14 



BULLETIN 474, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



as will be seen, comes from British Honduras and Mexico, which 

 together furnished 58 per cent. Santo Domingo, Panama, Nicaragua, 

 Honduras, Guatemala, and Colombia furnished 34 per cent, and 

 Cuba 8 per cent. 



While the actual quantities of true mahogany and other " mahog- 

 anies " imported into the United States by different countries can 

 not be ascertained, Great Britain is known to be first as a source 

 of the latter, which come chiefly from Africa and reach the American 

 markets by reshipment from London and Liverpool. Of the total 

 amount of true mahogany and other " mahoganies " imported, Great 

 Britain supplied 18,289,000 feet, or 26 per cent (by reshipment from 

 points of origin), and Africa furnished 13,423,000 feet, or about 19 

 per cent, through direct shipment. Table III shows the quantities 

 and value of mahogany (true and other) imported by the United 

 States from 1901 to 1914. 1 



Table III. — Quantity and value of true mahogany and other mahoganies (un- 

 saioed) imported by the United States from 9101 to 1914. 2 



METHODS OF LOGGING AND TRANSPORTATION. 



Formerly all logs were squared by hewing, usually in the forest. 

 The purpose of this was partly to show the figure of the wood, but 

 mainly to remove the useless sapwood. Few trees are cut in Mexico 

 and Honduras that will not square 18 inches or over. The removal 

 of the worthless sapwood by squaring the logs resulted in a very 

 great waste of the best heartwood, particularly near the butt ends, 

 the most valuable part of the logs. Since there is no duty at present 

 on cabinet woods, and transportation is comparatively cheap, a rela- 

 tively large saving of valuable wood can be effected by shipping 

 mahogany logs in the round. Much of the sapwood may, of course, 

 be cut away before shipment, but under present methods of handling 

 even this added expense seems useless. Another marked waste by 



1 Data for this purpose wore derived from the Department of Commerce. 



2 Fiscal years ending June 30. 



