140 TIMBER 



world produces is that they are only obtainable in short 

 lengths. 



Quebracho, of which there are two varieties, and of which 

 Quebracho Colorado is the most generally useful, best known, 

 and most largely used of the timbers of the republic. It 

 is a dark reddish coloured wood of fine, close grain, dense 

 and heavy, and has a bright surface, is much appreciated 

 and much used for heavy constructional, piling, and sub- 

 marine work, and is almost invariably used for bridge- 

 building and sleepers in Argentina. In Uruguay it super- 

 seded steel sleepers, to which it is superior, but owing to the 

 recent great increase in price other sources of supply are 

 being looked for. It is worked as easily as the best 

 European woods and better than most of them. The 

 timber lasts equally as well in wet as in dry ground and 

 stands changes of temperature well, but until properly 

 seasoned all sawn surfaces should be protected from the sun 

 to prevent the wood from splitting. It becomes darker with 

 age. The shortness of grain in quebracho is its greatest 

 drawback, as in rough handling it is liable to break. Its 

 great durability is due to the quantity of tannin it contains, 

 amounting to as much as 19 per cent, to 22 per cent, in the 

 heartwood. The quality of the timber varies somewhat in 

 different districts ; the best comes from the eastern zone of the 

 Chaco within the province of Santa Fe, and is conveyed by 

 rail to the shipping ports. Large quantities are sent in 

 log to Europe and the United States for the manufacture 

 of tannin; the larger proportion of the trade is now done 

 with the latter. In 1906, 256,822 tons of this timber were 

 exported from the Argentine for tannin extract in rough 

 logs called rollizos. The logs are got in lengths up to 

 about 25 ft. and 18 inches or 2 ft. a side, and sometimes 

 of larger scantling ; they were formerly cut roughly square 



