Milford chronicle., 1903-01-09
ON A MAHOGANY RANCH.
How the Valuable Wood Is Cut and
Shipped From saexicO.

AluuNSdlll II DibuNNtf llD4t DNll.-lti
and extensively used than any othe
high class cabinet wood 1t is to b
seen in the interior finish Of nearly al
our modern office buildings, private res
licences. railway coaches, in pianos, fur
uiture. musleal Instruments. etc. 1t fl
purely q tropical wood. 1t is obtained
IN Mexico. Cuba. SantO Domingo, Cen
trail America, South America and Afri
ca. The mahogany from Santo Domin
go and Cuba is. as a rule, close grained
AID darker in color than other varieties
cf the wood While Africa produces
some OF the finest specimens of mahog
any timber as to size, it is inferior in
teNtIre and lacks some qualities OF
high grade wood
While there are many millions Of feet
Of this beautiful and durable wood used
annually in this country. not one in Il
thousand knows just where it comes
from and how it is obtained or one in
million has seen it in its full ma
turity standing in its native Businesses.
the true king Of the tropical forest, sub
lime in its grandeur, a veritable giant
among pygmies, in many instances so
vine laden as to appear in a gigantic
physical contest for supremacy over the
rest of the arhoreal world, its enormous
branches clothed with bright green TO
liage and so farreaching as to overshad.
ow much of the surrounding forest.
challenging its lesser rivals to compete
with it in beauty, symmetry and
strength.
Mahogany is found on very fertile
land, generally of a rolling nature and
well drained. 1t does not grow in
swampy or sterile land The timber
cut for export ranges in diameter from
eighteen inches to six feet, the greater
part being hewed square by the ma
tives, many of whom are very expert
aXmen. Great care is taken in the
Telling to avoid splitting. After telling
the trunk is cleared of vines and other
clinging vegetation and made ready
for hewing. Immense blocks are knock
ed off, one of which would give enough
good mahogany to make an ordinary
dining table. These large pieces are
rarely utilized
The reason for squaring these logs is |
to secure the maximum of heart tim
Der. With all the care taken there is /
still waste of fully 10 per cent of the
best heart wood, which in the many |
millions of feet exported amounts an |
nually to an enormous loss to the pro-
ducer. Within few years this waste
full system will be a thing of the past.
Getting the timber to the streams,
where it can be hOated to a shipping
point, is the most expensive and ar
duous part of the work, and as timber
becomes scarcer the longer is the haul
ing distance. Transportation from for.
est to stream is done at night by means
OF trained oxen, light being obtained
by means of torches. The work is done
at night on account of the swarms Of
flies and other insects that torture the
animals by day. The number Of oxen
in this work varies accord
Ing to the size of the log and the kind
Of roads to be Travelled. Some logs re- {
quire as many as twenty-five yoke Of I
oxen. To diminish friction saplings 7
about four inches in diameter are fell 3
ed cut into four foot lengths and laid J
on the road at distances
If few feet.
Because of the mahogany tree being
op heavy nature has provided it with
traces or what are known to the tim
'er men as spurs which on large tim
'er project from the base of the tree
'ften a distance of fifteen feet. reach
ng deeply into the earth. These braces
much resemble in form a ships rudder.
hey are used in Mexico for round ta-
lie tops and cart wheels, there being
many that make table tops six feet in
iameter, the grain running in all di-
ectiOns.
In Mexico, as in some other maboe-
ny producing countries this timber
as been depleted from the forests
long nearly all of the streams deem
lough to float the logs, but there still
'mains an immense supply lying some
stance from these highways that can
marketed at profit only by the
vestment Of large capital in logging
llways and other modern methods.
his is now being done by several
rong companies of Chicago, Pennsyl-
MIA and Iowa that have purchased
rye tracts of timber lands i'm the state
Campeche, ranging from 100000 to
OOOO acres each.-Chicago Chronicle.