TIMBER IN TASMANIA. 27 



bark, 100 feet long and 18 inches square, break right 

 across the centre, Avhere one of these knots existed, 

 merely from its own weight, which would be from nine 

 to ten tons. In selecting, therefore, the Blue-gum here, 

 I have studiously avoided all bad or suspicious knots, a 

 defect which might, at a critical moment of its use, 

 occasion serious damage to life and property. You will 

 at once perceive how very careful we must be in the 

 quality of the timber, and in the construction of the 

 temporary staging, in which it is the prominent feature, 

 when you hear that every part of this staging must be 

 able to sustain a weight and resist a pressure of 450 tons 

 throughout. Of course, I have had a long experience in 

 Baltic and American timber, but, with the exception of 

 rock-elm, which is a very treacherous wood, 1 have 

 seldom seen knots so detrimental to the value of the log 

 as in eucalyptus, I have often seen Danzig timber full 

 of knots, but as long as it was not required for sawing 

 purposes it could perfectly well be employed for beams, 

 and, in fact, sometimes the knots were the strongest part ; 

 but in eucalytus my experience is that the tendency in 

 the knots is to rot, and, if I may, I would suggest to your 

 timber exporters to be very cautious in their selection in 

 this respect. Of course, it is impossible, or nearly so, to 

 get wood quite perfect, and Blue-gum, as well as Stringy- 

 bark, has the defect of shakes and shrinkage ; but both 

 these may be very considerably modified by care and 

 attention. At first I was rather" frightened to drive 

 piles which had great shakes at the ends, but I must 

 say that, with one or two exceptions, they bore the 

 ordeal very well. All those piles which I am now send- 

 ing to Dover are ringed at both ends in the bush before 

 being transported to the beach by tramway ; and I find 

 this a very good preventative. I think that, generally 

 speaking, these shakes are more detrimental to the 

 appearance of the timber than injurious to its real value 

 But for timber which has to be sold in open market, of 

 course it would be wrong to overlook the fact that these 

 shakes might prove a serious obstacle to their sale. 

 Ringing large logs, painting or tarring the ends, particu- 

 larly of planks or boards, will, I feel certain, help to 

 diminish this. As for "shrinkage," cutting at the 

 proper time, or ring-barked three or six months before 



