TREES IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



OXK cannot realize tin- richness of 

 the tree llora of the Philippine 

 Islands until lie is told that 

 then.' have already been found over 

 2.000 kinds in the Philippine Islands. 

 This means more to the average person 

 when it is known that here there are 

 probably three times as many varieties 

 as have been found in the United 

 States. When all is kiv>\vn concerning 

 the tree flora of the Philippines, it is 

 probable that this number will reach 

 3,000. Of course, it must be stated 

 that all of these are not used commer- 

 cially. It is estimated that 150 of them 

 are on the market at the present time. 

 Many of the 2,000 are too small to ever 

 be of any great importance commer- 

 cially. 



About one-half the area of the Phil- 

 ippine Islands, or 60,000 square miles, 

 is in public forest. Of this 60,000 

 square miles, more than one-half is in 

 mountainous regions, and will not yield, 

 at the present time, much wealth to 

 the Philippines. Indirectly they are of 

 very great importance, for upon them 

 will depend the conservation of mois- 

 ture. *-o necessary to extensive irriga- 

 tion ^chemes. Less than half of the 

 60.000 square miles can be classified a- 

 forest which will yield commercial va- 

 rieties of timber. A rough estimate 

 will place the yield of this f,,re-t close 

 to 40.000,000,000 board fet-t. If th'- 

 c :>uld be placed on the market to-, lay. 

 at the price of our cheapest timber, it 

 would bring a total of two and a half 



billion pesos. ( )f this two and a half 



billion pcv,,. ,,f wealth, the P.nreau of 

 Forestry is the guardian. It is the ob- 

 ject of tin- Hnreaii to have the wealth 

 utilized as rapidly as it can be without 

 danger to the f irestS. It is believed 

 that about four times the present 

 amount used can be exploited without 

 endangering our forest. This would 

 bring the annual amount of timber put 

 on the market, from 100.000.000 board 

 feet, the present amount, to 400,000,000 

 board feet. This would leave .v^o.ooo,- 

 OOO b >ard feet to be exported from the 

 Philippine Islands, and thus bring to 

 the islands considerable wealth. 



Included in the i.Soo ,>r more com- 

 parative! v unknown woods now rep 

 ing on herbarium sheets in Manila, and 

 bearing scientific names but no infor- 

 mation of commercial importance, are 

 many which will, in time, and after in- 

 vestigation, prove valuable. 



The rating of the relative value 

 this assortment of trees; the distin- 

 guishing between those commercially 

 valuable, and the others; the testing 

 tlio^e which have been selected as com- 

 mercially desirable, to ascertain their 

 strength and fitness; the supplying 

 merchants and engineer- with sp. 

 mens and information and the direct- 

 ing of all concerned how t > obtain the 

 maximum good with the minimum 

 waste from our wooded lands th< 

 arc- a few of the problems which daih 

 confront the P.ureau of Forestry of the 

 Philippine I-laiuK 



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