Quebracho

ka-bra'cho, a hardwood tree of South America. There are three species. Two, the red and the white, are of commercial importance. They grow in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. The wood is close-grained and hard. The name is Portuguese for break-hatchet. The wood is durable and is in use both in South America and in Europe for railroad ties. Numerous sawmills on the La Plata and its branches are engaged in sawing quebracho. American sawmills and American methods are in use. The growing trees are scattered four or five to the acre. One firm has a concession of 4,000,000 acres, and is turning out 20,000 ties a week. Quebracho forests are quoted at $3,000 per square league of about 4,400 acres. A quebracho mill and extract plant costs about $240,000. A drug is extracted from the white quebracho which is used for bronchial diseases. Both the red and the white species yield an extract of tannin in demand for tanning and dressing morocco and other fine leathers. To obtain the extract, the entire trunk or else slabs from the sawmills are run through planers and are converted into shavings or chip dust. The shavings are treated with chemicals and are boiled in vats until the tannin is removed. The extract is boiled down into a jelly which is poured into sacks and dried for shipment abroad. The valley of the La Plata shipped 60,000,000 pounds of the quebracho extract in 1908, sixty-five per cent of which was exported to the United States.