514 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



was rendered by the Philippine Government, when it specified that for 

 all its construction work native timbers should be used. As the largest 

 consumer of timber was the Government, this action reduced the use of 

 imported timbers to a minimum. By the time the world war broke out 

 the Philippines were not only in a position to supply all their own tim- 

 bers, but in 191 6 furnished more lumber for export than they had previ- 

 ously imported in any one year. The Chinese market absorbed the 

 bulk of this exported lumber. While the lumber industry is com- 

 paratively small, it has great possibilities. I have cited the Philippines 

 as an example because here is the only country where modern logging 

 and milling methods have been introduced on a comparatively large 

 scale to utilize the so-called weed-trees of tropical hardwood forests. 

 What has been done in the Philippines is possible in many parts of the 

 tropical world. Enterprising lumbermen can overcome the difficulties 

 now in the way of developing tropical forests on a large scale. 



Let us take a survey of some of the tropical forest regions of the 

 world and see what the ])ossibilities are. One of the most active indus- 

 trial tropical and semi-tropical regions in the world is southern Brazil. 

 According to a report of the r)razilian Government (5), the forested 

 area of this region of Brazil is estimated at 1,058,000 square kilometers 

 (approximately 260 million acres). There are two fairly distinct for- 

 ested regions — the coastal and plateau. The former has a high annual 

 precipitation and, for the most part, a high temperature. In no place 

 is it far distant from tide water. It is heavily forested. Unfortunately 

 there are no estimates of the total amount of timber. H. M. Curran 

 has examined a large timber property in the mountains back of Bahia 

 and finds the forest has an average stand of about 10,000 board feet 

 per acre ; according to the types, the stand will vary from 6,000 to 13,000 

 feet per acre. About 10 species will furnish the bulk of the cut. He 

 estimates that comprising 42 per cent of the cut are soft hardwoods 

 similar to yellow poplar. Thirty per cent are similar to maple and ash 

 in hardness and 28 ])er cent harder than white oak. The softer species 

 are little known on the markets, but could be introduced and substituted 

 for the uses for which imported pine is employed. 



The plateau district lying behind the coastal mountain ranges has a 

 lower temperature and rainfall. In places it is fairly heavily forested 

 with hardwoods and Parana pine (Araitcaria brasiliensis) . The hard- 

 woods are usually confined to the valleys, though patches of them are 

 found on the uplands. The botanical distribution of the Parana pine 

 is from 20° south to 30° south latitude. It is confined to the uplands 

 and is commerciallv abundant in the States of Parana, Santa Catharina, 



