The Opelousas courier., 1891-08-22
and got off with the money before the

and got off with the money before the
cheat was discovered.
Cherry has much the safre habitat as
walnut, and is handled nearly the same
way. The main difference 10 that it is
not so liable to split, hence does not
need such care in telling. It fetches Sc!
to $40 a thousand feet, and either solid
or in veneers is one of the most useful
hardwoods. Walnut is the base o.
nearly all the Sc. called ebony, into which
lt is converted with aniline stain.
For long cherry often did duty for
mahogany. Now that it is almost as
costly, it is used in its own name and
color. The unweildiness of timber Is a
main element of cost. Every handling
Slmost doubles the price. Freight rates,
high as they are, sink to nothing beside
deckage, loading and unloading
A timber ship in the tropics is often
five months taking cargo. She will dis
charge it at a New York pier inside OF
five days. There are blocks along that
water front fragrant with the clean, pun
gent smell of sawdust from Spanish
cedar, mahogany, rosewood and many
more. Mexico, Cuba and the West
Indies, send all of them at prices not
much beyond those paid for walnut.
After the trees are felled they are
hewn square so as to fit solid In the
ships hold. Veneers of them are cut
thinner than those of birch-about thirty
to the inch. They are worth triple the
same measure in the plank. The saw
dust is saved for use in the arts-notabiy
for tanning fine fur, wherein it is the
active agent.
England spares us a little of her oak
precious little, though, for a magnificent
price, All of it goes into cabinet work
or for interior carvings and decorations
in very swell houses. Black Irish oak
comes, too, in very limited supply, but
sufficient for the few who prefer it to
native timber.
Though we have more than twenty
sorts of oak, the red and white ones are
those that furnish forth our walls and
halls and wooden needs generally. It
is usually quarter saw ed-that is. cut in
four before making into boards. The
Japanese oak so-called, is a curious
triumph of mechanics over nature. 1t
shows a mottled or rather mackerel
grain, like nothing that Y e grew-for
all that oddly handsome. To make it
the knife edge is crinkled and made to
eat its way with lateral motion, thus cut
ting in one plane the growth of a dozen
wears. Tt takes enormous pressure to
bring out a smooth surface, but it comes
after awhile and remains without trouble.
Oaken wood comes from all owe the
country. The biggest and best, though,
is cut in the river bottoms south and
west or on northern slopes of the mount
ain lands from West Virginia down.
Birdseye or rock M Aple grows in Yer
mont, northern New FORK and the hill
land OF New England generally. Il is
in demand for furniture, carriage and
car building, as well as for facing panels
of steamers. houses and SO on. It costs
about the same as oak-$45 to $50 the
thousand. California redwood is hand
some of grain and easy to works but for
its popularity of shrinking-lengthwise
as we'll as in width-it would doubtless
rank high among ornamental timbers.
California, too, sends us what is known
as white mahogany. It is valued at
$4,000 the carload, pays about $500
freight, and perhaps costs the city owner
of it as much more at the siding.-Mi-
cage Neaos.