HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



generally haVe clean, symmetrical boles for the first fifty or seventy 

 feet, and timbers from eighteen to twenty inches square can often 

 be ottaineil. Logs eighty-five feet to the first branch and fourteen 

 inches square have been cut. The crown is open and broad, with a 

 few heavy branches. 



The sapwood of greenheart is usually of a pale yellow color and 

 the heartwood varies from a light grayish-brown to cinnamon or al- 

 most black. On exposure the wood invariably turns darker. The 

 color of both the heartwood and sapwood varies considerably in dif- 

 ferent trees, and in different parts of the same tree. The heartwood 

 may, in fact, vary from pale yellow to black, and just what the 

 actual color is cannot be ascertained until the sapwood has been cut 

 through. The proportion of sapwood is usually excessive, especially 

 in young trees, often amounting to one-fifth, and sometimes one-third 

 of the volume of the trunk. This, however, has little effect upon the 

 lasting qualities of wood when used above water. 



The heartwood of greenheart is exceedingly hard and heavy (spe- 

 cific gravity ranges from 1.08 to 1.32, or about 75 pounds per cubic 

 foot), tough, strong, elastic, and fine-grained. It is said to be the 

 strongest timber in use, with a crushing strength of 12,000 pounds 

 per square inch, sixty-five per cent greater than that of English 

 oak. In a smooth transverse section (unmagnified) it resembles 

 superficially the wood of a palm. Greenheart takes an exceptionally 

 fine polish, and works comparatively easily when its extreme hardness 

 is considered. It warps and shrinks very little, and is, therefore, 

 often worked up before it is thoroughly dry, because it can be manu- 

 factured more easily in the green state than in the dry conditi.on. 

 Users of greenheart in England never specify that the wood shall 

 be seasoned when they order a cargo of logs. While the logs are 

 apt to open up at the ends, there are no checks along the sides. It 

 stands wear and tear better than almost any other wood, and is, 

 therefore, employed rather extensively for flooring, and has been 

 known to last from fifty to seventy-five years without showing any 

 signs of wear or decay. Greenheart is a fire-proof wood, and for 

 this reason is preferred for buildings. When the cathedral in George- 

 town, British Guiana, was destroyed by fire a year ago, the founda- 

 tion timbers, which were greenheart, were found in almost perfect 

 condition after the fire and were used again in another building. 



Greenheart enjoys the unique distinction of being proof against 

 the attacks of marine borers and other destructive animals. The 

 remarkable lasting qualities of mature greenheart wood have given 

 it a world-wide reputation. Exposed to the alternations of air and 

 weather, soil or sea-water, it is not materially affected, remaining 

 perfectly sound after many years of trial. Authentic records show 

 that the best grades of the wood surpass iron and steel in durability. 

 Other considerations of importance are large size and reasonable 

 cost as compared with timber of the same class now available in this 

 country. These facts place it in a class by itself, and it is naturally 

 in demand for such purposes as in ship and dock building, especially 

 for keelsons, beams, engine bearers, planking, dock gates, lock gates, 

 piers, and piling. It has been known to stand in wharves for a 

 period of sixty years, and logs of greenheart which were under water 

 for one hundred years have kept in perfectly sound condition. 



SKE OI'I'OSITE P.\GE 

 1_SXAKING A HEAVY GEEENHEAKT LOG FROM THE STUMP 

 TO TinC LANDING l'L.\CE. IT OITENS HAPPENS THAT FROM 30 

 TO GO MEN ARE REQUIRED TO BRING A LARGE LOG TO THE 

 CREEK LANDING. WHERE IT IS LOADED ON THE CARS OR 

 CARRIED DOWN STREAM BY MEANS OF BALLAHOOS : 2— A CLOSE 

 VIEW SHOWING HOW THE GANGS OF MEN ARE ARRANGED IN 

 SNAKING THE LOGS OVER THE CORDUROY: 3— N.\NSEN'S SAII^ 

 ING VESSEL FUAM IN THE HARBOR AT CRISTOBAL, CANAL ZONE, 

 WAS I'LANKED WITH GREENHEART BEFORE HE WENT INTO THE 

 ARCTIC SEA, WHERE IT WITHSTOOD THE SEVERE SHOCK AND 

 GRINDING EFFECT OF THE ICE: 4— SQUARED GRI:ENHEART LOGS 

 ON THE TIMBER FLATS ON THE DEMERARA RIVER. OVER 150,- 

 000 CUBIC FEET OF TIMBER IS STORED IN THESE FLATS: 5 — 

 HATTLING GREENHEART LOGS ON CARS: fi— A GREENHEART 

 CAMP SHOWING THE PRIMITIVE CHARACTER OF THE HOUSE. 

 ALL SUCH TEMPORARY HOUSES ARK PUT UP IN A VERY SHORT 

 TIME WITHOUT THE USE OF .V SINGLE NAIL: 7 — A LANDING 

 PLACE ALONG THE RAILROAD WHERE GREENHEART LOGS ARE 

 LOADED ON THE CARS TO BE SHIPPED TO THE TIMBER FLATS 

 ON TH DEMERARA RIVER: 8 — SQUARING A GREENHEART LOG IN 

 THE FOREST. ALL LOGS ARE SQUARED IMMEDIATELY AFTER 

 FELLING THE TREE. IT JIUST NOT RE.MAIN IN THE FOREST FOR 

 MORE THAN" TWO OR THREE DAYS AFTER FELLING AND SQUAR- 

 ING, OR BORERS WILL WORK INTO THE SAPWOOD OF THE LOGS. 



All the gates, piers, and jetties of the Liverpool docks and prac- 

 tically all the lock gates of Bridgewater canal (England) are of 

 greenheart. It furnished material also for the fifty pairs of lock 

 gates in the Manchester (England) ship canal. Greenheart was also 

 supplied for harhor works at Eo.>:ario and Bahia Blanca in Argentina, 

 and also at Coatzaeoalcos in Mexico and at La Guaira in Venezuela. 

 It was used extensively at Oban and in the new naval dock at Methil, 

 both in Scotland. Indeed, H. W. Hunter, a well-known marine en- 

 gineer, has asserted that, apart from its practically unlimited dur- 

 ability, greenheart has many advantages over steel for such purposes. 

 It is, in fact, impossible to fix a limit to the durability of lock gates 

 built of greenheart, the only element in their construction which 

 might curtail their length of service being the iron bolts and other 

 fastenings. These, however, can usually be renewed without serious 

 difficulty. When the greenheart dock gates in the Mersey Harbor 

 were removed, in order that the channel might be deepened and 

 widened, the wood originally used in their construction was again 

 employed in building the enlarged gates. Similarly, the wood in 

 the gates of the Canada dock, built in 1856, was used again in its 

 re-construction in 1894. 



Nansen's Arctic ship Frum, and the South Polar discovery ship 

 Gauss, of Antarctic fame, are planked with greenheart which 

 withstood the grinding and shocks of ice without deterioration. The 

 wood is used also for trestles, bridges, buildings, shipping platforms, 

 staging, millwork, cellar flaps, flooring, wagons, carriage shafts, auto- 

 mobile spokes, belaying pins, tobacco pegs, turnery and for aU pur- 

 poses involving great wear and tear. The darker grades of green- 

 heart resemble the wood of lignum-vitae (Guaiacum officinale Linn), 

 and are considered as an excellent substitute for the latter. 



The total production of greenheart grows from year to year, but 

 this increased output is obtained only by going farther back into 

 the forest and by developing better means of transportation. In 

 the early days of the industry the timber was obtained only along 

 the rivers, and the average output was considerably smaller. The 

 annual production of greenheart in British Guiana has now risen 

 to more than 300,000 cubic feet. In ten years the amount of green- 

 heart exported has markedly increased, and it is believed the export 

 at the end of the nest ten years will be more than double what it 

 is at the present time. An omniously rapid advance of the logging 

 operations toward the interior of the colony indicates that green- 

 heart is not inexhaustible. The colonial authorities fully appre- 

 ciate the necessity of increased effort to maintain a supply and to 

 regulate the cutting so that a complete exhaustion will not be immi- 

 nent. They have issued warnings to producers and grantees and 

 have suggested improvements in existing methods of working and 

 closer utilization. 



Many efforts have already been made to find a wood for use in 

 marine construction that will serve as a satisfactory substitute for 

 greenheart, since the supply of the latter will soon be short of the 

 demand. The ingenuity of a few timber merchants and architects 

 is constantly being exercised to provide good serviceable wood for 

 the true greenheart. These imitations or substitutes, are sometimes 

 diflScult to be distinguished from the genuine. The expert, however, 

 is familiar with the gross and minute characters of the wood, which 

 will be of service in determining whether the wood delivered is genuine 

 or not. There are closely allied trees whose woods are coming into 

 more general use, but the test of years has show^ that they are 

 far less serviceable. A most accurate knowledge of the structural 

 characteristics of greenheart is imperatively necessary to be able 

 to discriminate between the true and the inferior kinds, the timber 

 of which, notwithstanding the close specific afllnity of the trees 

 themselves, is often found to be widely different in its adaptability 

 to a particular work or in its resistance to the ravages of marine 

 borers or other destructive animals. 



The true greenheart shows in smooth transverse sections numerous 

 small pores that are evenly distributed and filled with a greenish 

 resinous substance known as tylosis, which is said to be poisonous. 

 The pith rays are very narrow, indistinct, and the wood does not 

 show any rings of growth which are so easily detected by means 

 of a hand lens in the majority of woods. These more or Jess con- 



