48 BULLETIN 354, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



suitable quality should unquestionably be the ones most extensively 

 planted. What the species are that will best fulfill those require- 

 ments is now unknown and must be determined by experiment and 

 investigation. 1 The discovery of the best varieties of woods for the 

 manufacture of charcoal is also of the utmost importance. 



Second only to the need for fuel is that for an increased supply of 

 suitable woods for various native uses. At present the demand is 

 more or less irregular and specialized. Particular kinds of wood have 

 particular uses and there is practically no demand for wood for native 

 house construction except for underpinning, sills, and the like. The 

 advancement of civilization on the island will necessitate the improve- 

 ment of housing conditions in the interest of public health, sanitation, 

 and morality; and universal education through the public schools 

 will inevitably set up a standard and a demand which will not tolerate 

 present conditions. To meet this demand the properties of the vari- 

 ous woods will have to be closely studied and very likely the intro- 

 duction of some such species as the pine will be found desirable. 



There is at least one native industry of large proportions that might 

 possibly produce its own box material through the practice of for- 

 estry — the cigar industry. At present the cedro used by the Porto 

 Bican trade comes almost exclusively from the virgin forests of Cuba. 

 This wood is particularly prized for its lightness, clearness of grain, 

 and strong yet pleasant aromatic odor. It is, of course, largely 

 conjectural how far these properties would inhere in the wood of a 

 planted growth. The cedro (71) is a rapid grower under favorable 

 conditions of soil and climate. 



Undoubtedly many trees could be planted which would yield 

 products of bark, leaf, or sap for use as the basis of new industries. 2 

 The achiote might be set out on a steep hillside, several acres of it 

 together. The gathering of the seed coats and the extraction of their 

 coloring matter would furnish light labor for a number of persons at 

 certain seasons of the year, if not the year round. Then there is the 



i One such species undoubtedly is the Acacia palida (41), stands of which, according to investigations of 

 the Philippine Bureau of Forestry, will yield over 13 cords per acre in 2 to 3 years. It is splendidly adapted 

 for the reforestation of grasslands wastes either as a permanent crop or as a pioneer and nurse crop for subse- 

 quent plantations of more valuable but less hardy and aggressive species . It may also be planted to advan- 

 tage on worn-out agricultural lands and, after one crop of firewood is harvested, the twigs and tops plowed 

 into the soil as a green manure. (The author is indebted to Mr. H. M. Curran, formerly of the Philippine 

 Bureau of Forestry, for calling his attention to the work done by that bureau and its published report 

 concerning this tree, entitled " Ipil-Ipil— A Firewood and Reforestation Crop," by D . A. Matthews, Bulletin 

 No. 13, Philippine Bureau of Forestry.) 



2 Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, in his "Report on Investigations of the Agricultural Resources and Capabilities 

 of Porto Rico" (Senate Doc. 171, 56th Cong., 2d sess.), emphasizes the need of new industries. He says: 

 " The early establishment of a number of minor industries closely related to agriculture is of vital importance 

 to future prosperity. The object of such industries is to give profitable employment to the wives and 

 children of farm laborers, so that the earning ability of the home may be doubled, and in some cases quad- 

 rupled. * * * Manv philanthropic Porto Ricans suggested that the farm laborers on the coffee and 

 tobacco plantations scattered upon the mountains * * * could never derive the full advantage of free 

 education * * * until they were gathered into small villages and became amenable to society." 



