How Cigar-box Wood Is Secured 



By C. H. Pearson 



THERE is perhaps no tropical wood better known 

 than the st)-calle(l Spanish cedar of the West 

 Indies and the Spanish Main. It is often re- 

 ferred to as cigar-box cedar, because the bulk of this 

 wood is used for making cigar boxes. In the European 

 trade it is known as cigar or sugar-box wood, since the 

 term cedar as used in the American trade has at present 

 no botanical significance and is, therefore, too confusing 

 to be applied to a wood that belongs to the mahogany 

 family of plants. The name cedar was originally given 

 to this tree because of its resemblance in fragrance to 

 the European cedar or sabine which is a cone-bearing 

 tree known in Spanish as cedro. 



P.otanically speaking the term cedar should be ap- 

 plied only to certain species of the large group of cone- 

 bearing trees, but it has long since been used as a gen- 

 eric or comi)rehensive trade name for the woods of a good 

 many distinct kinds of forest trees. Some of these 

 grow in America, some in Europe and others in Asia 

 and Africa. The cedar of Lebanon, used so extensively 

 in ancient times in the construction of temples and other 

 large edifices, is famous in Scripture. The tall deodar 

 of northern India produces the fragrant and most durable 

 wood known in the trade as Indian cedar. The Atlas 



cedar of northern Africa is another important wood to 

 which the name cedar may be correctly applied. There 

 are at least twelve distinct species of coniferous trees in 

 the United States and equally as many in other parts of 

 the world that are called cedar. In addition to these 

 there are about thirty species of broad-leaved trees the 

 woods of which are designated either locally or in the 

 large markets as cedar or cedro. Chief among these are 

 ten or more species of Cedrela to which the cigar-box 

 wood belongs. These species are confined largely to the 

 tropical parts of America and the most important one of 

 them is the cigar-box wood, Cedrela odorata. 



The generic term Cedrela was the original common 

 name of the closely allied mahogany tree which grows 

 in the same region as the cigar-box wood. The specific 

 name odorata was given to this species because of the 

 aromatic odor which can be easily detected in all parts 

 of the tree. The leaves and small twigs contain numer- 

 ous minute oil glands which, when crushed, give off a fra- 

 grance that can be detected for a considerable distance. 

 The leaves and twigs are collected in parts of Cuba, 

 Costa Rica and Nicaragua and used for distilling the 

 commercial cedrelawood oil, which is sometimes used to 

 give cigar boxes made from spurious cigar-box wood 



CKDAR I.OCS ON Tlii; WIIAKI AT PORT OK SPAIN, TRINIDAD, READY FOR SHIPMENT 



Practically all of the cedar shipped from this port rocs to Ilaniliurg- vvliere it brings from forty to sixty-five cents a cubic foot and has been sold 

 for as high as eighty cents. With the steadily decreasing supply it is certain that the price will advance. 



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