168 PHILIPPINE PALMS 
The next to the last column in the table shows what provinces 
have an unutilized supply; although, of course, the fact that 
rattan is found but not exported in a large proportion of the 
municipalities, does not necessarily mean that it is there to be 
had in great quantities. Such, however, may be assumed to be’ 
the case with regard to the Moro Province and Nueva Vizcaya 
and, to a less extent, with Mindoro, Palawan, Samar, Misamis, 
Bataan, Cagayan, Tayabas, and Leyte. In general, it is prob- 
able that these latter provinces offer the best fields for commer- 
cial exploitation. 
As rattan is primarily a plant of virgin forests, the destruc- 
tion of the forests practically means the end of the supply. 
Moreover, heavy cutting of the rattan will at least temporarily 
exhaust the supply in a locality, as has happened in the im- 
mediate neighborhood of most of the larger towns. It has not 
yet been determined whether it is possible to collect rattan in 
the forest on a commercial scale and within reasonable cost, 
without cutting it faster than it reproduces itself. Unfortu- 
nately there is very little information concerning the rates of 
growth of rattans under forest conditions. The supply has 
been reduced in many countries where it naturally occurs, to 
such an extent as to raise prices considerably. As yet the ef- 
fects of indiscriminate cutting in the Philippines have been no 
worse than to increase the cost and difficulty of putting rattan 
on the market in the more thickly populated areas. It has not 
yet become necessary, as in the Malay Peninsula, to consider the 
question of cultivation on a large scale. The satisfactory sit- 
uation in the Philippines may, however, be due to the fact that 
hitherto there has been almost no exploitation for foreign 
markets. 
UTILIZATION AND EXPORT 
Only a very small portion of the comparatively large total 
production, indicated by the statements and figures in the fore- 
going paragraphs, is at present exported. The total ship- 
ment of crude rattan from the Islands for the year ending June 
30, 1914, was valued at 8,480 pesos and the manufactured rattan 
products, chiefly baskets, at about 1,600 pesos. More than half 
of the former amount was collected on the island of Palawan, 
shipped to British North Borneo, there mixed with the local 
product, and then sent to Singapore and Hongkong ready for 
shipment to Europe. A certain portion of the supply which 
goes to Hongkong, after being prepared or cleaned, is re-im- 
ported into the Philippines for use in furniture manufacture. 
