THE CUBA REVIEW 



13 



Imbirassu, the large tree in the background, is a Brazilian cotton-yielding tree of considerable 

 interest and possible future importance. 



perishable if it is exposed to the air for several years, but like most woods lasts very well perma- 

 nently under water. Buoyant rafts are made of it, and it is on account of its unsinkable 

 property that the wood is called cork wood. Occasional shipments of ceiba timber have been 

 received in the United States, where the wood is now being used for purposes requiring light- 

 ness rather than strength. It is employed in making tubs and basins, and owing to its light- 

 ness, softness and ease with which it can be worked, it should serve as a suitable substitute for 

 our white pine for making toys, models and numerous other small articles for which white pine 

 is at present ahnost entirely used. The wood is suitable for light packing cases, for dry-goods 

 boxes and would do well for fruit crates. The trunks of the large trees are hollowed out and 

 formed into canoes. Large casks are also made out of them. 



A closely related Indian tree {Bomhax malahariciim) or Indian silk-cotton tree \delds 

 wood that has practically the same structural and mechanical properties as the ceiba, and 

 German and English authorities have tested the wood of this Indian species and have found 

 that it is one of the best match woods in India. Extensive areas in India have been practi- 

 cally cleared of this tree for use in match factories, and there is no reason why the wood of the 

 West Indian ceiba could not be imported and given a thorough trial as a match wood in order 

 to lessen the constant drain upon the white pine forest of the northeast United States. The 

 fiber of ceiba wood is shorter than that of white pine, but it yields wood pulp about equal 

 to that of poplar and bleaches very readily. The Indian species is used extensively in the 

 wood-pulp industry. The match and paper industries in this country should give the West 

 Indian wood a test, for there are enormous quantities available, not only in Cuba, but through- 

 out tropical America. The supply is by no means inexhaustible, but there are a great many 

 mature trees in most of the islands of the West Indies and on the Spanish main in regions where 

 hardwood forests occur. 



