266 PHILIPPINE BAMBOOS 
PLANTING OF BAMBOO 
Until very recently almost no reliable information concerning 
the rates of growth of planted Philippine bamboo was available. 
For this reason, Mr. H. M. Curran and Dr. F. W. Foxworthy 
in 1912 started a bamboo plantation at the Division of Investiga- 
tion of the Bureau of Forestry at Los Banos, Laguna, the direc- 
tion of the planting being intrusted to Rangers de Mesa and 
Villamil. This plantation was started on a rather dry hill on 
steep slopes, covered with a mixture of tall grass and small 
second-growth trees. The material selected for planting was 
from shoots 1 to 2 years old or older from poorly grown plants 
which were overtopped and not well supplied with light, and 
from upper twigs. A few butts were also used. The length 
of cuttings was from 60 centimeters to 2 meters. The cuttings 
were collected 3 to 36 hours before planting, and were laid in 
water at the edge of a stream whenever it was not possible to 
plant immediately. During the time that this work was done 
the weather was very rainy and so there was less than the usual 
amount of drying out. The planting was done between August 
29 and October 10, 1912. The implements employed were mat- 
tocks and heavy pointed sticks, the mattocks being used only 
when rocky soil was encountered or when very large pieces were 
to be planted. In all there were planted 1,015 cuttings of 
Bambusa spinosa, 145 of Bambusa vulgaris, and 105 of Gigan- 
tochloa levis. The area of the plantation was 2.2 hectares. 
More than half of the area was covered with a dense tangle of 
small trees and climbing bamboo. All of the small brush and 
climbing bamboo was cut, but some of the larger trees were 
left to shade the young plants. Where the bamboo was shaded 
it has done better than it has in the open. This may perhaps 
be due to the fact that the planting was done toward the end 
of the rainy season so that the young shoots were exposed to 
drier conditions than they would have been if planted earlier. 
On January 10, 1914, the living bamboos were counted; these 
included 349 individuals of Bambusa spinosa or 34 per cent of 
the original number planted, 46 of B. vulgaris or 32 per cent, 
and 6 of Gigantochloa levis or 6 per cent. This low percentage 
of success was probably due in part to several avoidable causes. 
The planting was done toward the close of the rainy season, 
so that young plants did not have as favorable moisture condi- 
tions as they would have had if planted earlier. Again the 
methods of planting, as previously described, were not favorable, 
while some of the young plants are known to have been destroyed 
by cattle; moreover, the selection of material was poor, and the 
