HARDWOOD FORESTS OF SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA 255 



THE BARK OF THE QUEBRACHO TREE. 



The workman always tries the tree, if it is to be used for its tanning extract, by testing the thick- 

 ness of the bark and sap wood. If the sap wood is too thick (\ l /z inches or more), the tree 

 is spared, because it involves too high a labor cost to cut down a tree having proportionately 

 so small a trunk. As neither bark nor sap wood contain much tannin, and^as these coverings 

 are always removed before a log is shipped, it is cheaper to search for trees of greater yield. 



logs, and the territory of the Chaco, 

 45,000 tons of logs. 



The northernmost forests of Argen- 

 tina have also extensive belts of lignum 

 vitae, or Brazil wood, whose solid and 

 ornamental qualities have been utilized 

 in so many ways. The southern dis- 

 tricts of the republic, covering what are 

 often called the Patagonian savannahs, 

 carry oak, cypress and other woods 

 which go into wine casks, furniture and 

 interior woodwork. 



But the quebracho forests of the 

 north and northeast remain by far the 

 country's most valued supply of hard- 

 woods, and upon their conservation will 

 rest Argentina's future as a nation 

 which is capable of learning from the 

 experience of others. 



Within the past decade the amount of 

 logs exported has increased from 245,000 

 tons to 445,000, and of extract, from 

 9,000 to 84,000. In this great land of 

 forests and glades, rising from the 

 Parana river toward the northwest, 



some 300 saw mills (aserraderos) and 

 extract factories are eating out its vitals, 

 backed by 25,000,000 gold dollars 'of 

 capital and $45,000,000 of sales. The 

 largest company employs 4,000 or 

 5,000 workmen in getting out the timber 

 and transporting it to the saw mills 

 and extract factories. 



The greater proportion of the popula- 

 tion of the quebracho country are 

 Correntinos, a mixed race of the native 

 Guarani Indians and the whites of all 

 nations. The Chaco, or more northern 

 part of this forestal district, is a -plain 

 inclined toward the southeast and the 

 Parana river, but it is also a land of 

 forests and solemn glades a sort of 

 Kentucky a dark and bloody battle- 

 ground long contested by the Spaniards, 

 the Argentines and the Indians, and 

 large tracts of which are still unexplored 

 and held by primitive owners. The 

 Chaco Indians have been the warriors 

 of their race in Argentina, and the Tobas, 

 still half naked and armed with wooden 



