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5. In those trees which have trunks measuring more than 40 centimeters in diameter (approximately 1 feet), the concessioner will be permitted to make four incisions or cuttings on opposite sides.

6. The width of the cuttings shall never exceed 8 centimeters.

7. A metal or wooden plate may be placed on the lower part of the incision to facilitate the collection of the juice. A vessel may be placed under the incision at the foot of the tree.

ART. 55. From the flowering of the tree to the ripening of its fruit, trimming of the edges of said incisions or any lengthening of the same shall not be permitted.

ART. 56. Said products may be stored in towns, wards, or other places, at the convenience of the concessioner, having previously notified the chief forestry official of the section, or in his absence the nearest local authority, in order that the proper legal formalities may be followed.

ART. 57. 1. A manifest shall accompany said forest products when transported from one place to another within the same province. Said manifest shall be made out by the chief forestry official of the section or locality; in his absence by the president or alcalde of the town; or if destined for another province, by the nearest local commander. If the manifest is made by a president, there shall be stated in it the class and weight of each class of products to be removed; but if the manifest is made by the chief forestry official of the section, or in his absence by the nearest local commander, there shall also be stated the value of each class of said products.

2. The forest official at point of destination of products has the right to verify the correctness of the manifest or letter of payment which accompanies said products. If any difference should be found between the amounts shown on said documents, and the actual amount of cargo, the concessioner shall pay the amount of excess, and if said excess should be more than the fifth part, shall also incur a fine of twice the value of said excess.

ART. 58. Concessioners utilizing this class of products shall for the present pay 10 per cent of its value, as per market price in Manila at time of inspection and meas

urement.

CHAPTER VI.-General provisions.

ART. 59. 1. Licenses to gather or utilize forest products in the state forests shall be granted by this office.

2. Applications for said licenses must be delivered to the chief forestry official of the forest district or section, or to the district commander, who shall forward same to this office with the necessary indorsements of the forestry official of said district. In the application shall be stated the kinds of forest products desired and the place where said products are to be gathered.

3. The gathering or utilization of forest products can be done only in the forests of the province specified in the license. If the concessioner should cut or gather forest products in the forests of any other province, said products shall be considered as unlawfully cut.

4. No charge shall be made for licenses nor for the authentication or making out of manifests.

5. Reserved forests, and the species of trees the cutting of which is forbidden, will be noted in licenses for the information of the concessioner. The felling of trees of the superior and first groups, excepting ebony, camuning, and lanete, of a less diameter than 40 centimeters is absolutely prohibited.

6. The felling in the state forests of trees, from which caoutchouc, gutta-percha, and gum elastic are extracted, is prohibited.

The following is a partial list of names of the above-mentioned tree species:

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7. The felling in the state forests of the ylang-ylang tree is prohibited.

8. The utilization of forest products not specifically mentioned in these regulations shall be by license, and said utilization shall be governed by special conditions which may be ascertained upon presentation of application for a license to utilize said products.

ART. 60. Whosoever cuts or removes timber or other forest products prohibited

by official order, or cuts species the utilization of which is prohibited by special mention in the license, shall incur a penalty amounting to four times the value of the products. A copy of these regulations shall accompany each license.

ART. 61. The concessioner must gather said forest product together, and pile it in the district where cut or gathered, and not where the cutting of timber or other utilization of forest products is forbidden. For any violation he shall incur a penalty of four times the value of the product gathered.

ART. 62. 1. The trees to be cut shall be selected and cut down close to the ground, care being taken that no damage be done in falling to the adjacent trees. The concessioner shall compactly pile the branches of all trees felled, and place said branches where the least damage shall be done to the younger growth.

2. Forest products shall be transported as far as possible by routes where there are few trees, avoiding as far as practicable the destruction of the younger growth. 3. Concessioners shall be held responsible for any damage to the forests through failure to comply with the above requirements. They shall also be held responsible for violations of said regulations on the part of their representatives or their employees.

ART. 63. When the cutting or gathering of forest products has been finished, the concessioner shall notify in writing the nearest forestry official of the place where said product is deposited, the classes and amount of the same, and its destination. He shall also state if he has left any felled timber in the forest; and if so, the number of trees and the classes.

A forestry official shall verify the "statement" of forest products presented by the concessioner, examining and measuring the same. He will make out, in duplicate, the manifest for each shipment, and give one copy of this to the concessioner.

ART. 64. The concessioner shall not load, sell, nor use any forest product which has not been paid for, unless he has had express authority from the chief of the forestry bureau and has given a satisfactory guaranty to that official.

ART. 65. 1. A manifest will not be necessary in case the forest product is not to be removed from the jurisdiction of the town in which the forest is situated.

In this case, after having examined, measured, and valued said product, the forestry official of the district or section gives to the concessioner or his representative an order of payment to the internal-revenue office, stating amount to be paid. 2. This having been done, the concessioner or his representative shall deliver the letter acknowledging payment to the official who made out the order, who shall acknowledge receipt of same, making a note at the bottom of the page of the official statement, which he will deliver to the interested party. Having complied with these conditions, the owner of the forest product can dispose of same as he sees fit. 3. For any violation of these requirements he will be liable to a fine of 25 per cent of the value of said product.

ART. 66. 1. When the forest product is to be transported by land or by river from one town to another, within the same province, the carrier must be provided with a manifest, signed by the concessioner or his representative and authenticated by the forestry official residing in the town where the timber or other forest product was cut or gathered, and in case there should be no such official there, then by the president or alcalde. Upon the arrival of said product at its destination, it can not be disposed of until the forms as provided for in the foregoing conditions are complied with.

2. The concessioner shall not remove said product in case it is to be carried by land or river from one province to another without having first paid its value in the internal-revenue office of the province in which the forest is situated.

3. The concessioner may remove said product after having the manifest indorsed by the forestry official to the effect that it has been paid for, and said manifest must accompany the person in charge of above transportation.

4. Should said product be transported by sea and shipped from one point to another in the archipelago the payment may, at the option of the concessioner, be made in the office of internal revenue at the place of origin or destination.

5. In the first case, where payment has been made at place of origin, the concessioner will be governed by section 3, in that the cargo must be accompanied by the manifest, upon which has been noted the receipt of the letter of payment.

6. In the second instance, he must be provided with the manifest given by the forestry official or by the president or alcalde of the town of departure; the concessioner being held responsible for any difference which may be found at the inspection at port of arrival.

7. The person in charge of forest products transported by sea will, within five days of arrival at port of destination, present the manifest to the nearest forestry official.

8. Failure to carry out the above requirement will render the party so offending liable to a discretionary penalty, which shall not exceed $100.

ART. 67. 1. The chief forestry official of the district or section shall, after inspection, give the order to unload, after the manifest has been presented showing that said product has been paid for. If this verification of the cargo shows that the figures agree with the manifest, it shall be delivered to the interested party, noting on same the said fact.

2. If an excess of cargo should be found and should not exceed 10 per cent of cargo, payment of full amount of cargo only shall be paid by the concessioner; but if such excess should be found to be more than 10 per cent, a penalty, as indicated in article 72, shall be paid by the concessioner in addition to full payment on cargo as found at inspection.

3. If the product has not been paid for, the order of payment shall be given to the concessioner, made out for the amount as shown on the provisional manifest, and upon payment of which, as shown by the presentation of the letter of payment, the order to unload is given, and subsequent proceedings shall conform with that laid down in the preceding paragraph.

4. If the concessioner should, at the termination of his voyage, dispose of said product without having first obtained the order to discharge he shall incur a penalty of 25 per cent of the value of same, in addition to other penalties to which he may be liable for other violations.

5. In order to move said product after it has been unloaded, the owners or persons in charge must be provided with a manifest indorsed by the official who inspected at the time of loading. In no instance shall the order to unload be used in place of the manifest in order to move the said product.

ART. 68. If payment on said product should be delayed more than one month, counting from the date of the order of payment, a penalty of 50 per cent of its value will be incurred.

ART. 69. In case of accidents or of damage to ships, or where the product is carried in mail vessels which can not be delayed in port, said product may be unloaded at once, having previously given a satisfactory bond or cash deposit, fixed in each case by the chief forestry official of the district.

ART. 70. 1. When a cargo of a forest product is to be exported to China, Australia, or any other point outside of the archipelago, the concessioner before loading shall pay into the internal-revenue office a sum equal to $2 for each ton of capacity registered by the vessel in which the shipment is to be made, as a guarantee of payment of the value of said product.

2. After the deposit is made loading may begin under a designated forestry official who will make out the official statement of the product loaded.

3. This having been finished, the ship may begin her voyage, and the concessioner should repair to the nearest forestry official in order to obtain the order of payment, and having proven same by presenting the letter of payment an order will be made out which will enable him to withdraw his deposit and be free from all responsibility to this bureau for said cargo.

4. In case the manifest is not shown the forest product shall be detained and a fine of from 1 to 5 per cent of the value of the products imposed.

ART. 71. 1. Presidents or alcaldes of the towns who officially authenticate manifests which contain inaccuracies prejudicial to the state shall incur a fine of not less than $5.

2. Where a forestry official is unable to act, the president or alcalde of the town who fails, when called upon by a concessioner, to inspect and measure the wood or other forest product, either in person or by sending another official belonging to the municipality, shall incur a fine of not less than $5.

ART. 72. Violations of these regulations as to time and manner of utilizing the public forest products, where no damage has been caused, will be punished by a discretionary fine which shall not exceed $100. In case damage has been caused the party so offending shall be held responsible and pay for same, and shall pay in addition a fine of from 10 to 25 per cent of said damage, according to the nature of the case.

In cases of grave violations of these regulations by any concessioner or his representatives or employees the license may be withdrawn after due notice to the party in interest.

ART. 73. 1. All cutting or harvesting of the products of the public forests without license shall be considered fraudulent, and will be punished as follows:

If the products be not timber, and subject to payment, the delinquent will be compelled to pay the value of the same and damages, and also a fine for the first offense of from 25 to 50 per cent of said value, 50 to 75 per cent for the second offense, and 100 per cent for the third offense, with confiscation and loss of products.

2. If the product is timber, and whether subject to payment or not, the delinquent shall pay the value of the same and damage, and also a fine of 1 cent for each 10 cubic decimeters for the first offense, 2 cents per 10 cubic decimeters for the second offense, and for the third offense 2 cents per cubic decimeter, with confiscation and loss of said timber.

ART. 74. Unauthorized clearing of public lands, especially by fire, is absolutely prohibited. Offenders shall be punished by a fine of $20 per hectare for the ground so burnt over, and in case of insolvency shall serve a term in prison to correspond to the time required to liquidate said fine at the rate of $2.50 per day; said term of imprisonment shall not exceed sixty days. The land unlawfully occupied must be immediately abandoned, this for the first offense; for the second offense $30 per hectare and the immediate abandonment of the property, and in case of insolvency imprisonment as above described for a term not to exceed ninety days. For the third offense, $50 per hectare and immediate abandonment of the property. In case of insolvency imprisonment as above described not to exceed one hundred and eighty days. This penalty shall not be increased for subsequent offenses, but if it should be proven that the burning was done through malice the offender shall be punished according to the penal code.

ART. 75. 1. Persons owning lands containing trees suitable for lumber, firewood, or other forest products shall immediately present certified copies of their title deeds at this office for registration.

2. Forest products taken from private lands whose owners have not complied with these requirements shall be considered unlawfully taken.

ART. 76. In order that forestry officials may exercise an intelligent supervision over the utilization of forest products, all said products of land owned by towns or by private individuals, and which leave the jurisdiction where said lands are situated, shall be accompanied by a statement, signed by the owner or administrator of the estate and by the president or alcalde of the town, in which statement shall be described the number, class, and amount of forest product and the place where cut or gathered, and shall also show a receipt from the forestry bureau of registration of title to said land.

Failure to present this statement will render the owner of said forest product liable to the penalties incurred by parties fraudulently taking forest products from the forests of the state.

ART. 77. The officer in charge of the forestry bureau is charged with the duty of preparing the blank forms necessary for the enforcement of the foregoing regulations and distributing the same as the necessities of the service may require. By command of Major-General MacArthur:

E. H. CROWDER, Lieutenant-Colonel Thirty-ninth Infantry, U. S. V., Secretary.

FORESTS OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

The Philippine Islands lie between 4° 45' and 21° north latitude and between 116 and 127° east longitude, with an area of 119,542 square miles. The islands are all mountainous, some of the high peaks having an altitude close to 9,000 feet above the sea. In many of the islands the steep mountain slopes begin close to the seacoast, and to the casual observer the entire area is woodland. It has been estimated that of the 73,000,000 acres in the islands more than 6,000,000 are under cultivation. (Jordana, 1890.)

We find various estimates for the forest area by former officials. The official geographic statistics of 1876 fix the forest area at 51,537,243

acres.

Fernando Castro estimated the forest area in 1890 at 48,112,920 acres. This includes all woodland, private as well as public land.

As one travels over the islands he is constantly struck with the large population to the square mile and the scarcity of timber close to the main traveled routes and centers of population. As one leaves the main traveled routes vast virgin forests are met with, rich in valuable hard woods, dyewoods, gums, and other products, waiting for the skill and enterprise of the American capitalist. On the island of Cebu,

where we find a population of 290 to the square mile, not a merchantable stick of timber is evident, with the exception of a small tract of forest left in the northern end of this island, which forest must therefore be carefully looked after.

The island of Panay, with a population of 150 to the square mile, is almost denuded of good timber. In Luzon, where the population averages 78 to the square mile, we find no timber in the vicinity of centers of population. As we travel over the only line of railway in the islands, from Manila to Dagupan, a distance of 120 miles, we fail to see a single merchantable stick within several miles of the road. But there are tracts in various parts of Luzon where much valuable timber remains. In the northern end of the island, in Cagayan and Isabela provinces, there are at least 2,000,000 acres of valuable forest remaining. The entire east coast of Luzon, from the northern end as far south as Atimonan, comprising several million acres, is practically a virgin forest. In northwestern Luzon very little merchantable timber is left, with the exception of the slopes above 3,000 feet, where we and a species of pine (Pinus insularis) flourishing, all ages mingled together. The maximum pines seen were close to 4 feet in diameter and more than 100 feet in height. Here the pine obtains a diameter of 12 inches in about twenty years. Almost every acre of these northwestern mountains is burnt over each year by the savages, but the larger pines seem to survive these repeated scorchings. Through central Luzon the timber has been cut away, leaving small tracts of fairly good forest in a few places. In southern Luzon, in Tayabas and the Camarines, we find some large tracts fairly well covered with a variety of valuable tree species.

As we enter the southwestern islands, extending from Mindoro through to Paragua, we leave the more traveled routes, and find a sparsely settled region where the virgin forests have been apparently untouched. In this group you will find upward of 4,000,000 acres of virgin forest extending from the water's edge to the summits of the mountains. Some cutting has been done in this region, but it has amounted to a mere thinning of the edges of the forest. This group of islands is celebrated for the great quantity of narra, or Philippine mahogany, molave, ipil, and calantas (the Philippine cedar). Here we find valuable hard woods 4 or 5 feet in diameter with magnificent clear trunks for 80 feet up to the first limb. As a rule we find all over the islands that the largest trees have not been felled, owing to the lack of facilities for handling heavy timbers. Very little cleared land is found in Mindoro. Its reputation as a death trap for white men will change as a few hundred square miles are cleared of timber and its rich soil devoted to agriculture. A vigorous thinning of at least 50 per cent of the present forest growth of Mindoro and Paragua would make them much more salubrious than at present. The island of Mindanao, with an area of more than 23,000,000 acres, is almost entirely covered by forest. The vast majority of the population of this island is found in coast towns, with the exception of the region in the north surrounding the Laguna de Lanao, where we find a large population of Moros. Very little timber has been cut in this island owing to the scarcity of labor and the distance to market. It would be safe to estimate at least 10,000,000 acres of virgin forest for this island alone. The southern part of this island, in the region southeast of Cotabato, is noted for its gutta-percha, rubber, and other gums. More than $300,000 was paid at Cotabato for these gums last year,

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