The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-20

something Ike 25o0oc square nriYsl F is twice as large as that of Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio combined. At least one-fourth of it is solid timber and the greater part of it is covered with trees. The woods are of many varieties, and they are fit for every use under the sun. Some of them are soft and some hard. Some will take up moisture like a sponge and others will not rot under water. Some of the soft woods will float, but most of the hard woods will sink like stone. The algarrobo, for instance, Is like our black walnut. It is very hard and is used for paving blocks. large part of Buenos Aires is paved with it. This tree grows only about 30 feet high, and the common log Is not more than three or four feet long, although 1t may be 30 inches in diameter. The lapaeho is an other hard wood. It has much the same properties as hickory and can be used for spokes and wagon rims and for all kinds of bent work. It has a beautiful grain and takes a fine polish We have a red cedar which grows largely in Paraguay. 1t Is used for cigar boxes We have also woods that are fitted for pulp. We have altogether 300 different kinds or species of woods but so far the only one that has been of great commercial profit has been the quebracho."
 Tell me something about the quebracho industry" said l.
 The quebracho Is one of the most val uable woods of the world" said MT. Cur ran. Tt is used for railroad ties, fence posts and telegraph poles, and more than anything else for tanning and to make tannin extracts. Nearly all of the leather of the United States is tanned with que bracho. It gives the leather finer color than can be gotten from any other tan ming material. and is now used in most parts of Europe"
 Where is the tree found?'
 It Is scattered throughout the forests Of the Chaco," was the reply. "A forest or quebracho looks somewhat like a for est of oak The trees grow upon the level lands and upon those which are over flowed for part of the year. Quebracho is exceedingly hard. It will turn the edge of an ax. and, in fact the word quebracho means ax breaker When used for the road ties holes have to be bored for the spikes, for they cannot be driven in as is done with some of the ties in our coun- try.
 The quebracho trees are cut down in the forests and carried on narrow gauge railways to the ports or the fac tories where the extract Is made A great deal of the wood Is exported in the log and a great deal in extract. In making the extract the wood is ground into sawdust, and the tannin extracted Two quebracho trees, weighing a ton, will yield about 1900 pounds of ex- tract which will tan as much leather as three or four tons of oak bark The extract is made into solid cakes, which are reduced to a liquid as needed"
 "Is there much money employed in the quebracho industry?" I asked
 Yes. the capital invested runs high into the millions. We have one insti- tuition known as the Forestal Land Timber and Railroad company that has capitalization of S7,500. GOO. It owns In the Chaco more than 2,000, 900 acres of forests and rents half million acres more. It has four factories for mixing quo bracho extract, and uses something likS a quarter of a million tons of 4ogs every year. It supplies 2000,0 900 ties an- nually to the South American railroads. That company employs 12,000 men in it's lumber camps and factories. and has something like 30000 animals to ger out the logs and for other work It has also railways and steamsh ps
 There are a half dozen large que hracho companies in Paraguay. with capitalizations ranging from a quarter of million dollars upward The Puerta Sastre of Asuncion has almost s2,o0o,0o0 capital, and the Rio de la Plata Quebracho company has about s50o, 900 invested. The quebraeho for ests sell for something like s3000 a square league. Some of the lands be- long to the government and the pres ent policy is to lease rather than to s.Jl them"
 I asked Mr. Curran as to the intro duction of American lumber into the basin of the Plate. He replied that the most of the lumber now used in this part of the world comes from the United States. Some of it is shipped from Puget sound and the Columbia river around through the Strait of Magellan, and some comes from New England and our south