The Porester. 



/ol. VII. 



FEBRUARY, 1901 



No. 2. 



PHILIPPINE FOREST PRODUCTS. 



By F. F. Hilder.* 



LT has been estimated that the for- 

 ests of the Philippine Islands cover 

 an area of about 40,000,000 acres. 

 tne island of Mindanao with an area of 

 ome 20,000,000 acres has immense tracts 

 f almost unbroken forest. The same is 

 rue with regard to the islands of Mindoro 

 nd Palawan and even in Luzon, the most 

 lensely populated island of the group and 

 vhere most timber has been cut, there still 

 :xist millions of acres of virgin forest, 

 rhe forests will prove to be among the 

 [reatest resources of these beautiful and 

 ertile islands and, if the disposition of the 

 imber is judiciously managed by the gov- 

 rnment, sufficient can be cut, without de- 

 fraying the forests, to provide funds 

 or many much-needed public improve- 

 ments, and to recompense the United 

 states for the great military and other ex- 

 >enditures. Much of this can be done 

 vith absolute advantage to the forests, as 



millions of cubic feet of timber should be 

 cut in order to thin the dense growth so 

 that the maximum annual growth of the 

 trees can be obtained. One peculiarity 

 about these forests is that thei-e are no 

 great areas covered by any one species of 

 tree, so that to accumulate a cargo of one 

 kind of timber it must be assembled from 

 different localities. There are many reas- 

 ons why large capital will be required to 

 carry on a successful timber trade in these 

 islands, but with sufficient means there is 

 no commercial venture that will yield 

 more remunerative profit. 



It is not definitely known how many 

 different species of trees exist in the Archi- 

 pelago, but the number is probably from 

 400 to 500, of which a large proportion 

 are hardwoods. In the following list I 

 have included the best known varieties 

 with such information respecting them as 

 I have been able to gather. 



* Frank Frederick Hilder was born in Hastings, England, in 1836, and died in Washington, Jan- 

 lary 21, 1901. He was educated at Rugby, and after going through the military school at Sand- 

 lurst entered the army and began service in the Sepoy rebellion. He was awarded the Indian 

 dutiny Medal with special-service bars for Delhi and Lucknow. Later he saw service in Farther 

 ndia, Borneo, the Philippines, and Africa, won the Egyptian Medal, and was promoted to a Col- 

 melcy at the express request of the Khedive. A san 1 storm so iujured his eyesight that he gave 

 ip the idea of a military career and came to this country, where he did special work of importance 

 n the Engineer Corps during the Civil War, but declined an American commission. Colonel Hil- 

 ier then went into business, but after bein j ruined several times by fire he gave himself up en- 

 irely to research and publication. During his military service and his business life he had traveled 

 >ver a great deal of Asia, Africa and South America, and had always made the most of his oppor- 

 unities for ethnologic and geographic research. During the year ending in June, 1899, he acted 

 s Secretary of the National Gso^raphic Society, and afterwards became Ethnologic Translator in 

 he Bureau of American Ethnology During the earlier half of 1900 he was detailed to the Philip- 

 )ines as special agent of the Pan-American Exposition. 



Colonel Hilder contributed this article to the FORESTER shortly before his death. The editor 

 nakes grateful acknowledgements for help in reading the proof to Mr. G. B. Sudworth and to the 

 officers of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 



