ARGENTINE TIMBERS 141 



with the axe, but now for sleepers many of them are sawn. 

 The main use to which the wood has been put besides for 

 tannin extract is for sleepers, and over 7,000,000 have 

 been used on the Argentine railways, many after having 

 lain in the track for fifteen or twenty years being still 

 perfectly sound. " Fencing posts which have stood for 

 more than a century have been found in a perfect state of 

 preservation " (Mcmoires de la Societe des Inyenieurs Civil 

 de France, 1899). 



Weight varying from 77 to 87 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



The white kind, Quebracho Blanche, which contains little 

 tannin, speedily rots ; it is a much softer wood. The name 

 quebracho, which means " axe breaker," is significant 

 of the character of the timber. It is liable to attack by an 

 insect which bores holes half an inch in diameter right 

 through the tree. This timber in both kinds is also found 

 in Paraguay and in parts of Brazil ; the available supplies 

 are getting scarce, and the price of late years has 

 considerably increased. 



Lapacho (Talebnia jiorescino) is a small tree found in 

 abundance in the northern provinces ; it also grows in 

 Bolivia and Paraguay, and furnishes an excellent timber 

 not unlike greenheart, of a greenish brown colour. It is 

 tough and heavy, used for purlins, rafters and roof trees, 

 framing of railway cars, boat-building, spokes of wheels, 

 beams, etc., and is more costly than quebracho. The tree 

 grows to a height of about 30 ft. and has a diameter of 

 18 inches. It is one of the most largely used timbers of 

 Argentina. 



Weight about 63 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Guayacan (Ccesalpinia melanocarpa) is one of the hardest 

 timbers in the country, of rich brown colour with close 



