July 1, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



23 



TEE STUDY OF TROPICAL FORESTS 

 Dr. H. ]Sr. Whitford in a jecent private 

 letter from Manila announces the publication 

 of a work on " The Composition and Volume 

 of the Dipteroearp Forests of the Philippine 

 Islands." This volume is issued by the For- 

 estry Bureau of the Philippine Islands and 

 represents several years of active field work 

 by its author. The magnitude and financial 

 value of these forests are strikingly shown by 

 a single quotation: 



Our virgin forest area comprises 25,000,000 

 acres and has 200 billion board feet of timber 

 standing on it. This is a good showing when com- 

 pared with the 400 ^billion feet of timber on the 

 200,000,000 acres of the United States forest 

 reserves. 



Dr. Whitford is now at work on a larger 

 and more complete monograph on " The For- 

 ests and Principal Forest Trees of the Philip- 

 pines," which will be a much more extended 

 treatise. 



The success of the forestry work done by 

 our forestry service in the Philippines has 

 won the approval and admiration of all the 

 governments interested in tropical forests. 

 The Oable-News American of Manila of Feb- 

 ruary 10, 1910, compliments Major George P. 

 Ahem, director of forestry of the Philippine 

 Islands, and relates that Dr. Treub, former 

 director of the Botanical Gardens of Java, has 

 sent a man to Manila to study the American 

 forestry methods. The Inspector General of 

 Exploration of Portuguese East Africa has 

 written asking Major Ahern if he can send 

 two experts to organize a similar survey for 

 the African forests. Major Ahern in replying 

 states some facts that will be of interest to 

 Americans in general. 



The Bureau of Forestry has had the diiRcult 

 task of investigating, protecting and developing 

 the enormous forest areas of the islands without 

 adequate men and funds for carrying on the work. 

 In spite of these difficulties, however, most of the 

 forests have been classified, estimated and mapped, 

 and we now know what the forests of the Philip- 

 pines contain, where and how the different forest 

 types are situated, and the approximate cost of 

 placing their lumber on the market. 



The foresrt wealth of the Philippines is found 



most largely, not in the high-priced cabinet 

 woods (although when considered alone their 

 value is very large), but chiefly in the stands of 

 cheaper structural timbers, such as may be used 

 for most purposes in place of Oregon pine and 

 Baltic fir and other similar timbers in Europe 

 and America. This is distinctly advantageous, 

 although it is contrary to the general idea of the 

 composition of tropical forests. The value of the 

 timber is further increased by the fact that the 

 structural species often occur in almost pure 

 stands and in large quantities, making their log- 

 ging by modern steam methods comparatively 

 simple and economical. 



I believe that the structural possibilities of 

 tropical forests have been decidedly underrated, 

 and that an investigation of other countries be- 

 sides the Philippines will show large bodies of 

 timber that can be lumbered cheaply and used for 

 general construction purposes, for which there is 

 always a large and steady demand. 



Major Ahern says frankly: 



Of all the men who under my direction have 

 had charge of the forest work in the Philippines, 

 chief credit is due to two foresters for what has 

 been accomplished. These are Dr. H. N. Whitford, 

 chief of the Division of Investigation in this 

 bureau, and Mr. H. M. Curran, forester in the 

 same division. 



These two men have an ambition to explore 

 and take an inventory of tropical forests in 

 general, the world around, and are hoping to 

 obtain financial aid from the various countries 

 interested, and possibly from private sources, 

 and to organize extensively for the work. If 

 these plans are prospered it will call for the 

 aid of several foresters, and this should be of 

 interest to a number of well-trained men from 

 our American schools of forestry. 



Dr. Whitford is firmly convinced that the 

 " value of the tropical forests as a world asset 

 is not appreciated simply because our knowl- 

 edge concerning their possibilities is so lim- 

 ited." If his great plan can get the proper 

 financial backing he is in a position to do a 

 bit of pioneering and surveying that will open 

 up to the world's commerce, immense wealth 

 in tropical timber never dreamed of hitherto. 

 J. Paul Goode 



IjNrVEESITT OF CHICAGO, 



May 9, 1910 



