32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



the only part put to commercial use. Freshly-cut heartwood is 

 light yellow, but after exposure to air and light becomes a yellow- 

 ish brown. It is very hard, hea\'y (about fifty pounds per cubic 

 foot), strong, tough, and is very durable in contact with the soil. 

 False mahogany, corotu, conocaste, toncolin, or timbouva 

 (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) is a 'large tree often from ninety to 

 one hundred and thirty feet in height and from six. to eight or 

 sometimes ten in diameter. The tree is nowhere very abundant, 

 but it attains its best development in the deep hollows of the east- 

 ern slopes. Tlie wood is dark brown, moderately hard and heavy 

 (about thirty-five pounds per cubic foot), fairly strong and tough, 

 coarse and straight-grained, works very easily, and takes a good 

 polish. It is durable in contact with the soil and water and is 

 used extensively for making canoes. It is also employed in house 

 building, cabinet and furniture making, and general carpentry 

 work. 



White mahogany or prima vera (Tabebuia donnellsmithii) is 

 ehietly a Mexican tree, but it grows also in British Honduras. It 

 forms a fairly large-sized tret and often has a clear trunk from 

 thirty to forty feet and from two to three feet in diameter. This 

 tree is nowhere abundant on the eastern coast. It finds its best 

 development in southwestern Mexico. The wood is light yellow, 

 moderately hard, hea,vy (about thirty pounds per cubic foot), strong, 

 tough, and very durable in contact with the soil. Its most impor- 

 tant use at the present time is 

 for furniture and interior finisli. 

 It has a very fine and pleasiii}: 

 grain and takes and retains a 

 beautiful polish when properly 

 filled and finished. 



Santa Maria, palo maria, or 

 galba {Calopliyllum calaba) is ;i 

 lofty tree, often attaining the 

 height of one hundred and fitty 

 feet and five feet or over in di 

 ameler. The trunk is usually 

 clear of branches and knots for 

 more than half the total height 

 of the tree and is as straight as" 

 a ship 's mast. The wood is of 

 a light brown color, tinged with 

 red or yellow, and after it is 

 exposed to the light and air, it 

 resembles mahogany. It i s- 

 slightly coarser-grained than 

 mahogan)-. The wood takes an 

 excellent polish and the alternat- 

 ing lines of lighter and darker shades on the radial surface add to 

 it considerable figure. It is hard, heavy (about forty-six pounds 

 per cubic foot), strong, tough, and bears exposure to moisture and 

 lasts well in water. It is used for construction work, shipbuilding, 

 and heavy machine work; for posts, furniture, felloes of wheel.s, 

 interior finish, and largely for shingles, especially in the West 

 Indies. The wood is highly esteemed for carpentry work and the 

 trunks of largo trees are used for making canoes. 



Espave {Anacardium rhinocarpus) is a tree from eighty to one 

 hundred feet high and from three to five feet in diameter. The 

 wood is light brown at first with a shade of yellow, but turns darker 

 upon exposure to light and air. It is fine, but cross-grained, 

 assumes a fine polish, hard, moderately heavy, strong, tough, and 

 durable. Espave is now used locally and in this country for making 

 furniture and cabinet work. It has been introduced into the Amer- 

 ican markets as espave mahogany. 



Logwood or campcche wood (Hwrnotoxylon campechianum) often 

 reaches fifty feet iu height and from twelve to eighteen inches in 

 diameter. The wood is very hard, heavy, strong, tough, very fine- 

 grained, and almost indestructible in contact with soil and air. It 

 is imported chiefly in short lengths, after which it is chipped or 

 ground, and packed in casks and bags ready for the dyers ', hatters ', 

 and calico printers' use. This wood is seldom used for structural 



WKST I.VniAN CANDLEWOOD (D 

 CO.MMOX IN 



purposes or for furniture, because it is more valuable tor making 

 dyes, which it yields to water and alcohol. Yucatan is said to- 

 produce the best wood for this purpose. 



Eymcnaa courbaril, the West Indian locust tree grows abun- 

 dantly and to a gi-eat size in the forests of South America, where 

 it frequently attains a Iieight of from sixty to eighty feet to the 

 first limb and has a diameter of six to nine feet. The wood is 

 light brown, with dark streaks, but sometimes it varies to a dark 

 mahogany color. It is exceedingly hard, compact, and close- 

 grained, taking a high polish, and is employed extensively for fur- 

 niture, engine work, and planking of vessels. 



Lignum-vitie {Guayacan officinale) is a tree which usually attains 

 a height of from fifteen to twenty-five feet and a diameter of about 

 eighteen inches four feet from the ground. In Mexico and Central 

 America this tree attains its b?st development and often grows- 

 to a height of from forty to six-ty feet and nearly two feet iu 

 diameter. It is usually much smaller in the West Indies. The 

 wood is exceedingly close and cross-grained, hard, heavy (about 

 seventy-six pounds per cubic foot), of a rich greenish-brown color, 

 and often beautifully marked, looking very well when polished. 

 It is often used for making furniture, ship-blocks, pestles, mortars, 

 rulers, heads of croquet mallets, and string-boxes and machine bear- 

 ings. It is preferable to metal for the latter uses. The wood is 

 very durable and this quality c'lupled with its extreme strength and 



hardness renders it one of the 

 most valuable of tropical Amer- 

 ica. Enormous quantities of this 

 wood are now being used annually 

 for bearings, etc., and the sup- 

 ply is becoming limited and con- 

 sequently very high. 



White or red cedar (Idea 

 altissima) is a native of Central 

 America, where the tree grows 

 to a height of about one hun- 

 dred feet. The wood squares 

 from one to three feet, and is 

 of a dingy yellow color, rather 

 open-grained, but takes a good 

 polish. It is easily worked and 

 liable to split. A strong aro- 

 matic odor is contained iu the 

 wood, which effectually keeps 

 away insects, and adapts it for 

 cabinets and wardrobes. This 

 wood IS not from a cone-bearing 

 tree and, therefore, not related 

 to any of the so-called ' ' cedars ' ' 

 growing naturally in the v;iii()us sections of North America. 



Quirii or roble (Platyinixcium polysiachium) is an important tree 

 found chiefly in Central America and plentifully in the forests of 

 Panama and Costa Bica. It produces a very hard, strong, and 

 tough wood which closely resembles the related wood which is now- 

 imported under the trade name of coccobola. The latter has not 

 been botaniially described. The wood of quira is said to be the 

 most important timber of Costa Eica and is used for all purposes 

 requiring strength and durability. 



Spanlsli elm or cip wood (Cordia gerascanihus) is a native of all 

 parts of the West Indies and Central' America. It is occasionally 

 imported into lliis country and is likely to find a good market here. 

 The tree grows from sixty to eighty feet in height and produces a 

 moderately hard, close-grained timber of a dark brown color, with 

 occasional deep-colored markings. It is a good wood and takes a 

 fairly fine polish and is much used in Jamaica for cart bodies and 

 for various other purposes. L. L. D. 



ICRYODES EXCELS A). 

 POUl'O UICO. 



VERY 



One reason why the wagon and implement people have their 

 troubles getting enough stock for their needs these days is that 

 they have not been offering enough for it. This stock has not 

 advanced much more in ten years than regular lumber stock has 

 in one year, so the millmen naturally turn to the regular stock. 



