TREE PERKS OP NORTH AMERICA MAXON. 475 



like divisions with its tiny drop of moisture sparkling in the soft 

 half light of the cool forest, and the unbroken silence of the forest 

 itself create an impression not readily to be forgotten. 



In Hawaii and elsewhere aerial root masses are cut from the stem 

 and fashioned into hanging baskets for the cultivation of ferns, 

 orchids, and various epiphytes. They are admirably suited to this 

 purpose, the interstices among the closely interwoven roots affording 

 a ready outlet for excess water. 



TREE FERN TRUNKS AS TIMBER. 



The illustration shown in plate 4 is of a building at Sepacuite, 

 Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, whose outer upright timbers are mostly 

 tree fern trunks, roughly squared and set on end close together. 

 The country immediately surrounding Sepacuite is for the most 

 part heavily forested, except in the areas cleared for coffee planting, 

 and since many species of tree ferns still abound, the use of then 

 trunks in building is not remarkable. I am informed, however, by 

 Mr. O. F. Cook, of the United States Department of Agriculture, who 

 has traveled extensively hi this region, that elsewhere, even under 

 conditions of considerable difficulty, a similar use of these timbers is 

 made, indicating the high value placed upon them. Mr. Cook 

 writes as follows: 



Though Guatemala is naturally a country of heavy forests, wood for building pur- 

 poses, or even for fuel, is a scarce and expensive article in most of the larger towns, 

 all of the neighboring forests having been cut long since and burned to make room 

 for cornfields. Everything in the way of wood has to be brought down from the 

 mountains on the backs of men. 



During a visit to Coban, the capital of the Department of Alta Verapaz, in 1904, 

 many Indians were seen carrying tree fern trunks through the streets. On inquiry 

 it was learned that the fern logs command a higher price than any other kind of wood, 

 and are looked upon as the best of building material. The special value of the fern 

 wood lies in the fact that it withstands the attacks of the termites and does not decay. 

 The termites, or so-called white ants, are wood-boring insects that are very destruc- 

 tive to buildings in tropical countries. 



The fern trunks have a diameter of 6 or 7 inches. They are usually flattened on 

 two sides or roughly squared and are set upright to support the framework of the 

 native houses. The walls are filled with clay or loose rubble of clay and stones. 

 The surface receives a coating of plaster in the interest of appearances and as a pro- 

 tection against the weather. 



The fern timbers are entirely black in color, like wood charred in fire. The tex- 

 ture appears rather loose and open, the outer layer being mainly a compact mass of 

 small roots; but the elements have a glassy hardness that makes it easy to understand 

 their resistance to all forms of decay or insect injury. When houses become dilapi- 

 dated with age the fern trunks are taken out and used over again and are considered 

 quite imperishable. 



Jenman mentions a somewhat similar use of the trunks of Cyathea 

 arborea by the blacks in certain parts of Jamaica as posts for their 

 houses, stating that no other species is there applied to this purpose. 



