S2G JOURNAL OP FORKSTRV 



any other species, being used for framing, dock flooring, etc. Algarroba 

 is used for window framing, etc. All the sawmills are very small, 

 inefficient and wasteful, and the sawn product is of poor grade. The 

 wholesale lumber dealers in Buenos Aires carry stocks of Brazilian 

 pine in the rough, and limited amounts of American yellow pine floor- 

 ing, dressed boards, etc., at very high prices. I should imagine- the 

 per capita consumption of lumber in Argentine would only be a few 

 per cent of what it is in United States, for practically all houses are 

 brick or adobe, floors are usually tile, and sheds, etc., galvanized iron. 

 Wooden shingles are unknown. 



Cross ties are nearly all sawn red quebracho, and last 40 to 50 

 years. Screw spikes are used. Paving blocks, both of quebracho and 

 algarroba, are used in large quantities in Buenos Aires. Bridge tim- 

 bers and other dimension stuff is usually red quebracho, though other 

 species are used locally. 



The best and most lasting telephone poles and fenceposts are red 

 quebracho. The latter are shipped from Chaco to Buenos Aires in 

 immense quantities. Locally, in northern Argentine and in Paraguay, 

 the black palm is used for poles, fenceposts, etc., and is also split, the 

 centers gouged out, and laid alternately concave and convex to form 

 roofs and walls of houses and barns. In Paraguay I have seen palm 

 poles in the round used for bridge flooring. 



FuEiv 



Wood is the fiiel of Argentine. There are no coal mines, and only 

 one small oil field, which so far has not proved very productive. More 

 coal was imported before the war than now. For instance, prior to 

 the war, the Buenos Aires power plants burned coal, now they burn 

 wood. All cooking is done with wood or charcoal, locomotives (except 

 some oil burners in suburban service around Buenos Aires), the ma- 

 jority of the river boats, and nearly all factories of the country, burn 

 wood. Most of it comes from the Chaco, and red quebracho predom- 

 inates. White quebracho is used largely for charcoal. In the spring 

 of 1920 coal in Buenos Aires cost $-10 per ton, household or best grade 

 firewood $25, railway or second class firewood $20, and charcoal $35. 

 (The unit of measure for fuel is always the metric ton of 2,204 

 pounds.) The red quebracho fuel is largely tops and limbs remaining 

 after logging for tannin factories, this type of fuel containing both 

 heart and sapwood, called *'green" or "railway" type, and "campana" 



