354 THE VALUE OF TIMBER. [Oct. 



50 or 60 feet and from 10 to 15 feet of girtli. Great care, how- 

 ever, was necessary in selecting and cutting the trees, those grown 

 on the slopes of the ironstone ranges being the best. The most 

 reliable timber was not always procured from the largest trees, those 

 of smaller growth giving on an average a turn-out of about 200 

 cubic feet of clean timber. The reputation of the jarrah was fast 

 spreading, and it had been described by standard writers on the 

 subject as unsurpassed where special tests were necessary. The 

 karri, also from Western Australia, had come into prominence 

 recently, and gave promise of rivalling jarrah in importance. So far 

 it had not been much used in South Australia for general purposes, 

 but the timber inspector to the Admiralty (Mr. Thos. Laslett) gave 

 karri a very high position. The tensile experiments placed it mucli 

 higher than jarrah. A piece of each wood 2x3x30 inches showed 

 about the same specific gravity, arid while the jarrah broke with a 

 weight of 11,760 lbs. the karri withstood a load of 28,280 lbs. 

 The average crushing weight to one square inch was stated to be — 

 jarrah, 3"198 tons; and karri, 5*140 tons. In a list of timbers 

 suitable for shipbuilding purposes, emanating from Lloyd's, East 

 Indian teak was classed at fourteen years ; karri, jarrah, oaks from 

 English, Adriatic, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French forests, 

 together with morung, saul, greenheart, morra, ironbark, Penang cedar, 

 etc., were classed at twelve years ; whilst other European oaks, white 

 oak, mahogany, Spanish chestnut, and blue gum, pitch-pine, larch, etc., 

 are allowed nine years. Baltic pines, spruce, and Scotch firs were 

 placed as low as six years. Singapore cedar was another well-known 

 wood that had been extensively used in South Australia, but it had 

 gradually lost its reputation, owing principally to careless selection 

 in the forests. There was no timber that varied so much as this, 

 the red-coloured, close-grained wood being equal to the best jarrah, 

 and much more easily worked, while the light spongy wood was 

 absolutely valueless. The sugar gum from the Wirrabara forests had 

 latterly been brought into use in some of the public works in the 

 colony with fair success, it being a close-grained wood much like 

 the best blue gum, and according to the conservator of forests it had 

 very satisfactorily witlistood the attacks of insects. Blue gum was 

 very much akin to the sugar gum, and that from the Mount Lofty 

 ranges was principally used for " felloes," which, if cut from care- 

 fully selected and seasoned timber, were unsurpassed. Much of the 

 so-called blue gum imported was very inferior, and cargoes from 

 Corner Inlet and Tasmania had proved no better than stringy bark. 

 The wood shrank, cracked, and twisted, and had lowered the reputa- 

 tion of blue gum. Ironbark and spotted gum from New South Wales 

 and Queensland were good hard timbers, especially adapted for 



