﻿PHILIPPINE FIBERS. 109 



Cogon being partially protected from the sun by the taller talahib is 

 more green and thrifty. 



From Capas to O'Donnell the road runs 10 miles to the west, slightly 

 up grade but fairly level; the region is entirely uncultivated; it is too 

 high for rice and too poor for sugar ; much grass grows everywhere, but 

 it is of an inferior grade, due to lateness of the season. 



There is a good bull-cart road for about 7 miles east from the town of 

 Tarlac in the direction of La Paz ; the country is level, the first 3 miles 

 being under cultivation in rice; a mile of quite dense woodland occurs 

 and then 3 miles of uncultivated country follows, covered with a good 

 quality of grass. The country is more rolling and hilly from Tarlac west- 

 ward in the direction of Moriones, with grass everywhere, pure in the 

 valleys but contaminated with buffalo grass on the hills. The natives 

 informed me that cogon, 'called ilib in Pampanga, is not eaten by horses 

 and cattle, but that they do forage on the young shoots of talahib. 



Practically all the houses in Tarlac Province, with the exception of 

 those in the towns on the railroad, are constructed of cogon. Talahib is 

 scarcely ever used for this purpose, but the latter finds some employ- 

 ment in the construction of fences for yard and garden inclosures. I 

 observed large stacks of cogon in the various barrios. The natives know 

 when and how to harvest this grass, having learned this because nipa is 

 too expensive for general use as a roofing material in all localities distant 

 from the tide water. Too much stress can not be laid upon the fact that 

 the people who must be depended upon to supply the demand for this 

 grass for any future economic use, are already familiar with its habits 

 of growth and the best methods of harvesting and curing it, and although 

 the present employment of this material for house thatching is general 

 throughout the Archipelago, yet the amount so used amounts to but 

 a small fraction of the quantity which could be obtained under systematic 

 methods of collection. 



In my opinion it is absolutely out of the question to cut the grass by 

 machinery in Tarlac Province and it is not advisable to bale it where it 

 grows. If cut with sickles or short grass scythes and tied into bundles 

 of about 20 pounds each, it is easily handled. One clay in the sun is 

 sufficient to cure the grass, then it may be loaded on carts and hauled to 

 the railroad station. One native draft animal will haul 500 to 750 

 kilos (1,100 to 1,650 pounds) of rice and this weight of grass bundles 

 is not too bulky for the carts now in use, if they are supplied with some 

 kind of a bamboo rack. I have frequently seen ton lots of clean grass 

 tied in many neat bundles 20 to 30 centimeters (8 to 12 inches) in 

 diameter stored under roofs for future use. 



The effect of decreased bulk upon freight rates up or down the road to 

 the factory site would determine whether straw presses should be located 

 at points on the railroad. I believe that it would be perfectly feasible to 



