Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1911 — Most Valuable Timber. [ARTICLE]

Most Valuable Timber.

Arthur J. Clair, the American consul at Georgetown, reports that green heart timber, which is plentiful in British Guiana, was used in the construction of the great lock gates in the Manchester ship canal, and that for the last fifty years all the lock gates in the Mersey harbor have been built of the same wood. It has been specified for use as sills and fenders In the lock gates of the Panama canal, and it is being extensively used in the new naval docks at Methil, Scotland. Leading authority says it is difficult to fix a limit to the durability of lock gates built of green heart; the only element in their construction limiting their age is the iron bolts and other fastenings, usually renewed without serious difficulty. While rebuilding the gates of Canada docks in 1894 it was found that green heart, after thirty-eight years’ use, was as good as at first, and it was again used in the construction of new gates. Every wharf in the port of Georgetown is built on green heart piles, which successfully withstand the attack of the pile worm. Teak, or oak, or any other hard wood, would be destroyed in a few years. The Immunity of green heart from the teredo is said to be due to the large quantity of the alkaloid bebeerine found only in this wood.