The Northern Negros Forest. 621 



ports to the forester in charge of the district of the Visayan 

 Islands and Palawan at his headquarters in Iloilo, who is easily 

 available should any emergency arise which the head ranger is 

 unable to meet. 



Under the head ranger are rangers and assistant rangers, who 

 are stationed at various points along the coast. They are young 

 Filipinos of ordinary school education, who have passed the 

 required Civil Service examination. Their duties are to map all 

 trails and rivers in their district, inspect the cutting areas of 

 timber licensees, inspect homesteads, and to see that the products 

 taken from the forests are properly invoiced and paid for. They 

 are also to be on the watch for caihgin-makers, who, if left un- 

 disturbed, would destroy vast quantities of timber. 



Each ranger has under him a limited number of forest guards, 

 uneducated men of the native laboring class, who patrol all trails 

 leading into the forest and along its edge, on the lookout for 

 caifigin-makers and for forest products taken without license. 

 They also serve as cargadores for the forest officers. 



The chief and the most important work to be done on such a 

 forest and with such an organization is that of conservation, and 

 this problem in the Philippines is entirely different from what it 

 is in America. Fire does practically no damage in the dense, 

 ever-moist forests of the Philippines, and destructive lumbering 

 methods are of relatively less importance than in the States. 

 The caingin-maker, however, is a destructive factor vmknown to 

 the American forester, and if unchecked, would destroy more 

 good timber than is cut for commercial purposes. Of the lowest 

 class, sometimes working for himself, but more often for some 

 influential person residing in a neighboring town, and in some 

 cases even for municipal officials, he makes a clearing in the 

 heavy forest which is afterwards burnt over, thus preparing the 

 rich forest floor for the planting of crops. No plowing is neces- 

 sary. Holes are made in the ground with a pointed stock, the 

 seed dropped in and covered up, and all labor is completed until 

 the crop is ready to be harvested, for in most cases no attempt is 

 made to keep out the weeds. Two crops, or at the most three, 

 are obtained from such a caifigin, and then the weeds and cogon 

 become too thick and the caiiigineros move to another place and 

 repeat the operation. 



