32 PHILIPPINE BAMBOOS 



Ranger Mabesa has made counts of the number of shoots 

 produced in one season on two areas of Schizostachyum lu- 

 rnampao, each area consisting of 100 square meters. The two 

 areas together contained 340 canes and produced 35 shoots, 

 or 10 per cent of the original number. All canes were cut from 

 two smaller-sized plots in May, 1917, and the number of new 

 canes counted in November, 1917. These two plots originally 

 contained 221 canes. After the clearing they sent up a large 

 number of shoots about the size of a lead pencil and 10 usable 

 canes, which is only 4.5 per cent of the original number. This 

 would indicate that it requires some years for this bamboo to 

 regain its original density when once completely cut-over. 



COST OF HARVESTING AND PRICES 



Data on the cost of harvesting were collected during the year 

 1916 on the College of Agriculture farm at Los Bahos, Laguna. 

 One man was employed for a total of 91 days, during which 

 time 1,000 canes of Bambusa spinosa were harvested, an average 

 of 11 canes per day. The cost of labor was 80 centavos per day, 

 making the total cost of harvesting 1,000 canes 72.80 pesos or 

 an average per cane of 7.28 centavos. In the same locality 

 these canes sold at 4 pesos per dozen. 



Bamboo sold in Manila is floated down the river from the 

 country behind or across Manila Bay. In Manila the present 

 prices for canes in the river are: First-class canes, 32 pesos 

 per hundred; second-class canes, 27 pesos per hundred; and 

 third-class canes, from 18 to 20 pesos per hundred. The cost 

 of floating bamboo to Manila is very small, as rafts containing 

 large numbers of canes can be operated by a very few men. 



