456 ^^6 Philippine Journal of Science 1914 



meters in diameter are not cut, but as already pointed out the 

 great bulk of timber is contained in the massive trees of the 

 dominant story. The cutting of the large trees results, there- 

 fore, in the breaking and killing of a large proportion of the 

 smaller ones. The ground is opened up to such an extent that 

 almost all seedlings are killed by insolation, while most of the 

 small trees become unhealthy and finally die. All of the large 

 defective trees which have been left have been killed by brush 

 fires, except in the very recent cutting areas. The ground is 

 thus practically cleared of its original vegetation, and is very 

 quickly covered by a second-growth forest. 



The first plant to become established is a species of wild 

 banana. This occurs abundantly on waste lands and in forests 

 from which trees have been removed. The fruits are eaten by 

 birds, and the seeds are thus quickly scattered. It is frequently 

 abundant in cut-over areas even before the logs have been re- 

 moved. Some small herbaceous weeds enter the area, but they 

 are few in number and apparently have little or no effect on the 

 succession of vegetation. Small patches of Panicum sarmento- 

 sum are sometimes conspicuous, particularly on the perpendi- 

 cular sides of the cuts made for the railroad. The banana is 

 quickly followed by tree si)€cies, which soon cover the ground ex- 

 cept where the banana has formed small patches which shade the 

 ground and keep out the trees. Trema amboinensis (anabion) is 

 by far the most prominent tree in the second-growth forest, 

 and in places it forms practically pure stands (Plate IX, fig. 2). 

 Along with it are several other species, the most prominent 

 being Mallot-us moluccamis (alim) , Homalanthus populneus (ba- 

 lanti), Macaranga Mcolor (hamindang), Macaranga tanarius 

 (binunga), and Pipturus arborescens (dalonot). The canopy 

 here, as in all such second-growth forests, is very light and the 

 conditions under it much drier than in the original dipterocarp 

 forest. 



The later stages in the vegetation were not observed, as the 

 land is very valuable for agriculture and is quickly homesteaded 

 and put under cultivation. It is evident, however, that the orig- 

 inal forest is completely destroyed by the method of logging 

 in use and that it is replaced by a worthless one of an entirely 

 different type. 



It is also evident that destroying the forest does not produce 

 grasslands even though the brush left from the fallen trees 

 is burned. Grass, however, covers large areas in this region, 

 and this growth is evidently the result of a shifting system 

 of cultivation. 



