382 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



August 



Upon entering the west end of the 

 Forestry Building the visitor will at 

 once be attracted by a highly polished 

 board of narra wood, thirty- six feet 

 long and five feet broad and four inches 

 thick. From this beautiful and mag- 

 nificent piece of wood one can form an 

 idea of the magnitude of some of our 

 Philippine woods. The narra belongs 

 to the superior group, the male being 

 rose color (from carnation to blood red) 

 and the female white. 



It is found on the islands of Luzon, 

 Leyte, Masbate, Mindanao, Mindoro, 

 Negros, Panay, Paragua, and Samar. 

 They form practically virgin forests, 

 the lumber made from this wood having 

 in the past been but little shipped from 

 the islands. It is extensively used 

 throughout the archipelago for flooring 

 by those financially able to obtain it, 

 and also for furniture and housefurnish- 

 ings. It is very durable and impervious 

 to decay. It is the mahogany of the 

 Philippines and is prettily marked, with 

 a variety of shades, varying from straw- 

 color to blood red, the former being the 

 more common. It is a first-class wood 

 for general purposes. The exhibit con- 

 tains many other beautiful specimens 

 of this wood. It resists a warm and 

 wet climate and insects which are de- 



structive to many other of the native 

 woods. 



It is estimated that a quantity and 

 quality of narra to meet any reasonable 

 demand can be delivered in the log on 

 the beach for seven cents a cubic foot. 

 It is worth in Manila $1.153 cubic foot 

 and $150 a thousand sawed into lumber. 



Many handsome tables made of narra 

 are distributed among the exhibit build- 

 ings at the Philippine reserve, the most 

 notable being a round table over nine 

 feet in diameter, being one solid peace 

 of timber. It can be seen in the east 

 wing of the Women's Building, desig- 

 nated ' ' The Typical Manila Building. ' ' 

 This wood has a very agreeable odor. 



The white narra has a varying color, 

 the most common being ochre yellow, 

 with gray grain, which becomes darker 

 in time, acquiring a grayish yellow, 

 with intermediate tints from red color. 

 The white narra, like the male member 

 of the family, grows into large trees, 

 which will square four feet, but more 

 commonly two feet. Notwithstanding 

 that it is of a more open grain than 

 some of the other fine woods of the 

 islands, it is susceptible of a fine pol- 

 ish, is well and prettily marked, and is 

 in general use for the manufacturing of 

 furniture. 



RECLAMATION SURVEY IN NEBRASKA. 



EARLY WORK INDICATES THAT FEASIBLE 

 PROJECTS ARE LIKELY TO BE FOUND. 



THE report of the engineers who are 

 carrying on investigations look- 

 ing to reclamation in the valley of the 

 North Platte in western Nebraska shows 

 very satisfactory progress. 



Near the Pathfinder dam- site test pits 

 were sunk to ascertain if the foundation 

 was such that a spillway could be built at 

 that point. Granite was found in most 

 of these pits at depths varying from 10 to 

 1 3 feet. The formation above the gran- 

 ite is a lime cemented gravel and lies di- 

 rectly on the granite with no intervening 

 strata of other material. 



A surveying' party made a reconnais- 

 sance of the lands along the North 



Platte River below Caspar, and between 

 Bessemer and Muddy Creek some 5,000 

 acres of irrigable land were found. 

 This work is being continued. Prelimi- 

 nary surveys were run from the sand- 

 hills east toward Sheep Creek, and a 

 number of routes through the sand-hills 

 were also surveyed. For a great part of 

 the distance the line passes through val- 

 leys in which the water will spread out, 

 forming shallow pools, the largest being 

 from 600 to 800 feet long by about 200 

 feet wide. The cuts through the ridges 

 separating these valleys will not be deep, 

 and the material, which is washed sand, 

 may be sluiced out and deposited in the 



