HARDWOOD RECORD 



36 



The misoellaueous exports of proiliicts of tlic forest were eight per 

 lent greater in ]91.'i than in the year before. The most marked ile- 

 iliue was in shingles, finishing lumber for houses, and woodenware. 

 Inrrense may be noted in railroad ties, staves, sash, doors, furniture, 

 empty barrels, and wnod pulp. The table follows: 



1!)1L'. li)i:i. 



Ilailrond tic-s ilmir ..1 r.il::i SI. 110,104 $L'..s!m;..'i2!1 



Shinelt's L>94,72(i I TH.r.iiT 



Box shiioks l,:{24,aB(i l,:!.:ii,i;r,4 



Barri'l shuoks 2,585,92'J L'..'i7n.mii 



."^liiv.s «,144,89(i 7.L':!l.!i:i4 



ll'Hcllii;: a40.867 .•i2.-.,(i4;! 



.\11 other ooopprasf :t.211'.0Ul :i.:!l'J.8(i."> 



Sash, doors, and blinds I,;!7;i.li01 1.41«,.">3S 



l'"nrnllure «.!)(!!. .S4!> 7,2S8,130 



KmiJty barrels ;!4s.i(iii ,".U4,08S 



Incubators and brooders (half of li)12) 4r.,.".7-. 178,161 



House llnlshlngs 1.o.",:;,:!L'7 s:iO.OSR 



Woodenware 7.'iri.oriL' (i."ii;,740 



Wood pulp .■|41',;i4'.t 7:t8,4.">l 



I )tbr>r miinufaetures of woo<l 7..')20,4."i7 7.."i47,665 



The total exports of forest products in 1!U2 were valued at 

 .■JilO.3,840,015, and in 19i:{ at $U4,777..")13, the increase being 

 $8,9.37,498. 



^:g^ ^:^ali)^i/tiW!WI^tOT ! ls^!limiTOt^^^ 



Bullet Wood of British Guiana 



Bullet wood {Mimusop.i i/lobosa — Gaertner) is one of the coiniiiou 

 and at the same time one of the most important timber trees of 

 British Guiana. It is a well-known tree and is variously called 

 bully tree, horse flesh, beef wood, red lance wood, balata rouge. There 

 are several other tree species growing in the same region, called 

 bully or bullet wood, but they are smaller and less likely to reach 

 the market outside of their range of growth. It often reaches the 

 English and American markets under the name of beefwood, but it 

 must not be contused with the Australian beefwood (Casuarina) also 

 called sheoak or ironwood. The latter is very light red, coarse and 

 cross-grained and does not attain the same large proportions as 

 the South American bullet wood which is brownish-red, somewhat 

 resembling true mahogany. From a study of common names of trees 

 in tropical America one is led to believe that the term •bullet or 

 bully wood is applied to any hard, heavy, and close-grained wood. 

 This is true particularly of sapotaceous trees belonging to the genera 

 SideToxylon, Su/iota, Bwnclia and Dipholis. All the trees of these 

 and several other genera yield a gummy sap which is collected and 

 sold under the name of balata or simply gum. The term bullet wood 

 is probably a corruption of balata. 



Bullet wood is jiroduced by one of tlie largest trees in British 

 Guiana. It ranges from 100 to 12.5 feet in height and from five 

 to seven feet in diameter. It is particularly abundant in Berbiee, 

 B. G., where the mature trees are said to yield logs about forty-two 

 inches square and free from sap. The trees are without branches 

 for nearly one-half of their total height. They generally have clean, 

 symmetrical boles for thirty or forty feet, and like a number of 

 tropical trees are provided with three or four stout and powerful 

 roots which form enormous buttresses above the ground. The straight 

 massive trunks are covered with a grayish-brown bark. The tree 

 is an evergreen and has ratlier large, thick, leathery leaves which 

 are dark green above and somewhat lighter beneath. Owing to 

 the absence of distinct annual rings of growth, the age of a mature 

 bullet tree cannot be accurately determined. It is known, however. 

 that the rate of growth is exceedingly slow, and it is probable 

 that a tree sixty inches in diameter is fully 400 years old, while 

 others of still larger proportions are relatively older. 



The wood is brownish-red turning darker with age and upon 

 exposure to light and air. One writer states that the wood is red 

 in color resembling the lean of the boiled salt-beef of the sailor, 

 and this is probably why this wood received the name of beefwood. 

 The trade recognizes three varieties — red, white, and black. All are 

 cut from the same species and the reason for these three grades 

 can be explained on the basis that the red is the true normal heart- 

 wood, the white is from young sappy trees, and the black is from 

 the old over matured trees which grew uji in low mucky soil. The 

 nature of the soil fref|nently aflfects the color and lasting finalities 

 of the timber. The darker colored heartwood would indicate that 

 the tree has taken up highly colored substances which have been 

 deposited on the inner walls of the wood elements in the form of 

 gum and resin derivatives. The darker colored grades of bullet wool 

 are said to be more durable than the lighter grades. The white 

 ants which are so destructive to the woods in the tropics do not 



attack the heartwood of this tree, but the bark and sapwood are 

 penetrated soon after cutting the trees down. As a safeguard against 

 this pest, the bark and sapwood should be removed from the logs 

 inunediately after the tree is felled. 



The wood is very hard and heavy often weighing seventy pounds 

 per cubic foot. It is strong, having a crushing strength of 4.77 

 ton.s per square inch and a modulus of rupture of 16,000 pounds per 

 square inch. The latter was determined by testing a spar six inches 

 in diameter. Bullet wood is very tough and elastic which are two 

 qualities required in fishing-rod material. While this wooil has not 

 been used very extensively for this purpose it possesses the properties 

 of a number of other good fishing-rod woods. The wood is very close 

 and straight-grained and works very easily, but it is .subject to 

 serious heartshakes which unfit it for use in the form of large 

 timbers for construction work. It is also liable to the attacks of 

 the teredo and cannot be used successfully for marine construction. 

 Some of the principal uses of this wood in British Guiana are for 

 house building, telegraph poles, mill rollers and beams in sugar 

 factories, field work, bridging, and spars. It is used also for making 

 shingles and the native workmen frequently make planes of it. When 

 the wind mills were still in use in British Guiana, the bullet wood 

 was considered the best for the arms of the mill. 



In purchasing bullet wood great care should be exercised to get 

 the true kind. The forests are full of inferior kinds and the natives 

 are prone to substitute worthless material in place of genuine bullet 

 wood. There is good and bad bullet wood in the market, as is the 

 case with a number of other important kinds. A timber known as 

 "balata chien " which resembles the black grades of bullet wood 

 is often cut and sold but it is practically worthless. The true bullet 

 wood is considered the most important tree in South America, where 

 it is taken into account that it yields not only very valuable timber 

 but also a gum, the collection of which is controlled by special laws. 

 This gum pcssesscs properties which are intermediate between caout- 

 chouc and gutta-percha and is in great demand in the United States 

 and in Europe for making chewing gum, candies, and a great variety 

 of other purposes. The wood is sold at present in the New York 

 and Baltimore markets where it brings from twenty to twenty-five 

 cents per square foot. 



Bullet wood is one of the easiest woods to be recognized bv means 

 of a hand lens magnifying from four to six diameters. It will be 

 necessary before examining the wood to cut a smooth transverse 

 surface by means of a sharp knife. It will be seen that there are 

 numerous fine short rows of small pores arranged in radial rows. 

 In ad<lition to these radial rows of pores there are numerous less 

 conspicuous lines of soft tissue (wood parenchyma fibers) which run 

 at right angles to the indistinct pith rays. These lines of soft tissue 

 are invariably lighter in color than the hariler and ilenser wood 

 fibers between them. These characters which will always aid one in 

 identifying the woorl may be made to stand out nmro clearly imder 

 the hail. I lens if the smooth surface is moistened. 



Indications are that most of the hnnlwoods will he exiiiliiti'il at the 

 Forest Products Exposition. 



