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hollow stems are at once strong, light, and straight, making 

 them useful for all sorts of construction where a flat surface is 

 not essential, and their hollow centers make them useful also 

 for various sorts of containers. The bamboos grow in dense 

 clumps, and rise to a height of fifty feet or more. These clumps 

 increase in extent and in density from year to year, as new stems 

 push up around and among the old ones. When stems are cut, 

 a stump two or three feet high is left, and stumps and stems com- 

 bine to make eventually a thicket which is almost impenetrable. 

 Everywhere over the lowlands these bamboos are planted, and 

 a couple of clumps will provide all the building material needed 

 by an average Filipino family. 



The College of Agriculture lies about two miles out from Los 

 Banos, with an excellent road connecting them and passing on 

 its way through the little village of San Antonio. Walking 

 along this road, one can see an almost complete exhibition of 

 the economic botany of the Philippines. The little square or 

 oblong houses of the natives, with bamboo frames and floor, 

 woven sides, and thatched roofs, are set on stilts five or six feet 

 above the ground. Each is surrounded by a little yard, enclosed 

 by a bamboo fence, and thickly planted. Vegetables, in the 

 ordinary sense of the word, are seldom seen here. Most of the 

 plants are trees and are cultivated for their fruits. Coconut 

 palms are everywhere, and their fruits are offered for sale in 

 every little native shop. Sugar palm, Arenga saccharifera, 

 and betel palm, Areca Catechu, are much less frequent, although 

 certainly common enough. Second in abundance to the coconut 

 palm is the banana, of which many different varieties are culti- 

 vated. So far as we could see in our limited experience, the 

 plants themselves look very much alike, but there are striking 

 differences in the size, shape, and flavor of the fruits. They 

 sell for various prices, ranging from a cent a dozen to five cents 

 apiece, and some kinds are good only when cooked. There is a 

 very striking contrast between the entire young leaves of bana- 

 nas and the ragged old ones. The segments of the latter are 

 generally only an inch or two wide, and seldom more than four 

 inches. On very hot days the leaves fold lengthwise until the 



