HARDWOOD RECORD 



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small vessels can load iluring favorable conditions. Owing to this 

 fact, the timber from these forests must be carried in small sailing 

 vessels to a central shipping point, like Sydney, where it must be 

 loaded on large steamers. The expense of handling the heavy tim- 

 ber will naturally prevent the trade from being a very profitable 

 one. It is now rather diiBcult to procure an area of virgin tim- 

 berland within easy reach of a deep water shipping port. 



Some of the timbers which have been exploited for the foreign 

 trade are the following: 



EUCALYPTUS TELEGRAPH POLES CUT FROM A PLAN T.vnoX IN SOUTHERN AUSTRALLV 



Jarrah is a local name given to Eitcah/ptii.',- vwrgiiiata, which is 

 restricted to western Australia. Jarrah, or djaryl, is the aborigi- 

 nal name, and it is commonly called mahogany, from its similarity 

 to the wood from Mexico. Central 

 America, and the West Indies. It is 

 adaptable for furniture and every pur- 

 pose for which ornamental wood can be 

 required, some of it being of the very finest 

 grain, and showing much figure, mottled 

 curls, feathers, and excrescences, a feature 

 peculiar to Australian timbers, and highly 

 effective in point of ornament. The tree 

 grows to an immense size, attains a great 

 height, and is very plentiful. The advan- 

 tages of this timber are its great strength, 

 hardness, and closeness of grain, combined 

 with durability under exposure to either salt 

 or fresh water. It is never attacked by 

 white ants or by teredos, which abound in 

 tropical and semi-tropical eeas, and this con- 

 fers upon it an additional value. It some- 

 what resembles the red gum in appearance, 

 Ijut the grain is darker, finer, and closer than 

 that of the latter wood, and it is susceptible 

 •of a very high polish, which brings out a 

 rich dark hue. It is invaluable for use in 

 ■shipbuilding, pier, and railway construction, 

 as well as for the interior of buildings, and 

 for furniture. It is found to be the most 

 durable of all woods. The jarrah is much 

 sought after for railway sleepers and tele- 

 graph posts in India and other parts of the 



East Indies. It is admirably adapted for dock gates, piles, and 

 other purposes, and for keel pieces, kelsons, and for other heavy 

 timber in shipbuilding. Large sailing vessels were formerly built 

 of this wood. The timber has been used by government in the 

 construction of military barracks in Ceylon, where it was at one 

 time supplied at a little more than half the price charged for 

 Indian teak. The principal objection raised against it is that it 

 is liable to ' ' shakes, ' ' the trees being very commonly unsound at 

 the heart. 



The wart gum (Eucalyptus gompTioce- 

 phala) is one of the white gums, and has a 

 very close grain, is exceedingly hard, can- 

 not be split, and does not burn very 

 readily. This wood has been suggested for 

 use in gun carriages, on account of its non- 

 liability to split. The timber of this tree 

 exhibits the wonderful quality of being 

 absolutely impervious to the inroads of 

 teredo, so destructive to wharves, jetties, 

 and any sort of naval structure exposed to 

 sea water. The durability of this timber, 

 when used in the construction of piers, 

 wharves, and jetties, involves an interest- 

 ing and important inquiry, on account of 

 the costliness of these structures, and the 

 rapidity , with which they are apt to suc- 

 cumb to the ' attacks of the teredo. 



Next to these in size and number are 

 those of the red gum {Eucalyptus rostrata). 

 This timber resists for a long time the de- 

 structive agency of the teredo, and is in- 

 ferior only to Swan river mahogany. It is 

 stated that a jetty built of oak procured 

 from a wreclc, was completely destroyed 

 by teredos, whereas the mahogany simi- 

 larly exposed had not been touched by 

 them. 



Red gum is of a beautiful red color, and 

 its pores are filled with a dark red substance which is more pro- 

 nounced than in the ironbark eucalyptus, since in the latter it ap- 

 pears to be diffused in the woody fiber. There is scarcely a more 



TELEGRAl'lI I'ULE.S OF SUGAR GU.M 



