Wood from Jamaica

Recently, for the first time, our consul at Port Ontario writes, hardwood timber has been exported from Jamaica to the United States. The island has half a million acres of forest containing more than a hundred varieties of trees fit for lumber. The most of this wood is suitable for cabinet-work. The lot which has just been brought to this country-consists of mahogany and cedar.

Their method of getting out the lumber from the logs takes us back a thousand years. There are no sawmills in Jamaica. The only sort of mill that could be operated to any advantage there would be a portable outfit, which could be easily transported from place to place. As there are no large bodies of well-timbered lands in Jamaica, and as much of the timber, which is mostly of small to medium size, is found on the hills and mountains, it would be difficult to operate a mill profitably. Under the conditions existing in this island, where labor is abundant and consequently cheap, the most practicable method of manufacturing lumber from native timber is to saw it by hand, as has been done since the first settlement of Jamaica. Where the slope of the ground is favorable, the logs are rolled upon a framework; otherwise a pit is dug, in which one man stands, while another stands above the log to operate the long ripsaw. After ripping off slabs on two sides the men line the log with a cord that is dipped in a chalk or charcoal solution. By such primitive methods they are able to saw boards of nearly uniform thickness. In the towns along the coast especially American pine is generally used in the construction of houses, but in the interior of the island there are many dwellings and other buildings, and some of considerable size, which have been built wholly of hand-sawed lumber.

Despite this process the price of mahogany boards in the local markets is about seventyfive dollars a thousand feet; a price surprisingly low to the man in the States in view of what he pays for home-made lumber.

An Amphibious Conveyance

It is a well-known fact that in the past twenty years there has been rapid progress in making the desert of Sahara habitable. France has done the human race a notable service with its artesian wells, road-making, and its policing of this former waste part of the earth. It is from Algiers that the story comes to us through the London Times of experiments with a carriage that is to move along the ground when it can and jump up into the air when it must. This sort of a vehicle will, if successful, solve one of

the problems of travel in the Sahara. The conveyance with which the French officers are experimenting is described as a sledge mounted on six wheels, with a 50-horsepower motor and also equipped with a propeller. The Times says in conclusion:

It is believed that this new means of transport will solve many of the difficulties of communication in the Sahara, and it is hoped by fitting it with wings not only to facilitate its progress, but to enable it on occasion to leap over obstacles in its path. Such a vehicle, if perfected, would no doubt prove of considerable value in certain parts of Turkey-in-Asia and Persia as well as in North Africa.

Human Hair as an Export

If geography is to be made a subject of human interest certainly the hair of the Italian women has a place among the topics, especially when we read the figures, $4,000,000, as the estimated value of such exports from Italy. Last year the value of the shipments from Naples to the United States alone was well on toward a half million dollars. This country, for some reason that is perhaps not geographical, is the principal market. We let it in free if it is "raw and uncleaned." And one doesn't need to go to consular reports to discover that a good deal of the hair that comes here from Italy is raw and uncleaned. Probably there should be a tariff to protect our hair from the pauper hair of Europe. Referred to Mr. Taft.

Getting back to facts: The women of Italy get for their hair various prices from fifty cents to ten dollars a pound. It is explained that hair varies much in quality, which is evident, and then, too, the price seems to be different for combings and for cuttings. These two terms are not technical and it may be that they emanate from a masculine mind.

We are told by Vice-Consul Armstrong, at Naples, that "the sections in and around that city are good sources of supply, and it seems to be a general custom for the women to save their combings and sell them regularly to the collectors employed by human-hair merchants. The concerns in Naples send men to Switzerland and Dalmatia each year, who buy up all the hair they can obtain and as fast as a bundle is made up ship it to Naples. The women have a special method by which they can produce a supply of hair regularly and yet not appear to have been clipped at all. This is done by hav ing half of the hair at the back of the head cut off and then twisting the remaining half over the exposed part and dressing it in such a manner that it is quite unexposed and not discernible. By this means an annual supply is pro

duced, and when the human-hair agents come these women always have a new yield to dispose of. In such a way their own hair is a source of income each year to the women who live in the impoverished districts and are badly in need of all the money they can obtain."

We Lead in Copper

Half of the copper that the world uses comes from America. In Havre about seventy tons a day are now used and about three-fourths of it, it appears from the statistics of imports, comes from the United States. Not only is the quantity that we produce so large but the quality of our copper is the best. From England, however, comes the complaint that our shipments are not properly packed and that our agents are indifferent to the demands of the trade. These two criticisms, namely of carelessness in packing and in the nature of the containers, and of lack of appreciation of local conditions in the countries to which shipments are made are common in the case of a large number of American products. In that respect we are much behind the English and Germans.

The Geography of 1913

With the actual opening of the Panama Canal a year away, the Gulf Coast is alive to the possibilities of the coming Pacific trade. Galveston, along its waterfront, is tearing down and building bigger. It expects to stretch boldly along from the three miles it now occupies toward the thirty miles of docks that are available. New Orleans looks for a large share of the new trade and is getting ready. During the past summer regular sailings began to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires; this being the first regular line of boats from that port to South America in fifty years. Mobile has plenty of room to expand its port and will be ready to take care of the cotton cargoes that the railroads will bring. Pensacola hopes to increase its railroad facilities and handle the Alabama coal and iron that the Pacific trade will demand; and, farther along the Florida coast, Tampa and Key West will be ready to bid for their share of the new traffic.

Butter and Eggs by Post

The parcel-post that is soon to go into operation in the United States may turn out to be a lame and complicated affair, but it must afford some relief from the rule of the express barons. With lower charges for carrying merchandise there will be more direct dealing between producer and consumer. A hint comes from our consul at Hamburg, when he tells us that the parcel-post service of Germany is used to a very large extent by farmers in their dealings with city customers, and especially for delivery of butter and eggs. Butter thus shipped is wrapped first in parchment paper and then packed in a cardboard box. As a rule, shipments over ten pounds are not made, each pound being separately wrapped, the total ship

ment including nine pounds of butter, net. These pasteboard butter boxes come with an upper and lower part and are folded together and fastened with metal clamps to make the finished box. In knocked-down condition these boxes can be had in this country for $23.20 per thousand. The boxes can be saved and used over again.

Eggs are shipped either in strong cardboard or wooden boxes, the inside of which contains corrugated cardboard partitions forming squares large enough to receive one egg. Between each layer of cardboard partitions a sheet of cardboard is placed. of cardboard is placed. The wooden boxes are rather attractively finished and cost at retail ninety-five cents each. They are provided with a padlock and neat cover, and can be used for an indefinite period.

A Canadian Scenic Boulevard

The boulevard being constructed by Canada to extend from Niagara Falls to the old Fort Erie ruins, is nearing completion. At present there remains to be finished about two miles to bring the roadway to the village limits of Bridgeburg. This makes a finished roadway of some eighteen miles. The understanding is that the road is to be completed during 1913.

When completed this boulevard, extending along the banks of the Niagara river from the shores of Lake Erie to Niagara Falls, will be a most beautiful drive. The boulevard will be divided into one-mile sections, each under the management of a foreman. Annual prizes will be offered for the section kept in the best order during the year. A double row of shade trees has been planted along the entire length, different varieties being restricted to certain sections. To add an educational feature it is the intention to devote certain sections to distinct varieties of flora.

Boulogne Is Coming

There is lots of up-to-date geography in the advertisements of the transatlantic steamers. For instance, with growing frequency the German and Dutch notices say of their boats "Will call at Boulogne." An English boat to South America also makes Boulogne a port of call; and in time liners that now stop at Cherbourg will change to Boulogne. The fact that that port is also of increasing naval prominence in guarding the Straits of Dover will tend to bring this city to the front in France.

The difficulty in the way of Boulogne's maritime development is that of docking facilities; and something of the nature of the problem is seen from the fact that the rise and fall of the tide is so great. At spring tide there is sometimes a rise of thirty feet above low-water mark, so that one quay with a depth of water of fifty-five feet at one time must be adapted for a minimum depth of twenty-five feet.

The French are spending a good bit of money on this harbor.