140 
TIMBER 
world produces is that they are only obtamable in short 
lengths. 
Quebracho, of which there are two varieties, and of which 
Quebracho Colorado is the most generally useful, best known, 
and most largely used of the timbers of the republic. It 
is a dark reddish coloured wood of fine, close grain, dense 
and heavy, and has a bright surface, is much appreciated 
and much used for heavy constructional, piling, and sub- 
marine work, and is almost invariably used for bridge- 
building and sleepers in Argentina. In Uruguay it super- 
seded steel sleepers, to which it is superior, but owing to the 
recent great increase in price other sources of supply are 
being looked for. It is worked as easily as the best 
European woods and better than most of them. The 
timber lasts equally as well in wet as in dry ground and 
stands changes of temperature well, but until properly 
seasoned all sawn surfaces should be protected from the sun 
to prevent the wood from splitting. It becomes darker with 
age. The shortness of grain in quebracho is its greatest 
drawback, as in rough handling it is liable to break. Its 
great durability is due to the quantity of tannin it contains, 
amounting to as much as 19 per cent, to 22 per cent, in the 
heartwood. The quality of the timber varies somewhat in 
different districts ; the best comes from the eastern zone of the 
Chaco within the province of Santa Fe, and is conveyed by 
rail to the shipping ports. Large quantities are sent in 
log to Europe and the United States for the manufacture 
of tannin; the larger proportion of the trade is now done 
with the latter. In 1906, 256,822 tons of this timber were 
exported from the Argentine for tannin extract in rough 
logs called rollizos. The logs are got in lengths up to 
about 25 ft. and 18 inches or 2 ft. a side, and sometimes 
of larger scantling ; they were formerly cut roughly square 
