10 QUEBRACHO WOOD AND ITS SUBSTITUTES. 



TABLE 1. Imports of quebracho wood and extract into the United States, 1907-1910. 



Quebracho wood enters the United States free of duty. A duty of 

 from one-half to three-fourths of a cent per pound, however, is levied 

 on the extract, which, in the new (1909) tariff schedule, is divided 

 into two classes, according to its density or the percentage of tannin 

 it contains. If less in density than 28 Baume * the duty is one-half 

 cent; if greater it is three-fourths of a cent. Transportation from 

 Argentina to the United States is so cheap that many importers bring 

 in logs and extract the tannin in this country, thus saving the high 

 import duty. The price of quebracho extract f. o. b. Montevideo or 

 Buenos Ayres, the two principal exporting points, is from $80 to $85 

 per ton, and that of logs from $14 to $20 per ton. 



SUBSTITUTES FOB QUEBRACHO. 



Both of the other woods which go to the market as quebracho, the 

 white and the red, yield a relatively low percentage of tannin, and it is 

 therefore unlikely that they are knowingly substituted to any extent 

 for the true quebracho. Often, however, they may unintentionally be 

 substituted for quebracho, through similarity of names. Quebracho 

 is frequently called quebracho Colorado, and red quebracho is also 

 called this, and often merely quebracho. White quebracho, too, 

 goes under the latter name. While quebracho and red quebracho 

 may resemble each other superficially, white quebracho is readily 

 distinguished from either by its light color. White quebracho is 

 commercially more important than the red, and in some parts of 

 South America has been used as a substitute for quebracho. It yields 

 a much lower percentage of tannin, but the tannin itself is not 

 essentially different from that of quebracho. 



WHITE QUEBRACHO (QUEBRACHO BLANCO). 



White quebracho is common throughout the regions where que- 

 bracho grows. It is most abundant in the wetter parts of northern 

 Argentina, in the Provinces of Cordova, Santa Fe, Catamarce, Santi- 

 ago del Estero, the southern portion of Tucuman, and the Chaco. 

 It is an evergreen tree, reaching a height of from 60 to 100 feet, a 



1 An arbitrary scale devised by Baum.6. It may be reduced to specific gravities by the following formulas: 

 (a) For liquids heavier than water, sp. gr.= 14 ^^ . (6) For liquids lighter than water, sp. gr.= 134+x> X 

 in each case being the reading by Baumg's scale. 



