It thrives best in a damp tenacious soil, with a small proportion of sand.  It is imported in logs, which are afterwards chipped, and is of great commercial importance from its valuable dyeing properties.  Old wood is preferred; it is so hard as almost to be indestructible by the atmosphere.  The albumen is of a yellowish color, and is not imported.  The bark and wood are slightly astringent.  The imports of logwood into the United Kingdom, were 23,192 tons in 1848, 23,996 tons in 1849, and 34,090 tons in 1850, of which 3,484 tons were re-exported in 1848, and 2,307 tons in 1849.  The imports in the past two years of 1852 and 1853, have averaged 20,000 tons, of which about 3,000 tons were re-exported.  It is increasing in use, for in 1837, the quantity retained for home use was only 14,6771/2 tons.  The price varies according to quality from L4 to L7 per ton.

We received from Honduras 5,401 tons in 1844; and 55,824 tons in 1845.  From Montego Bay, Jamaica, 398 tons were shipped between January and July 1851.

FUSTIC.—­This is the common name of a species of dye wood in extensive use, which is obtained from Maclura tinctoria, or Broussonitia tinctoria, Kunth, a large and handsome evergreen tree, growing in South America and the West Indies.  The wood is extensively used as an ingredient in the dyeing of yellow, and is largely imported for that purpose.  The quantity entered for home consumption in the United Kingdom was 1,731 tons in 1847, 1,653 in 1848, and 1,842 tons in 1849.

Ninety-one tons were shipped from Montego Bay, Jamaica, in the first six months of 1851.

QUERCITRON.—–­This bark furnishes a yellow dye, of which about 3,500 tons are annually imported in hogsheads of from half a ton to a ton. 296 tons were imported into Liverpool from Philadelphia in 1849, and 514 tons in 1850.

BRAZIL WOOD.—­This very ponderous wood is obtained in Brazil from the Caesalpina Braziliensis, which yields a red or crimson dye, when united with alum or tartar, and is used by silk dyers.  It is imported principally from Pernambuco, 1,200 quintals having been shipped to London in 1835, but about 500 tons, worth about L4 a ton, were imported from Costa Rica in 1845.

The tree is large, crooked, and knotty, and the bark is thick, and equals the third or fourth of its diameter.

The imports may be stated at about 600 tons annually, the average price being L50 per ton.

Brazil wood is found in the greatest abundance and of the best quality, in the Province of Pernambuco, but being a government monopoly it has been cut down in so improvident a manner, that it is now seldom seen within several leagues of the coast.

Among the Cuba dye woods is Copey (Clusia rosea, Linn).

Braziletto, obtained from C.  Crista, is one of the cheapest and least esteemed of the red dye woods, imported from Jamaica and other West India islands to the extent of 150 tons per annum, fetching L6 to L8 per ton. 2,361 tons of Nicaragua wood were imported in 1848, 2,701 tons in 1849, and 6,130 tons in 1850.