204 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO BULLETIN. [XVIIL 4. 



FORESTRY. 



DURABILITY TESTS WITH INFERIOR LOCAL 



WOODS. 



By H. W. Moor. 

 Deputy Conservator of Forests, Trinidad and Tobago. 



Tropical forests are, with very tew exceptions, invariably of a mixed 

 nature, the more valuable species forming a very small proportion of 

 the entire crop, the overwhelming majority of species being, what has 

 usually been classed as useless. It is maintained, and has been amply 

 proved in other countries where Economic Forestry has made appre- 

 ciable progress, that the woods of nearly all species, however useless 

 and inferior they may have been considered in the past, are each 

 pecuUarly adapted to some definite purpose, nearly all being useful 

 species and as such, not to be cut out and destroyed indiscriminately, 

 as is the existing custom in Trinidad. 



The natural result of the advance of agriculture in this colony has 

 been the destruction of large tracts of forests with a proportionately 

 increased demand for the better class woods, such as cedar, balata, &c., 

 for building and other purposes. This demand, following immediately 

 on a period of urestricted timber cutting, has placed an abnormal strain 

 on the supply of these species ; consequently the existing forests have 

 been considerably changed in character, the better woods often being 

 conspicuous by their absence, Trinidad is now largely dependant on 

 imported lumber, chiefly from a foreign country, a state of affairs which 

 has, from the experience of the last five years, been found to be very 

 unsatisfactory. 



In view of the above, and also on account of the fact that the 

 world's timber supply is considerably below the demand and will remain 

 BO for the next half century, it has become the business of the Forest 

 Department of Trinidad to find substitutes for the depleted supply of 

 good local woods (until such times as existing plantations mature), and 

 to meet the shortage of imported lumber. 



The difficulties to be contended with in connection with tropical 

 woods are that they are more subject to warping, splitting and cracking 

 than imported coniferous woods, and are also subject, in a very marked 

 degree, to insect attacks before they are seasoned and ready for use. 



With a view to surmounting the above difficulties two series of 

 experiments are being carried out, one with the object of seasoning 

 timber standing, thus obviating uneven drying and consequent warping 

 and splitting, and, by means of a poison, to prevent insect attacks ; the 

 other, the subject of this paper, by artificial seasoning and subsequent 

 immersion in crude oil. 



