THE CUBA REVIEW 



11 



E !!Senor Nicolas Rivero, editor Diario de la Marina. 



SENOR NICHOLAS RIVERO 



Editor and owner of the Diario de la Marina. 



Sefior Nicolas Rivero is a native of Asturias, 

 and his long residence in Cuba has not dim- 

 inished his love for his native land. His 

 sketchesof Asturias are word pictures written 

 in masterly style. 



The Diario de la Marina is the father of 

 journals in Cuba, and was founded in 1844 

 by the Spanish writer, Senor Isidor Araujo 

 de Lira. Essentially Spanish in its tone, its 

 trend is to keep alive in the minds of Spaniards 

 in Cuba love for their mother country. It is 

 well edited and the editorial staff use classic 

 Spanish. 



Although it could not be said that Senor 

 Rivero was friendly to the United States, it is 

 understood that he is an admirer of American 

 progress and certain American institutions. 

 During American intervention one page was 

 written in English. The "Lucha" still has 

 an Enghsh page. 



To encourage return of Spanish immigrants 

 to their native land, the Diario de la Marina 

 initiated a project which was carried out by 

 the Transatlantic steamships with special 

 cheap rates to Spain. 



LOGWOOD OF COMMERCE 



ITS VALUE, USES AND SUBSTITUTES 



K^_' The greatly increased demand and use of logwood and its consequent rise in price dur- 

 ing the past few years has resulted in a number of inquiries regarding this material. A 

 popular discussion of the more noteworthy facts relative to this important wood may be 

 of interest to a number of readers. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to describe the 

 general characters of the logwood tree, its distribution, the importation of the wood, its 

 uses and also the substitutes used for it. 



Logwood is the English trade name for the heartwood of a tree which botanists distin- 

 guish by the name Haematoxylon campechianum L. It is a member of the pea family, a group of 

 plants noted for its many important products useful to man. The wood has a good manj' 

 other trade names. The most common one is campeachy or campechy wood, so called because 

 the wood was first obtained from the Mexican Province by that name. The Spanish-speaking 

 people of tropical America refer to it as palo de Campeche. The French call it bois bleu and bois 

 de sang, meaning blood wood. It was known in the English markets at one time as poach- 

 wood, a corruption of peachwood which was sometimes substituted for the genuine log- 

 wood. The name blackwood was given to this wood at the time the use of it was pro- 

 hibited in England. It was employed clandestinely under this feigned name for nearlj^ 

 one hundred years. In the German trade logwood is called campecheholz. The official 

 names in the various pharmacopoeias are lignum campechense, 1. campechinanum, 1. 

 oeruleum, and 1. haematoxyli. 



The logwood tree is small, rarely exceeding a height of fifty feet and a diameter near the 

 base of two feet. The majority of the trees are much smaller, however, and specimens six 

 inches and less are usually felled for use. The trunks are never long, but have branches al- 



