Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-03-25
LIGNuM VITAE is SCARCE.
Some Substitute for the Wood Must be
Found Very Soon.

Found Very Soon.
within a short time you are going
to see bowling balls take big jump
in price," said one of Indianapolis
alley owners recently. "The only wood
suitable for bowling balls is lignum
vitae" he continued, "and the game
has increased in popularity so rap
idly in the last few years that the sup
ply of the wood that is easily avail
able 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.
''The best lignum vitae in the world
is in Venezuela, but one must go miles
into the interior before the wood is
found. The wood is SO heavy that the
tree trunks must be sawed in short
places, about three feet in length.
These pieces are then strapped to
pack mules and carried in this way to
the coast. Of course, 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 Karph, 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 the wood
gets to rocking or pitching in a heavy
sea there is danger of the ship sink
ing. The record of lignum vitae car
goes that have been lost in this man
ner is worse than the record of any
other sort of freight.
'"The Iignum vitae that is the most
easily reached now is that of Africa.
African lignum vitae is yellower than
any other kind. l use an African wood
ball. The wood checks badly, and
for that reason the wood turner's dis
like to handle it. as there is danger
of the turning lathe getting caught in
one of the checks and breaking the
ball to pieces The African ball sells
for $50, so cents less than that OF the
other grades of the wood. I believe the
African wood is harder, if anything,
than any other, and ball made of the
African wood will not become lop
sided so soon as one made of other
wood.
'.The Dutch East Indies yield good
quality of lignum vitae, but such heavy
demands have been made on the for.
ests there that the wood is getting
scarce. The big trees are all far in
land. San Domingo vitae is more
gluish than the East Indian kind and
more brittle.
ut is impossible to keep bowling
ball from getting lop-sided. The cause
of this lies in the finger holes. When
balls had no finger holes the bowler
never threw ball twice in success
sion the same way. Now 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 a few feet before
taking rotary motion the ball is
fattened on one side.
A fellow came here the other day
and said: why must such heavy balls
be used in bowling Why can't some
other kind of wood be used? | have
a bowling ball made of mahogany
here and handed it to him. 1t felt
as light as paper after he had been
handling one of the regular balls.
told him that if he would bowl a
score of 100 with the mahogany ball |
would make him a present of the
finest ball that could be bought. You
can't bowl with light ball. That's
why | think one can make better
scores with the African wood ball 1t
is heavier. George Seidensticker has
a yellow ball that weighs seventeen
pounds and 200 scores are getting com
mon as dirt with him. / 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 as if 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. =
Indianapolis Press.