of the woods of Nicaragua, and thus to enter upon a research as 

 important in its bearing upon the business interests of his own 

 country and of the United States as that conducted by Mr. 

 Estrada. 



Examining the data thus secured by these investigators, we 

 find that the tropical woods are distinguished by their extraordi- 

 nary strength, elasticity, beauty of grain and durability. The few 

 already known to us, such as mahogany, rosewood and some of 

 the cedars, may be taken as illustrations of the several principal 

 classes of timbers to be found in the forests of Central America 

 and the Islands of the Caribbean Sea. These woods are all coming 

 into demand very rapidly already, for house decoration, and in the 

 construction of the finer grades of furniture, and an examination 

 of the magnificent collection gathered at New York, by Mr. 

 Jessup, will reveal the fact that we have but begun to make appli- 

 cation of the enormous variety of woods which are readily obtain- 

 able and available for such purposes. These statements will be 

 seen to be true of the woods of Central America here to be 

 described, as well as of the Cuban woods already reported upon. 

 In both cases, but a few of an immense number of woods have 

 been taken for investigation ; but these selected samples may be 

 taken as illustrative of the whole product of this vast arboretum. 

 The tropical trees attain enormous sizes, are extraordinarily solid, 

 close and firm of grain, excel in the beaut) and variety of their 

 coloring, in fineness of texture, and especially in their wonderful 

 durability, whether exposed to the corroding influence of the 

 atmosphere, to the action of heat and moisture, or to the attacks 

 of insects. Ironwood and lignum vitae exemplify the first of these 

 characteristics ; mahogany, rosewood, tulipwood, and others, illus- 

 trate their beautiful color and grain ; and the live oak and teak are 

 good examples illustrating their power of resisting the action of 

 oxygen and the attacks of the teredo and of the limnoria. 



The investigations of the Central American woods were made 

 in the several testing machines and the workshops of the Sibley 

 College, and the results were reported to the writer in a paper 

 presented in June last, the substance of which is here given. The 

 report is so well written and so complete that it has been thought 

 best to give the whole in the words of the observer. The figures 

 have been very carefully checked, and are believed to be perfectly 



