The Osceola times., 1888-07-14
GIGANTIC CUBAN TREES.
Logs That Are Worth Thousand Dolla,.
n Piece In New York.

LOgB That Are worth Thousand Dollars
a Piece In New York.
= Americans can form no conception NJ
the Cuban forests. Perhaps the mobiles.
OF them are in the region along tho
northeast coast. There the stateliness
and grandeur, as well as value. of thesa
forest trees are almost incredible. To
illustrate: In the wilderness between
the old walled town Of Holguin and tho
sea. at Sepa, where the forests are al.
most impenetrable, l have friend
who, at a venture, three years ago, Dur.
chased tract of nearly 10000 acres
for 5000 All commercial New York
laughed at him. But he werft there
and began IN a modest way cutting and
shipping mahogany. To-day he is worth
5000, 900; has 800 yokes of oxen; en-
ploys over regiment of men, lives
like lord in palace of mahogany.
and practically has not yet touched his
giant trees, from among which the 9TH
err day he had one cut and transported
to the sea by the use of fifty yokes OF
oxen, which squared fifty-six inches
and contained 5000 feet Commercial
measurement OF lumber. That one
log laid down in Philadelphia, New
York or Boston is worth nearly 900.
| Throughout the whole island, with
| its total area of about 5000
square miles, from extended OBJ
| and spaval In
of its six provinces, and aided by tho
best Judgment OF hundreds Of Cubans
with whom | have conversed, would
say that, at moderate estimate, one.
half--or fully twenty-three Thousand
square miles of the entire area is GOV.
cred by virgin forests. And who could
/ be so daring as TO estimate the value Of
these forests, filed as they are with the
most valuable OF woods known TO COM
merce and modern architecture, were
Cuba ours and its people free? AT no
greater price than is now paid for large
tracts of American pine ''stumpage,"
the untouched forests Of Cuba are to-day
worth fifteen million dollars. But as
every acre holds woods worth far more
than ten thousand dollars in the mar
kets. and every standing tree at the re-
hottest distance is not seventy-five miles
from an accessible seaport point, the
ridiculously low estimated value Of one
hundred dollars per acre would give a
total valuation 10 Cuban forests, exclu-
sive of all expense OF numbering and
marketing, OF over one billion five hun
dred million dollars! All the righteous
sentiment which should be felt by the
citizens of a free and great republic for
people cnslaved by an inconceivably
hateful and hated tyranny at our very
doors aside, there would seem 10 here
and there exist an occasional reason
why this transcendently rich and beau
tiful country should be ours.
The variety and serviceable value o.
these Cuban woods are AS remarkable
as their area and luxuriance; while the
nature aud characteristics OF many, II
their adaptability to the rude uses o
tropical life, form most fascinating
studies. have already mentioned the
quebrahacha. This grows in all por
tons Of the island; is used for piers
bulk-heads, house foundations, and II
all places where practically indcstruc-
table material is required, but is found
in greatest profusion along the south
ein coast. 1t is harder than horn, sne
whenever il is fclled in the forest, OF
worked for use, the labradors or wood
choppers always construct FORCES neal
at hand. upon which their axes ant
other edged tools are constantly re-
paired. Contrary TO general belief
oak and hickory abound, while CEDAR
of tremendous size, frequently lively,
feet in circumference, are Us common
as maple in Vermont. The mahogany
is ~ colossal tree here. | have seer
many on this southern coast, requiring
five men, ingcr-tips TO tips, TO reach
around. Their height is from sixty Il
l25 feet. Differing from the clustering
habit Of most forest trees, they are al
ways found standin. alone separate
by distances of from twenty to fifty fec
by specimens Of other families
Edgar l.. WakemaH, ca 81. Louis Re
. publican