NOVEL TREES AND FOREST PRODUCTS 



237 



but requires considerable skill in order to bring out de- 

 tails. In fine-textured woods sucih a photograph would 

 ordinarily show no pores at all. 



A very simple and inexpensive method is to take a 

 very thin slice of wood and make a paper negative from 

 it. This is done by placing the section in an ordinary 

 printing frame, inserting a piece of photographic paper 

 and proceeding in the ordinary manner of printing from 

 negatives. A little practice will be required to get the 

 correct density but with the gas-light papers the process 

 is quite rapid. 



riiotograph by S. J. Record 



INTERESTING WOOD SECTIONS 



Quarter sawed bird's-eye A cross section of the wood of 



maple showing irregularities in the sugar maple showing the 



grain and characteristic ap- appearance of bird's-eye on 



pearance of rays. this surface. 



The resulting print, however, is a negative in which 

 the pores show as black spots and the dense fibers as 

 white areas. To get a positive it is only necessary to 

 render the opaque paper negative translucent so as to al- 

 low printing. This is accomplished by soaking the dry 

 paper in kerosene for a few minutes, removing all sur- 

 plus oil with a cloth or blotting paper. It is then ready 

 to be placed in the printing frame, picture side up, and 

 printed from as in the case of an ordinary film or glass 

 negative. The resulting print shows the wood structure 

 better than an ordinary photograph and the negatives 

 are not only cheaper but are very convenient to handle 

 and store. 



If a section shows a difiference in color the darker 



portion will print more slowly. This can be overcome 

 by shading the light part enough to even it u]). If printing 

 by artificial light is found too slow, exposure to some- 

 what subdued daylight will give quick results. The 

 sections used by the writer were taken from Romeyn B. 

 Hoiigh's "American Woods." 



SOUTH AFRICAN FORESTS 



'T'HE forests in South Africa are of very limited ex- 

 * tent, but the timbers exhibit a wide range in the qual- 

 ity of their wood, varying from extremely light and soft 

 to equally extreme hardness and difficulty of working. 

 Most of the trees are small but the yellow wood (Podo- 

 carpus) attains a diamleter of 8 or lo feet. 



Tbe large trees are manufactured into lumber by the 

 pit-sawing process. A pit is dug for each tree and is 

 about 7 feet deep, 3 feet wide and 20 feet long. The logs 

 are rolled onto skids across the pit and usually sawn into 

 three-inch planks. One sawyer stands on the top of the 

 log and the other below in the pit. The planks are then 

 hauled to the market by oxen. Small logs are usually 

 sawn at sawmills but the planks go direct to the consum- 

 er who has to re-saw them as he sees fit. 



Local woods are for the most part in disrepute by the 

 manufacturers in that country due to the difficulty in 

 seasoning them properly. The dry climate causes very 

 rapid surface evaporation which results in serious check- 

 ing and warping. Efforts are now being made to over- 

 corrte this difficulty through the introduction of modern 

 dry kilns of American type. 



Photographs by Nils Eckbo 



SOUTH AFRICAN PRODUCTS 



Pitsawing a yellow-wood log African maid gathering fire- 

 that measured 125 cubic feet, wood from the plentiful forest. 



