THE CUBA REVIEW 



17 



axe and fire and no provision is made to replace it. The farmer who has foresight and 

 wishes to save his ramon trees has negroes go up into the trees with their machetes and 

 lop off branches sufficient to feed the stock. In cases where the stock is more or less 

 permanently confined within a field or enclosure, the trees are felled and the animals 

 feed for several days on one tree. The branches are free from spines or prickles, and the 

 leaves are oblong, taper-pointed, entirely smooth and dark green. 



During the rainy season the ramon trees blossom in great profusion and the bees 

 resort to them in swarms feeding on the sweet liquor that is present in the flowers. The 

 fruits start to ripen at the beginning of the dry season. They are the size of a large 

 cherry, at first green, but later yellowish. They possess a very agreeable flavor 

 and are eaten greedily by both man and beast. In fact, they constitute almost entirely 

 the food of all the wild animals in the forest. Pigs feed on them almost to the exclu- 

 sion of other foods. 



Grapefruit Exports from Isle of Pines 

 and Cuba 



The shipment of early grapefruit from 

 the Isle of Pines for the year is practically 

 complete unless there should be a sharp 

 rise in price. The crop finds its market in 

 the United States. Over 100,000 crates 

 have been exported during the season. 

 The shipments of grapefruit from western 

 Cuba began shortly before the end of the 

 season in the Isle of Pines. Up to the 

 middle of October, slightly over 2,000 cases 

 had been shipped during the present season, 

 chiefly from large American-owned planta- 

 tions near Habana. 



Cuban Lignum-Vitae 



The following notes are taken from 

 Bulletin No. 6, School of Forestry, Yale 

 University. 



Most of the Cuban lignum-vitae is 

 obtained from Oriente Province in the 

 eastern part of the island and is shipped 

 from Santiago. According to a govern- 

 ment report in 1917 not more than 

 4,000 tons exist in accessible places, 

 not more than one-third of this would 

 repay the cost of getting it out, and the 

 total supply is in danger of early exhaustion. 

 A New York dealer questions this con- 

 clusion and cites the fact that a single 

 operator in this region got out 1,000 tons 

 in 1918 and that others were also engaged 

 in the business. During the fiscal years of 

 1914 and 1915, 3,067 tons, valued at $127- 

 000, were exported from Santiago. More 

 recent figures are not available. There 



is some wood in Pinar del Rio, in the 

 western part of the island, but it is not 

 now being exploited. 



Cuban lignum-vitae is considered the 

 standard, at least for the larger sizes. 

 The logs are mostly from 4 to 8 feet long, 

 with a few of the smaller sizes 10 feet. 

 The diameters range from 6 to 24 inches, 

 but only a very small percentage are over 1 6 . 



The commercial species is Guaiacum 

 officinale, although G. sanctumis also present 

 and may enter to a minor extent into the 

 supply. The latter species is locally 

 known as "guayacancillo" to distinguish 

 it from the other, which is called "guaya- 

 can," "guayacan negro," or "palo santo." 



The bark of the Cuban wood is distinc- 

 tive and is considered typical of high-grade 

 wood in general. It is thin, smooth and 

 flaky. These flakes are of irregular size 

 and shape and the scars, owing to the 

 laminated structure of the bark and to the 

 variation in depth of different parts of a 

 scale, are marked like a contour map. 

 (See plate.) The fresh scars are glossy 

 and vary in color from reddish brown to 

 olive green, the older patches becoming 

 ashy gray or nearly white. (A large Cuban 

 specimen of Guaiacum in the collection of 

 the Yale Forest School is labeled ''vera." 

 The color is lighter than that of the typical 

 wood and the bark is ashy gray and granu- 

 lar, suggesting that of logs from Nic- 

 aragua.) 



A specimen of Cuban wood taken from a 

 storage yard in New York was found to 

 contain a little over 20% moisture. The 

 specific gravity, oven-dry, was 1.17. 



