Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1902-08-28
IN A MAHOGANY FOREST.
Wasteful Methods of numbering This
Valuable Wood in Central America.

Wastefui Methods of numbering This
Valuable Wood in Central America.
George He5aId Paine in New York
Sun.-A mahogany forest is truly a
forest-but not of mahoganies. There
Will be many trees-hundreds of
square miles of them, of so close a
growth that the suns rays rarely
reach the ground,-but of these, few
will be the stately, high-arched Nell
acea. Widely scattered, they stand
regally alone and, usually, in difficult
situations. Conceive a perfect shaft.
prone upon the breast. of a steep hill.
squared with the AK, five feet on a
side at the butt, four feet on a side at
the top, and so feet long. 1t may be
worth several thousand dollars in the
United States and the larger the
pieces in which it is shipped, the
more it is worth. Yet this must be cut
into short lengths because of the i'm
possibility of moving it in its present
form: and even if it could be moved,
il could never be fioated down the
narrow. tortuouS stream. or. even if
| tlis were possible it could not be
loaded aboard ship for it's 2000-mile
| journey to New York This strikes
| the impressionable beholder as almost
| a tragedy
| And the waste, Not more than a
| fourth of the useful parts of this ex-
quisite timber ever reach a market.
Splendid trees are girdled and for
/ n ha 70
reason. The roots and four Tor more)
feet of the stumps containing the
most beautiful of waving, curled We
neering material of great dimensions.
are utterly neglected because there
are no means provided for handling
! them. There is a fortune in the
| stumpage alone, in one of these for
ests, under intelligent and economical
management. Great limbs, too, aggre-
eating twice the amount of the stem
and of equal utility as timber, are al
lowed to rot untouched where they
fall; and last, but not least, not a
sign of replanting or of cultivation.
First destruction; then abandonment.
And in thinking of this. it must be
remembered that where mahogany
/ grows, there too grows cocobolo. the
wood which is as beautiful as rose
wood, dark red, shaded and limned
with black, as heavy as lockwood and
so valuable that it is used only for the
most exclusive purposes. Rubber
trees also are common, wild and indig-
enous in mahogany forest, and are
treated in the same thoughtless way
as is everything else.
The tools employed in numbering
are of the most primitive An AK, of
strange unwieldly form; a two-man
saw, some blocks and tackle, and
| oxen or bulls for power. Not a der
| rick, steam boiler or a saw-mill
within a weeks journey; not even
rollers. except of the toughest. And
yet individual trees are worth what
it would cost to build an industrial
marrow gauge) railway to some
large stream. And for fuel, the tops
of the felled trees alone would fur
nish enough and to spare.
Here is a chance for Yankee push
and engineering!
When felled, squared and cut into
lengths, the sticks are hauled by
cattle, inch by inch, to the nearest
stream which is large enough to float
them during high water This haul
ing must be in the rainy season in
order (save the mark!) that the
ground shall be slippery and furnish
it's own fabrication. The cattle are
a sad lot; rather small, but well look.
ing enough when they are first set to
work. but what a change in two
months! Worn to the skin and bone
and covered with gals and open sores
where the eggs of insects have been
deposited and nurtured. These
wretched beasts typify and express
the whole mistaken method, as moth
ing else could, and offer field for the
S. P. C. A.. which would leave it
bankrupt in sympathy and energy at
the first glance.
The smaller streams. which the logs
first enter, are mere dry cracks in
the country. with an occasional stag
nant pool. during most of the dry
season. but when the rains have lasted
for fortnight. they become torrents
and except the very smallest, will
float the largest logs. Exactly as in
our own pine and hemloek forests.
the logs gradually find their way to
some river, where there is less cur
rent and more water. and here they
are caught by BOOM" collected into
RATS. and so to the sea and the hold
of a ship.