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ably ten miles wide and fully as long, absolutely uninhabited 

 at present, but capable of producing immense crops of rice or 

 sugar cane. In all probability it was so planted some time 

 in the past, because cogon could scarcely have occupied so large 

 a territory without previous cultivation and the aid of cogon 

 fires. The mountains behind the city of Cebu are almost en- 

 tirely deforested and covered with continuous fields of cogon, 

 although they did in the past and could in the future support a 

 luxuriant forest growth. 



There are also some scattered shrubs in most of the cogon 

 fields occupying the lower grounds near settlements. These 



Fig. 6. The cogon grass association, with scattered small trees of Bauhinia 

 malabarica, showing the sharp contact with the forest. 



are chiefly of two species, BauJiinia malabarica and Acacia 

 Farnesiana. Even they are killed by too frequent burnings. 

 If the fires are kept off for a very few years, however, they will 

 form such dense thickets that the cogon is killed off by excessive 

 shading, and the forest is reestablished as a consequence. 



The interrelation of fire, cogon, and forest is beautifully 

 shown on the slopes of the little hill Bulungbulo, adjacent to 

 the College of Agriculture at Los Banos, and on several other 

 low hills in the vicinity. The cogon grows in a dense jungle 

 about six feet high, with a very small number of secondary 



