Junk, 1912.] 



551 



Miscellaneous. 



44,885,550 quintals as compared with 

 28,529,964 quintals in 1910. The single 

 Numerical Statement of the production 

 of wine in Spain, France, Hungary, Italy, 

 Luxemburg, Roumania, Switzerland, 

 Algeria, and Tunis is now 141*2 % as 

 compared with 136'4 % last month. 



The Bulletin also contains a table 

 showing the production of cotton in 

 the United States, Mexico, India, and 

 Egypt, which four countries produce 

 some | of the total cotton crop of the 

 Northern Hemisphere. The production 

 in 1911 was as follows : United States 

 32,303,378 quintals ; Mexico 347,420 quin- 

 tals ; India 5,628,176 quintals ; Egypt 

 2,860,012 quintals, giving a total of 

 41,139,086 quintals or an increase of 15*8 % 

 above the production of the same four 

 countries in 1910. 



January 20th, 1911. 



THE MAHOGANY INDUSTRY OP 

 HONDURAS. 



(Prom the Journal of Royal Society of 

 Arts, May, 1912.) 

 One of the great sources of future 

 wealth in Honduras will be found in the 

 forests where mahogany grows, as there 

 are thousands of acres where the timber 

 is to be found in its primitive isolation. 

 The fact that the mahogany forest, or 

 even the mahogany grove, is non- 

 existent makes for the high value of the 

 wood. True, mahogany is the familiar 

 dark coloured hard wood largely used 

 for household furniture, supplied by a 

 tree native in Mexico, Central America, 

 Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and the 

 Caribbean Sea. The tree sometimes 

 grows to a height of one hundred feet, 

 with a diameter measurement of twelve 

 feet. Frequently trees are found that 

 five men joining hands cannot circle. 

 A decoction made from the bark was 

 considered a remedy for fever, while the 

 Aztecs used the seeds as one of the 

 ingredients of a cosmetic. Its period of 

 growth covers, perhaps, two hundred 

 years, which fact, in connection with 

 the limited area where mahogany is 

 found, makes difficult the compilation 

 of accurate data descriptive of the 

 botanical history of the tree. Accord- 



ing to a recent report by the Inter- 

 national Union of American Republics, 

 the principal false mahoganies are 

 African or Senegal (the true tree grows 

 in Nigeria), Australian (a eucalyptus), 

 Ceylon Mahogany, Indian (the toona 

 tree in Bengal), Madeira mahogany 

 {Persea indica, or canary wood), bastard 

 mahogany, and in the United States, 

 California and mountain mahogany. 

 Logging for mahogany is carried on to- 

 day in the same primitive manner that 

 served in collecting the wood in early 

 days. In the main it is the process used 

 in the forests of the United States and 

 Canada, with minor modifications be- 

 cause of special climatic conditions. 

 Portuuately the trees are found near the 

 coast. The trees are cut in the rainy 

 season. A man climbs to the highest 

 limbs that will afford him the best view 

 of the forest. He marks down the 

 mahogany by its conspicuous yellow- 

 reddish leaves, then descends and leads 

 the cutters through the jungle, hacking 

 a road as they go, till the mahogany tree 

 is found. Then saws and axes are applied 

 always at the time of the waning moon. 

 The superstition that calls for the 

 cutting of the trunk by the light of the 

 waning moon is based on good botanical 

 grounds, for experience has shown that 

 the mahogany tree is freer from sap, 

 sounder, and of a richer colour at that 

 period. And the cool of the night offers 

 the best time for the hard work, so the 

 wisdom of the custom is apparent. The 

 hauling of the fallen trunk to a stream 

 is the work of oxen still, and must be 

 done in the dry season when the ground 

 is hard. Once in the stream, a raft is 

 made, and floating is carried on just as 

 in any logging country. At the ship's 

 side the logs are immediately hoisted 

 aboard to avoid the ravages of the boring 

 toredo. London is the great mahogany 

 market. It is well known that the wood 

 is noted for its hardness, durability, 

 beautiful colour and grain, and in the 

 diversity of these qualities lies the value 

 of the hewn trunk. There are tsvo main 

 differences in grain pattern, the close- 

 grained mahogany, the best of which 

 comes from Cuba and Jamaica, and the 

 wide-grained, also known as baywood, 

 the mahogany of Honduras. 



