AMERICAN LUMBER IN FOREIGN MARKETS. 245 



the expense of getting the timber to the banks of the Parana Eiver and 

 thence down to tide water, to say nothing of ocean freights, soon proved 

 that there was no money in the enterprise. 



I have heretofore referred to the company organized in this city to 

 bring the woods of Terra del Fuego to Buenos Ayres. I understand 

 that the project is being worked with some success. The timber 

 received from there has the name of " caique." It is easily worked, and 

 excellent for furniture. Here it goes under the name of "guindo." It 

 is destined to have a good demand. 



The manufacture of furniture here is an established industry. It 

 began in 1890, when a prohibitive tariff was put upon the machine- 

 made furniture of the United States, and it has so extended that now 

 all the best styles and qualities of foreign furniture and cabinetwork 

 are turned out in this city. 



E. L. BAKER, Consul. 



BUENOS AYRES, January 24, 1896. 



TIMBER RESOURCES OF SPAIN. 



But little attention is paid in Spain to the cultivation and care of 

 forests, although they are sorely needed in almost every province, not 

 only to supply the requirements of commerce and trade, but also to 

 adorn the landscape, to invigorate the soil, and to preserve the crops 

 from the devastations of droughts and floods. As a rule, such forests 

 as do exist in Spain are remote from the littoral towns and cities, and 

 they are, therefore, of comparatively small value, except as fuel for local 

 purposes, inasmuch as the railway facilities for transportation are 

 small and the freights are high. Eich as Spain is in nature's gifts, she 

 will always remain undeveloped so long as she fails to bring the pro- 

 ductive regions of her soil into rapid and cheap communication with 

 her cities and towns and with the rest of the world. A country in 

 which the trains run only 15 or 20 miles an hour can never compete 

 with a country in which they run 30 or 40 miles an hour; nor can a 

 country in which the freight rates are practically prohibitive compete 

 in her own littoral markets with countries that can ship to them prod 

 uce and goods at easy and advantageous rates. The distance from 

 Barcelona to the French frontier is 103 miles. To cover that distance, 

 it takes the express train nearly six hours j that is to say, the train 

 goes at the rate of about 17 miles an hour, and Barcelona, be it remem- 

 bered, is the largest port of Spain. Furthermore, it costs more to 

 bring goods from Saragossa (about 200 miles from Barcelona) than by 

 ship from England. If ever Spain realizes the importance of rapid 

 transit, there is absolutely no reason why she should not take a good 

 position among the wealthy and prosperous nations of the world. The 

 wealth she has always derived from her colonies has made her indiffer- 

 ent to the wealth that work and intelligence could secure from her own 

 soil, and she will doubtless remain indifferent until she is forced by 



