﻿110 RICHMOND. 



collect this grass in car lots at several places along the main and branch 

 lines of the Manila and Dagupan Kailway; for instance at Capas and 

 Tarlac the surrounding grass lands are tapped for from 5 to 10 miles each 

 in two directions by fair roads at the season of the year when the grass 

 is at its best, and before it is dry enough to be fired. One plan would 

 be to erect bamboo framed storehouses with iron roofs near the freight 

 tracks at these stations, for the storage of the grass as it is hauled in 

 from the surrounding country. 



Cogon grass is abundant and of good quality in the Visayan Islands. 

 Thousands of acres of rolling lands are covered with even stands of tall, 

 thrifty, cogon grass in Masbate and on the Island of Burias. Here the 

 lay of the land is such that heavy draft mowing machinery could be used 

 to advantage. 



A practical phase of the utilization of Philippine perennial grasses 

 would be in the material benefit to the forests, as the protection and 

 cutting of the grass areas would greatly decrease the annual loss of 

 forests by fire. 



Cogon grass is not jointed like the cereal straws, which constitutes a 

 great advantage in its use for paper pulp; its yield is 5 to 10 per cent 

 higher than that of the latter, it is more easily pulped with the use of a 

 less proportion of caustic soda. Another advantage is that in general, 

 plants which are designed for fiber production should be harvested before 

 the stems are fully mature ; this is impossible when the plant is grown 

 for production of" grain, as is the case where straw, hemp, flax, etc., are 

 utilized. 



I have been asked what price could be offered for cogon grass as a paper 

 material. This is very difficult even to approximate. It depends largely 

 upon whether the grass were to be pulped and manufactured into paper 

 for local consumption, or simply pulped for exportation, in which latter 

 event it would have to enter in competition with chemical wood pulp. 

 The average price paid for American pulp wood in 1905 was M.1.10 per 

 cord ($5.55 United States currency). A cord of pulp wood and 1,000 

 kilos (1 metric ton) of grass will produce approximately the same amount 

 of unbleached pulp, namely 1,000 pounds ; but the grass is easier handled, 

 is fit for immediate immersion in the digesting vats, and it can be 

 pulped by the same process of treatment, with one-half the expense in 

 time and cost of chemicals. Furthermore, grass prdp will bleach to a 

 good white with 6 to 12 per cent of bleaching powder, whereas wood pulp 

 requires 12 to 25 per cent. 



I would estimate that a paper pulp mill, if assured of a continuous 

 supply of a sufficient quantity of clean grass, could pay approximately 

 1 peso (50 cents United States currency) per picul (137-| pounds) of 

 clean, dry grass laid down at railway or waterway transportation. This 

 is slightly in advance of the average price of American pulp wood. 



