26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



versy. The Southern Hardwood Traffic Bureau had charge of 

 the case of the Anderson-Tully Company, through which it was 

 sought to secure an order from the commission compelling the 

 railroads to issue through bills. Mr. Burgess said on his return 

 to Memphis that the west side lines had already begun issuing 

 through bills and that an agreement had been reached between 

 these lines and the steamship companies providing that exports 

 on through bills were to be exempt from demurrage and that 

 deliveries from railroads to ship side were not to be delayed 

 beyond a period of eleven days. Members of the export trade of 

 New Orleans very vigorously attacked this agreement as between 

 the steamship companies and the west side lines on the alleged 



ground that it marked discrimination as between those who handler 

 their exports into New Orleans on local bills and those who handle 

 their export shipments on through bills. Mr. Burgess, however, 

 believes that the agreement which has been effected between the 

 steamship companies and the railroads will not be interfered with 

 by the commission and that the outlook is very bright for a 

 permanent victory in this controversy. Exporters here are very 

 much pleased with the result of the agreement between the steam- 

 ship companies and the railroads because they are of the opinioQ 

 that it will make it possible to handle export shipments of lumber 

 on a very much more satisfactory basis than during the past year 

 and a half. 



5;b!7 



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Ebonies of Commerce 



Ebony is the trade name of a wood that is exceedingly hard, heavy 

 and susceptible of a high polish. The true ebonies are obtained from 

 several species of Diospyros, and are so deep black as to be used to 

 personify blackness. The best known ebony is the calamander, or, 

 coromandel wood (Diospyros qufsita) of Ceylon, and is much esteemed 

 for ornamental cabinet work. It is a^ scarce and beautiful wood, ex- 

 ceedingly hard, fine, close-grained and heavy. This wood has a pale 

 reddish or dark brown color, and is crossed by large pith rays, or 

 isolated elongated patches of a deep rich brown color, passing into 

 black. The luster is silky where the pith rays are small, but higher 

 and more varying where the rays are larger and the grain coarser. 

 Calamander wood is considerd by many persons the handsomest and 

 one of the most valuable of all the dark woods; the root has the most 

 beautiful appearance. This wood is now getting- scarce and the old 

 carved ebony furniture from Ceylon is much admired and often sells 

 for fabulous prices. 



Belonging to the same genus as the calamander is the ebony of 

 commerce (Diospyros ebenum), which, on account of its color and 

 denseness, is so much used by turners, and for inlaying work by 

 cabinet makers. This tree yields the best kind of ebony wood, but it 

 varies in quality as it grows from sea level to the elevation of 5,000 

 feet in Ceylon. A number of other species of Diospyros are known to 

 yield in great abundance the black ebony of commerce. Those of the 

 East Indies are Diospyros chloroxylon, D. cordifoUa, D. indbola, D. 

 melanoxylon, D. roylei, and D. iomentosa. The ebony from the west 

 coast of Africa is usually the most perfect black, that from Mauri- 

 tius and Ceylon being variegated more or less with cream brown. 

 Diospyros cordifoUa yields a wood that is a dark brown, strong, du- 

 rable, and is difSeult to work. Ebony of a very superior quality is 

 procurable in the western districts of the Madras presidency, as 

 well as the liorthern Circars. Sixteen-inch planks of a fine uniform 

 black have been obtained chiefly from Coorg and Canara. Smaller 

 pieces are procured from Cuddapa, Salem, Nuggur, etc., but there 

 is no steady demand, though it is a peculiarly fine timber for 

 cabinet work, and some of it is well veined for ornamental purposes. 

 Ebony may be obtained in Siam, but the quality is said to be not 

 very good; small quantities are exported from there every year to 

 China. 



There are a number of entirely unrelated woods from widely sepa- 

 rated parts of the world which pass under the general name of ebony. 

 In addition to the 130 or more species of the genus Diospyros, which 

 yield the hard, black woods, the genera Brya, Dalbergia, and Maba 

 produce different kinds of ebony. The green ebony supposed to be 

 furnished by Brya ebenus is obtained from Jamaica and other parts 

 of the West Indies. The heartwood of this tree is dark green, and the 

 sapwood is almost white. The wood is hard and susceptible of a very 

 high polish. It is much used for rulers and other small work, also in 

 parquetry. Another green ebony is said to be obtained from Jac- 

 aranda mimosifolia in Brazil. The name green ebony is also applied to 

 the wood of Exoecaria glandulosa of Jamaica. Several species of Dal- 

 bergia yield what is known as blackwood or rosewood. One African 

 species, Dalbergia melanoxylon, is used very extensively, and practically 

 all so-called ebony from Africa is from this tree. It is found both in 



East and West Africa. The ebony from Madagascar is doubtless 

 of this species. Another tree which yields ebony is the ironwood' 

 (Maba buxifolia) of Ceylon. This is only a small tree, but its wood 

 is valuable, being exceedingly hard and durable. 



The bulk of the ebony used in Europe comes to Hamburg and 

 Havre, which are very important centers for the ebony trade; the- 

 dealings in Havre are more considerable, perhaps, than those at 

 Hamburg. The trade is largely supplied with wood from Madagascar, 

 West Africa, Ceylon, Bombay and Macassar, and the importation in 

 1911 was as follows: 



Madagascar 347.6 tons 



West Africa 1,432.4 " 



Ceylon and Bombay 53.4 " ' 



Macassar 983.9 " 



The prices of the West African kind ranked from $1.10 to $2.10' 



per 100 pounds; of Madagascar ebony from $1.75 to $3.90 per 100- 



pounds; and of Macassar ebony from $1.50 to $1.95 per 100 pounds. 



The importation of ebony into the United States for the last five 



years was as follows: 



Year Value 



1907 $79,222 



1908 98,832 



1909 80,805 



1910 92,777 



1911 74,002 



Metal Not Strong Enough in This Case 



The contest between wood and metal goes on. It has been takeo 

 for granted by some persons that metal can be substituted for 

 wood in most positions, and that the only thing to consider 

 is cost. Experiments are showing the fallacy of this belief. 

 There are many places where metal is an unsatisfactory sub- 

 stitute for wood, leaving out of consideration all regard for 

 comparative cost. The plow beam is one such place. Formerly 

 all were of wood, and by almost unanimous consent oak was used. 

 Then iron and steel began to appear as substitutes, and for a time 

 it seemed to be taken for granted that they were better, but trials 

 in crucial tests failed to show it. 



In a slow, steady pull where the ground is soft and free from 

 obstructions, there may be little difference in service of a metal 

 and of a wooden plow beam; but other conditions must be met. 

 Eocks are struck and roots and stumps encountered, and it is in 

 such cases that the wood beam proves its superiority. A cast 

 iron beam is liable to snap short off if the plow strikes an unyield- 

 ing object, while the steel beam under such circumstances is liable 

 to bend and buckle and is thrown permanently out of shape. It 

 is next to impossible, or at any rate it is expensive, to straighten 

 a plow beam after it has been bent. 



The elasticity of wooden beams permits them to yield under 

 sudden strain and shock, and recover their original form almost 

 instantly. Permanent distortion is so rare that it is practically 

 unknown. A plow beam of wood may break but it rarely does so, 

 and breaking is about the only mishap that can put it out of use. 

 The lightness of wood is also of advantage. 



