A Revelation of the Filipinos 



»47 



are also many gutta-percha, India-rub- 

 ber, and other gum-producing trees, dye 

 and medicinal woods and plants, and 

 other forest growths, most of which are 

 mentioned in connection with the sub- 

 ject of agriculture. The enormous ex- 

 tent and wide range of usefulness of 

 Philippine forest products will render 

 them, under the careful management and 

 conservation provided for by law, second 

 only to agricultural products as a source 

 of insular wealth and prosperity. 



The number of different kinds of trees 

 is not known, but the report of the chief 

 of the Philippine Forestry Bureau for 

 1902 shows that 747 species of wood 

 were brought to the market during the 

 year ending June 30, 1902. The num- 

 ber of useful woods is undoubtedly 

 larger than the number marketed, and 

 in addition the forests contain many trees 

 the woods of which are not used for do- 

 mestic or economic purposes. 



Summarizing the information at hand, 

 it appears that approximately 70 per 

 cent of the area of the archipelago, or 

 80,000 square miles, is forested. The 

 forested area was estimated by Fernando 

 Castro in 1890 at about 48, 1 12,920 acres, 

 or 75,150 square miles. This estimate 

 includes all the woodland, public and 

 private, and amounts to 66 per cent of 

 the total area. An official estimate made 

 in 1876 gave an area of about 80,000 

 square miles. 



WEALTH OF TIMBER 



Little is known concerning the stand 

 of timber per acre. The Forestry Bureau 

 has made careful examinations at sev- 

 eral places in the islands and has meas- 

 ured sample acres containing more than 

 10,000 cubic feet, or 100,000 board feet, 

 per acre, and it reports large areas of 

 virgin forest, of which the average stand 

 is 7,000 cubic feet per acre. It is prob- 

 able, however, that this is much above 

 the average of the wooded area of the 

 islands ; still enough is known to hazard 

 the conjecture that the average stand of 



timber in the islands may exceed 2,oco 

 cubic feet per acre. 



If this estimate of average stand is not 

 excessive, the amount of timber in the 

 archipelago is in the neighborhood of 

 r, 000, 000 million feet B. M., or more 

 than double the amount in the States of 

 Oregon and Washington together. 



The stumpage value of the above 

 timber to the government, at an aver- 

 age of three cents gold per cubic foot, 

 is not far from three billion dollars, and 

 it is easy to foresee that when the lumber 

 industry reaches any considerable mag- 

 nitude the receipts from it will form no 

 inconsiderable part of the income of the 

 government. 



The islands are well supplied with 

 streams having sufficient volume of 

 water for floating logs. Most of these 

 can be made good driving streams by a 

 little work in the way of removing snags 

 and sand bars. It must be remembered, 

 however, that most of the timber in the 

 Philippines is too heavy to float, and 

 that the logs must be buoyed by bamboo 

 poles. It may be discovered, when log- 

 ging operations on a large scale are in- 

 stituted, that logging railways will be 

 more economical than driving the logs 

 in the streams. 



Logging is carried on at present on a 

 small scale and with very primitive ap- 

 pliances. The logs are dragged out of 

 the woods by carabaos to the railroad 

 or to the streams, down which they are 

 floated by the aid of the bamboo. 



EXCELLENT COAL IN ABUNDANCE 



Unless all indications are deceptive, 

 the mineral wealth of the Philippine 

 Islands is very great. Coal, of Tertiary 

 age, of widely differing qualities, from 

 lignite so soft and impure as to be prac- 

 tically worthless up to that equal in 

 steam capacity to the best Japanese coal, 

 is found scattered widely over the archi- 

 pelago. Indeed, there are few prov-. 

 inces in which it has not been found. 

 Many of the prospects which on the sur- 



