684 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April i, 1887. 



Samples of botli jarrah and karri timber, convert- 

 ed into straight and circular mouldings, matcii- 

 boardiug, spokes of wheels, and barrels arc exliihited, 

 and although both of these woods were readily worked 

 by all the machines, the jarrah in every case left 

 the cutters with a smoother surface than the karri. 



The treatment above described for seasoning jarrah, 

 is found advantageous in the case of karri, and it 

 may be taken to apply to most, if not all, varieties 

 of the eucalypti, in which our Australian colonies 

 abound. 



Tuart {Lucah/ptiLS (jmnpJtocephala). — This is another 

 valuable timber tree, found principally between the 

 Bunbury and Bussleton districts. It is of straight 

 growth, and yields logs up to 46 ft. in length, by 

 24 in. to 30 in. square. 



The wood is of a yellowish colour, hard, heavyf 

 tough, strong, and of close texture, and for large 

 scantlings, it will be found a most valuable wood, 

 especially where great strength is needed. The tuart 

 shrinks very little in seasoning, and does not split 

 while undergoing that process. It also stands ex- 

 posure to all vicissitudes of weather for a long time 

 without being affected by it. 



The experiments showed that this wood is well 

 suited for wheel work, but its chief value would doubt- 

 less be for heavier purposes, such as the under framings 

 for rolling stock, ship-building timber, piles for piers, 

 and supports for bridges, and also as backing for 

 armourplated ships, as no ordinary shock or rebound 

 will cause it to split; and as it can be sold in this 

 country at from £7 to £8 per load of 50 cubic feet, 

 it is probable that it will frequently be used in place 

 of teak. 



Raspberri/ Fam Wood {Acacia Acuminata). — This is 

 a dark, reddish-brown wood, close-grained, hard, and 

 having a fragrant scent, from which it derives its 

 name. The tree, which is small, abounds in extra 

 tropic "Western Australia ; it is easily worked by machi- 

 nery, and leaves the cutters with a very" smooth 

 surface ; and as it takes a fine polish, and can be 

 purchased in this country at the low price of .3s. 

 6d. per cubic foot, it should find a ready sale among 

 cabinet makers and others interested in ornamental 

 wood work. 



Discussion. 



INIr. D. Morris being called upon to speak on the 

 woods of the West Indies, said Mr. Ransoine had very 

 properly confined his attention to the new woods 

 brought forward at the Exhibition. The horse-flesh 

 mdiogaiiy from the Bahamas was a very excellent 

 wood, tough and enduring. The tree at the Exhibi- 

 tion was presented to Kew, and they were at first 

 disinclined to take it, because they were unable to 

 determine its botanical character; but on appealing 

 to the Governmaut of the Bahamas, some specimens 

 were sent over to show that it was closely allied 

 to the hracfiletio wood, which was very highly 

 esteemed in tbe West Indies, though it was only 

 a small tree. The timber of Briti.sh Honduras best 

 known was mahogany, and the cedar used for cigar 

 boxes. As in the Straits Settlements, most of the 

 valuable timber within reach of the rivers was al- 

 ready cut down, but if railways were opened into the 

 country a large qwantity could be brought down. It 

 would be useless to import any very, heavy, tough 

 kind of timber, as there would not be a sufficient 

 demand to make it remunerative ; there were excellent 

 timbers in the West Indies which could be easily 

 brought if the price offered would justify it. The 

 paper was very valuable, as suggesting to Colonists 

 what sort of timber to plant, in the manner pointed 

 out by Sir Charles Mills. The vellow wood of the 

 Cape, for instance, being applicable to so many pur- 

 poses, should be developed ; he had seen it growing 

 in Saint Helena, and had introduced it into tbe West 

 Indies, where it grew very well. The straight-grained 

 cedar, which he had already referred to, w»s easily 

 worked, and it might be grown in any part of the 

 West Indies, at elevations of from 1,000 to 4,000 feet. 

 In many of the Colonies there were extensive tracts, 

 once occupied as sugar estates, which could very well 



now be planted with timber, such as the yellow wood 

 or cedar ; and there was no doubt the time was 

 coming when reaf foresting must occupy more atten- 

 tion in all the Colonies. The forests were cut down, 

 and the land used for other purposes, and when it 

 was exhausted by cultivation, it was often left to go to 

 bush or jungle, when it would be much better to 

 plant timber. In different parts of the world trees 

 could be found adapted for any waste places, some 

 for clay, others for rocky soil, and so on, and cedar, 

 for instance, would grow well in a limestone soil. 

 It often happened, too, owing to the change of clim- 

 ate arising from cultivation, that trees from else- 

 where did better than those which were originally 

 indigenous. Australiaa and Cape trees did better in 

 the West Indies than those which originally grew 

 there. 



Mr. (t. N. Hooper said, as a carriage-builder, he had 

 not had much experience of these woods, but he left 

 much indebted to Mr. Kansome and to the Society 

 of Arts for initiating this discussion, which would 

 tend more than anything else to achieve the result 

 desired by the Colonies of finding a market for these 

 timbers. There had been too much laxity in pre- 

 paring some of the specimens sent to the Exhibition; 

 for instance, he heard that those from Canada were 

 collected in a short space of time, so that the 

 necessary care could not be given to them. In 1862, 

 being on the jury on the carriage department at the 

 Exhibition, he had to examine woods sent for some 

 of the Colonies, and published a list of those suitable 

 for carriage purposes; but for twenty-five years 

 nothing came of it. Meetings of this sort were a 

 much more practical way of bringing- the matter 

 before manufacturers and those interested in tbe 

 trade. Manufacturers required full information with 

 regard to any new wood as to its (jualities, and the 

 proper method of seasoning, without which a good 

 article might be unfairly condemned ; they also 

 required to know the price at which it could be 

 delivered, and if the supply could be depended on, 

 for it did not do to introduce a material and then 

 have to use something else. Various new proce8.ses 

 for seasoning timber were coming into use, and h? had 

 seen in America, at the Pullman works, a process which 

 was then new to him, but which, he was told, was 

 being intrcaduced here. Large sheds were used, in 

 which the timber was stacked and steamed for so 

 many hours, after which it was exhausted by a 

 fan, and hot air blown in. The result .seemed 

 very good, judging by the work turned out. which 

 was first-rate, both in material and finish. The cold 

 air system spoken of by Mr. Ransome seemed to 

 succeed well, certainly, if the period of seasoning 

 could be curtailed, it would lead to immense economy. 

 He could bear testimony to the excellent quality 

 of some of the woods at the Exhibition which 

 were worked up. Those in the South African wagons 

 were very fine, and the workmanship was also good, 

 and he was informed that one of those wagons had 

 been made by Kaftirs, under English superintendence. 

 He would also draw attention to the excessive waste 

 of timber in some of the Colonies. He had been 

 painfully struck by it in Canada, some of the waste 

 being accidental and some wilful, but the destruction 

 of good material was most lamentable. Two Oom- 

 mitees of the House of Commons discussed the 

 que-tion of founding schools of fcestry, fjr up to 

 the present young men trained for the Indian Forest 

 Department had to go to France or Germany for in- 

 struction. Much good had already been done in 

 India in this wnv, and tlu'i-e w <s no rene'Hi whv 

 equally good results should not follow in England and 

 Scotland, and especially in the Colonies, from at-'-ntion 

 being paid to the forests. He thouybt there stiould 

 b" schools of three grades, one of the actual work- 

 ing men, one for the superinten lent-, and a higli 

 school for proprietors of forests ami those who 

 worked them commercially. It occurred to him that 

 as all kinds of garden produce were improved by 

 cultivation, so it must be with trees. ISfuch of the 

 timber in this country, oak, ash, and elm, was un- 

 surpassed in quality, it being grown under conditions 



