64 AMERICAN LUMBER IN FOREIGN MARKETS. 



In t-hese magnificent forests are also to be found orange and pineapple groves, as 

 likewise almost every other variety of tree and shrub bearing the delicious fruits of 

 the tropics. I am told that the orange is not indigenous to these regions, but was 

 introduced shortly after the Spanish conquest by the Jesuits, who, until their expul- 

 sion by order of Philip II, occupied all this portion of the country. The tree is 

 now, however, universally distributed. Some of the orange groves I have visited 

 in the neighborhood of Villa Occidental, Gran Chaco, and near Asuncion, Paraguay, 

 were indescribably beautiful, the enormous trees being bowed down by the weight 

 of their delicious golden produce, while the ground beneath was covered with the 

 fallen fruit. In the season the oranges are sent by boat-load to Buenos Ay res and 

 Montevideo. They are also used for distillation and for feeding pigs and cattle, 

 besides being largely consumed by the natives. Owing to the enormous quantities 

 produced, they have, however, but little money value in Paraguay, and over in 

 Buenos Ayres, a distance of over 1,000 miles, I have seen them sometimes sold for 

 about 50 cents a bushel. 



THE FUTURE OF THE TIMBER TRADE OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



I have thus completed a cursory note, which I believe to be reliable, of the several 

 arboreal formations into which the Argentine Republic, with its immense extent 

 from north to south, is naturally divided, beginning with the antarctic forests of 

 beech, which occupy the greater part of Terra del Fuego and the lauds adjacent to 

 the Straits of Magellan ; noting the vast pineries, as yet wholly undeveloped, which 

 skirt the entire eastern slopes of the Patagonian Andes ; following these to where 

 tho "Monte" formation marks the development of the hard woods; describing the 

 principal trees of the great subtropical forests of Tucuman, Salta, and Oran; glanc- 

 ing at the wealth of timber which literally covers the immense unexplored regions 

 of northern and southern " Chaco," and finally passing in review the marvelous 

 variety of valuable woods which are found in the thousand miles of territory which 

 lies between the Parana^ and Uruguay rivers, called the Mesopotamia of the Argen- 

 tine Republic. The sketch or compilation is not intended as exhaustive of the sub- 

 ject. It could be very greatly extended, though there are still vast outlying regions 

 of forests about which little, if anything, is yet definitely known. The report, how- 

 ever, is sufficient to explode the generally prevailing idea that the Argentine Repub- 

 lic is entirely a pampa or prairie country and lacking in timber resources, an impres- 

 sion which has gained credence from the fact that the province of Buenos Ayres, 

 which abroad is generally taken for the whole country, is to a great extent destitute 

 of trees; and by the further fact, which seems to be an anomaly, that a very large 

 part of the lumber used here is still imported from the United States. 



In spite of this, however, as I have shown, the greater portion of all the northern 

 and northwestern provinces is occupied by forests of timber, which not only in 

 their enduring qualities but in their fineness of fiber, smoothness, and beauty of 

 coloring will compare favorably with those of any country in the world. Indeed, 

 in their susceptibility to the highest degrees of polish, and in the striking varieties 

 andcombinationsof their tints, it is doubtful if any other country^ has woods that 

 fully equal them. As I have said, the full extent of this arboreal wealth is not yet 

 known, and we must still wait for a scientific description of a very large proportion 

 of the country which contains these marvelous timber resources. It is evident, 

 however, that in the more or less remote future, when the increasing population of 

 the Argentine Republic has come face to face with these outlying virgin forests, and 

 railways and a more extensive system of river navigation place a greater commercial 

 value upon the work of the woodchopper and the lumberman, the markets of the 

 world, which are just now beginning to realixe the undeveloped wealth which 

 these forests represent, will be astonished at the amount of precious woods and 

 valuable timber, suitable for every variety of work, which this country will be able 

 to supply. Europe is now driving the entering wedge in the mammoth timber trees 



