,000 cu. feet per 

 year during the third and fourth years; and not less than 2,600,- 

 000 eu. feet during the fifth and each subsequent year. A min- 

 imum capital of $30,000 United States currency must be imme- 

 diately available for the prosecution of the work. Such informa- 

 tion concerning this tract as has been acquired by the Bureau of 

 Forestry can be secured either upon application at the offices 

 of the Bureau of Forestry in Manila or at the Bureau of Insular 

 Aft'aiire, Washington, D. C. 



F. P. Williamson, vice-president of the Port Banga Lumber Com- 

 pany at Zamboanga, reports that his company has recently in- 

 stalled a small Fay & Egan sticker, 6x24. It has turned out 

 some beautiful flooring which is verj' popular locally. There is 

 also iu transit an "American" edger which will be put in place 

 at once. 



G. E. Carpenter has returned from the United States on a short 

 visit but almost immediately left once more for America in con- 

 nection with a million-foot order which the company is confident 

 of securing. 



The North German Lloyd Steamship Company loaded cargo at 

 Port Banga on August 27. The lumber is billed to London on a 

 through bill of lading being transhipped at Singapore. This trade 

 is growing steadily as a result of constant efforts. Mr. William- 

 son also reports that other lumber companies of Mindanao are also 

 shipping to London, which is very gratifying and holds out prom- 

 ises of a bright export trade for the future. 



The Insular Lumber Company is now sawing about 60,000 board 

 feet per working day. An eleven by fourteen inch compound 

 geared yarder from the Washington Iron Works has been received 

 and is set up in the woods. Six new Seattle steel logging cars 

 have also been added to the company's equipment. The new ex- 

 port drying shed is under way. They are about two miles of track 

 ahead in the woods. A five year contract has recently been signed 

 by which a firm in the United States agrees to take all export 

 stock manufactured by the company. 



Several visitors from Europe and the States have recently com- 

 plained of the poor quality of manufacture found in some of the 

 lumber from the Pliilippines. It is very important that all ex- 

 port stock should be well manufactured, because one shipment of 

 poor material will hurt not only the individual shipper but the 

 entire export trade. It is much easier to gain a bad name than 

 to live it down. 



Forest Taxation 



The tax laws in most states do not recognize forests as a crop to 

 be perpetuated, but act to destroy the timber resources for the en- 

 richment of the present to the poverty of the future. Trees are the 

 longest-lived crop that grows, yet the easiest to kill by unreasonable 

 taxation. Annual crops catch the tax once, and are then turned 

 into money; but the growing forest crop is hit yearly for half a 

 century before it makes any return to its owner. Two states, Penn- 

 sylvania and Louisiana, have this year enacted forest taxation laws 

 based on correct principles, and other states are agitating similar 

 legislation. 



