256 Forestry Quarterly. 



mercial size furnishing 15-inch logs or more, are found in canyons; 

 from two to three on slopes, and still less on ridges, so that the aver- 

 age comes hardly up to 1.4 trees per acre. While in the bottoms the 

 ponderous Sabicu in one case developed a stumpage of 17 M- feet on 

 one acre, and acres of 1 to 3 M. feet are more frequently found, the 

 average for the whole country, slopes, I'idges and canyons, remains 

 below 1 M. ; and, if only the species, now established in the market 

 are included, about one-half that amount. To be sure, values place a 

 very different face upon the stumpage conditions. If only one Ce- 

 dar can be found on every 3 or 4 acres, or say 200 to 250 feet to the 

 acre, as in the case here, there is a log value of $25 to $30 represent- 

 ed, and even less valuable woods, as we have seen, bring, trans- 

 formed into lumber, $80 and more, so that on the whole satisfactory 

 enough margins can be worked out of such stumpage. 



The worst feature is, however, the uneven distribution of the 

 species and the lack of market for a large number, which are prob- 

 ably not only as valuable as those marketed, but could be readily 

 substituted for them without damage to anybody. As a matter of 

 fact it is well known that a number of the fancy woods from tropi- 

 cal countries are not at all true to name or, in other words, are de- 

 rived under the same trade name from different species and even 

 different genera, and it is likely not even known with certainty from 

 which they come. 



Ebony, for instance, denotes a class of woods which comes not 

 only from various species of Diospyros, distributed through Ceylon, 

 Bengal, Madagascar, Coromandel,but also from the leguminous Brya, 

 which in Cuba is called Granadillo, and from several tree species 

 of Guiana. Similarly are the sources of Brazilwood various, and, 

 while perhaps the Cedar and Mahogany wood of various countries 

 comes from the same species, it is well known that the Mexican or 

 Cuban supplies are really very different in quality. Indeed, the 

 African is known to be a different species. 



By classifying the woods as regards color and qualities, and grad- 

 ing them as to these rather than as to name, just as is done with our 

 Southern Pines, the difficulty of logging and marketing the infinite 

 variety of tropical woods may be greatly reduced. Most of them 

 are fancy cabinet woods, and to make a market for them, it is need- 

 ful to create a fancy for variety instead of uniformity in taste. The 

 millmen and commission merchants who handle this trade can hardly 

 be expected to do much to bring about such a change, but the ex- 



