Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1901-03-19
LIoNUM WTN GETTING SCARCE.
SOMETHING ELSE MUST BE FOUND FOR
MAKING BALLS FOR BOWLING.

HWithin short time you are going to
see bowling balls take big jump In
price," said one of Indianapolis's alley
owners recently. 1.-THE only wood suit
able for bowling balls is lignum vit@,"
he continued, "and the game has In
creased In popularity 80 rapidly In the
last few years that the supply OF the
wood that is easily available has just
about been exhausted. Either new
lignum vitae forests must be discovered
or some better method OF getting the
wood to market must be found.
'sThe best lignum vitae In the world is
in Venezuela, but one must 60 miles Into
the interior before the wood Is found.
The wood - 80 heavy that the tree
trunks must be sawed In short pieces,
about three feet In length. These pieces
are then strapped to pack mules and car
ried in this way to the coast. OF recourse,
In those places nearer the coast, or
where the wood Is more accessible,
larger logs can be handled. Another
danger Is in shipping the wood. Sam
Karpf, the bowling authority, told me
the other day that vessels do not like to
take lignum vitae as even part OF their
cargo. When ship loaded with wood
gets to rocking or pitching In heavy
sea, there is danger of the ship sinking.
The record of lignum vitae cargoes that
have been lost in this manner Is worse
than the record of any other sort of
freight.
"The lignum vitae that Is the most
easily reached now is that Of Africa.
African lignum vitae Is yellower than
any other kind. use an African wood
ball. The wood checks badly, and for
that reason the wood turner's dislike to
handle it, as there is danger OF the turn
ing lathe getting caught In one Of the
checks and breaking the ball to pieces.
The African ball sells for 50 so, 80 cents
less than that of the other grades of the
wood. I believe the African wood is
harder, il anything, than any other, and
ball made of the African wood will not
become lop-sided so soon as one made Of
other wood.
1.-THE Dutch East Indies yield good
quality of lignum vitae, but such heavy
demands have been made on the forests
there that the wood is getting scarce.
The big trees are all far inland. San
Domingo vitae is more blush than the
East Indian kind and more brittle.
sit is impossible to keep bowling
ball from getting lop-sided. The cause
of this lies in the finger holes. A bowler
holds the ball the same way every time,
and the same part Of the ball strikes the
alley first every time. AS the ball slides
for few feet before taking rotary
motion, the ball is gradually flattened on
one side.
ga fellow came here the other day
and said: why must heavy balls be
used in bowling? Why can't some other
kind of wood be used?' have bowling
ball made of mshogony here, and l
handed it to him. 1t felt as light as pa
per after he had been handling one Of
the regular balls. / told him that II he
would bowl a score of 100 with the
mahogany ball l would make him a
present of the best ball that could be
bought. You can't bowl with a light
ball. That's why l think one can make
better scores with the African wood ball.
1t is heavier.
"George Seidensticker has yellow
ball that weighs seventeen pounds and
200 scores are getting common as dirt
with him. l understand that new
composition ball is about to be put on
the market. 1t Is claimed for the new
ball that it answers the purpose as well
il not better than the wooden ball,
though l have never seen it. 1t has
weight, it is claimed, and elasticity, and
the additional advantage of not warping
or chipping. But it will cost much
more than the lignum VITAE ball"