Baktley. — the Building Timbers of Auckland. 39 



the rimu. Picked heart of riinu is a very good furniture wood, 

 and very suitable for church furniture. 



Totara (Podocarpus totara) is the third timber of importance. 

 It is largely used in the South for building purposes, but in 

 Auckland we only know it as a good " pile " timber, and for that 

 purpose it has not been equalled by either native or imported 

 timbers. I have seen a "stringer" taken from Queen-street 

 Wharf quite sound, after being under water twenty-eight years. 

 Of course it was heart, the sap will not last ; hence the folly of 

 using round sticks for piles. All piles should be squared timber — 

 all heart. It is at times specified for plates and window sills, with 

 a view, I presume, that it will last longer than kauri. I think this 

 is a mistake : my experience is that it will not last as long as the 

 heart of red kauri. There is a small "rot" speck found in the 

 heart of mature trees ; I have here a specimen cut from a new 

 plank with this kind of decay, still the totara must be classed 

 as one of our most durable timbers. 



The last, and the worst of our building timbers, is the kahi- 

 katea (Podocarpus da-cry divides). It will decay very soon, exposed 

 to the weather or damp — in damp situations it will not certainly 

 last longer than four years — and inside, or under cover, such as 

 flooring, ceiling or lining, it is attacked by a small grub, com- 

 pletely destroying the inside of the scantling or board. I have 

 here a specimen of kahikatea flooring destroyed by this grub ; 

 the destruction is so complete that I have known a floor ren- 

 dered dangerous to walk on, the chairs having gone through in 

 many places. I consider kahikatea is far inferior to all sap kauri. 

 If used for rough lining, the perforations made by this grub will 

 appear through scrim and paper of the room ; in an instance that 

 came under my notice, one kahikatea board had been fixed for 

 rough lining, the remainder being sappy kauri: the board, scrim, 

 and paper were quite destroyed, like a band nine inches wide, the 

 remaining lining being quite sound. It is said that kahikatea 

 grown on high ground grows better than that grown on low 

 ground; but the greater portion, I should say nine-tenths, grows 

 on fiat swampy districts. 



Seasoning and Decay of Timber. 



The causes of decay are various, the worst being " dry rot "— 

 a term giving a wrong idea of the nature or cause of the decay. 

 I have here a specimen of heart kauri destroyed by " dry rot." 

 It is covered with a fungus of extraordinary growth in Auck- 

 land. I have seen a plant measuring over five feet in diameter. 

 Whether the fungus grows in consequence of the decay, or the 

 decay is caused by the fungus, I am not quite clear ; but I should 

 rather think the fungus grows after the decay, and is not the 

 cause of the decay. At any rate we know the first cause is by 

 using unseasoned timber in unventilated positions, such as a 



