FORESTS OP PORTO RICO. 51 



Already a considerable interest is manifested by different branches 

 of the insular government in improving forest conditions. Several of 

 the sugar companies are also interested in planting up waste lands 

 and in the open planting of leguminous trees in their bull pastures to 

 provide green forage, improve the grass crop, and furnish shade for 

 the stock. They are also planting for ornament about their grounds, 

 along the roads, and bordering the cane fields. 



INSULAR FOREST POLICY. 



It must be evident that a program which has for its fundamental 

 purpose the improvement of conditions affecting both directly and 

 indirectly the interests of a whole people can not be left to private 

 initiative. It must be undertaken and directed by the insular gov- 

 ernment itself. An eflS.cient and weU-equipped insular forest admin- 

 istration ^ should, therefore, be provided, and a forest poHcy be estab- 

 Hshed which would make effective the following work : A campaign of 

 education, investigative work in forestry, the care and management 

 of the most suitable parts of the insular domain as insular forests, 

 and cooperation with private individuals, municipaUties, and others 

 interested in the practice of forestry. The practice of forestry and 

 forest experimentation is a distinctly long-time operation. In 

 scarcely less than 10 years are any practical results forthcoming, 

 unless an experiment results in conclusive and disastrous failure. 

 Only when fuel wood or other small-sized material is the object of 

 production can any conclusive results be obtained even in 10 years. 

 For larger products 30 or more years will ordinarily be required. 

 The necessity for taking a long look in advance and the desirabihty 

 of fixing by permanent legislation the organization and scope of the 

 work are thus apparent, stability, permanence, and continuity being 

 indispensable conditions. 



In weighing the advisabihty of taking such a step, the conditions 

 and tendencies of the world supply of forest products can not be 

 overlooked. The time is not far distant when the countries which 

 produce the great bulk of the world's supply of the common economic 

 woods wiU cease to have any considerable amount of timber to 

 export. In anticipation of these conditions many of the producing 

 countries have seriously set about making definite provisions for 

 the future. If countries Uke the United States find it necessary to 

 undertake the organized practice of forestry as a measure of self- 

 protection, how much more necessary is it for Porto Rico to do so ? 

 The Phihppines, too, maintain a technical forest organization, which 



1 Previous attempts to provide a forest administration were made in. the Regulations for the Payment 

 of Fees to the Technical Personnel of Public Works, Mines, Forests, and Telegraphs of the Island of 

 Porto Rico, issued 1879, which provided, among other things, for the "inspection of forests for the forma- 

 tion of plans for their use." The Political Code for Porto Rico of 1902 (sec. 134) provides for "a chief of 

 lands and forests which shaU have charge of all matters relatmg to lands and forests." Neither of these 

 laws, however, yielded any tangible results. 



