The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1897-08-26
RARE AND COSTLY WOOD
VARIETIES THAT BRING ENORMOUS
PRICES IN THE MARKET.

| Too Expensive to Use Except for Veneer
| ing-Experienced Woodsmen Employed
to Search for Valuable Walnut Trees.
| Lying in some of the great lumber
yards situated on the East river in
New York one may see vast heaps of
rare woods that are valued at millions
Of dollars. Most of the timber is
carefully stacked up in compact squares
and is either exposed to the weather
OF protected by rough sheds. The
woods are representative of variety
of trees native of countries of the
equator and American forests.
cit is the veining and nothing of q
log and the veneers that can be made
from it that fixes the value of a fine
wood" said large New York dealer
to Washington Star reporter re-
Gently "While all these special
woods of commerce are costly, prices
three and four times the average are
paid for unusual patterns of rosewood,
mahogany and black walnut
"There are several hundred varie-
ties of fine woods brought each year
into New York, but of these only few
are known to commerce to any extent.
Mahogany, French burl, rosewood,
curly ash, American quartered oak,
figured birch, black walnut, Circas-
sian walnut and satinwood are the
fancy timber varieties that sell the
best, their prices ranging from to 10
cents a foot for veneers.
"These figures will, however, give
no adequate idea of the values until
they are examined carefully But the
calculation is simple one. A veneer
is thin strip cut from a board by
shaving machine, thirty veneers being
allowed to each board of an inch in
thickness, the boards of these costly
woods running about two feet in
width. AS a rule these boards are
eight to ten feet long, and thus a sim
gle veneer of mahogany two feet wide
and ten in length is worth from so
cents to 81. A double row of these
veneers piled up five feet high is worth
easily $4,000.
'In the log mahogany sells at dol
lar to a dollar and half foot, board
| measurement. 1t comes from Mexico
and Cuba and is brought to New York
in logs. 1t is sold principally in
veneers. These veneers, even when
stacked up in piles in sheds, soon be-
come so brittle that the only way of
shipping them to the furniture and
piano manufacturers is to pack them
in cases. A case usually holds five
hundred sheets, or from $500 to $500
worth, and is so heavy that the united
strength of six men with rollers is
necessary to get it upon a truck. A
case is known in the trade as a
Glitch"
Even unvarnished and unpublished as
these woods are in the rough, the pat
terms are easily visible, and the designs
and veinings are often very beautiful
Nearly all these woods are sold in
veneers, for two reasons: First, they
are too costly to use solidly, and,
secondly, they all have tendency to
warp. Next in popularity to mahog-
any comes American figured walnut
from Kentucky, West Virginia, Ten
nessee and the western part of North
Carolina. The finest logs of this tim
Der are to be found on the slopes of
the Blue Ridge and Cum berland noun
tains.
$50 important is it to get woods of
fine patterns that the leading walnut
dealers inspect the trees themselves
before they are cut down. They en-
| ploy experienced woodsmen, at large
salaries, to search over the whole
region where the best walnut trees are
for months at time, and then, the
| finest trees being marked, the dealer
or his trusted representative leaves
the city and travels through the woods
on horseback selecting the most valu-
BILE trees, after buying them from the
owners of the land.
zone of the most curious of rare
woods is amboy, which is a reddish
brown color, veined irregularly and
used mainly for inlaying. 1t comes
| from Africa and is sold from 20 to 80
cents pound.
'"Two of the finest foreign woods
are French burl, from Persia, and the
| Circassian walnut, that is cut around
the shores of the Black sea. French
burl costs Is cents pound, and its
grain is most curious one. 1t is
really walnut wood, the burl being
wart, or knot, that forms on the side
of the tree while it is young, thus
twisting the course of the sap vessels
and forming strange patterns and odd
combinations of lines. At times these
burls are extremely valuable. A sim
gle log has sold for as much as $4,000.
The features of Circassian walnut are
the high polish to which it can be
brought and its varied stripes of dark
brown and black.
''Some other expensive native woods
are figured curly ash, figured North
! Carolina birch, which has a reddish
tinge; poplar and American quartered
oak, used mainly for inside house
work. All of these fetch from three to
five cents foot in veneers. Ebony has
sold for $40 ton; cocobolo, somewhat