20 PHILIPPINE BAMBOOS 



PLANTING OF BAMBOO 



Until very recently almost no reliable information concerning 

 the rates of growth of planted Philippine bamboo was available. 

 For this reason, Mr. H. M. Curran and Dr. F. W. Foxworthy 

 in 1912 started a bamboo plantation at the Division of Investiga- 

 tion of the Bureau of Forestry at Los Banos, Laguna, the direc- 

 tion of the planting being intrusted to Rangers de Mesa and 

 Villamil. This plantation was started on a rather dry hill on 

 steep slopes, covered with a mixture of tall grass and small 

 second-growth trees. The material selected for planting was 

 from shoots 1 to 2 years old or older from poorly grown plants 

 which were overtopped and not well supplied with light, and 

 from upper twigs. A few butts were also used. The length 

 of cuttings was from 60 centimeters to 2 meters. The cuttings 

 were collected 3 to 36 hours before planting, and were laid in 

 water at the edge of a stream whenever it was not possible to 

 plant immediately. During the time that this work was done 

 the weather was very rainy and so there was less than the usual 

 amount of drying out. The planting was done between August 

 29 and October 10, 1912. The implements employed were mat- 

 tocks and heavy pointed sticks, the mattocks being used only 

 when rocky soil was encountered or when very large pieces were 

 to be planted. In all there were planted 1,015 cuttings of 

 Bambusa spinosa, 145 of Bambusa vulgaris, and 105 of Gigan- 

 tochloa levis. The area of the plantation was 2.2 hectares. 

 More than half of the area was covered with a dense tangle of 

 small trees and climbing bamboo. All of the small brush and 

 climbing bamboo was cut, but some of the larger trees were 

 left to shade the young plants. Where the bamboo was shaded 

 it has done better than it has in the open. This may perhaps 

 be due to the fact that the planting was done toward the end 

 of the rainy season so that the young shoots were exposed to 

 dryer conditions than they would have been if planted earlier. 



On January 10, 1914, the living bamboos were counted; these 

 included 349 individuals of Bambusa spinosa or 34 per cent of 

 the original number planted, 46 of B. vulgaris or 32 per cent, 

 and 6 of Gigantochloa levis or 6 per cent. This low percentage 

 of success was probably due in part to several avoidable causes. 

 The planting was done toward the close of the rainy season, 

 so that young plants did not have as favorable moisture condi- 

 tions as they would have had if planted earlier. Again the 

 methods of planting, as previously described, w T ere not favorable, 

 while some of the young plants are known to have been destroyed 

 by cattle ; moreover, the selection of material was poor, and the 



