52 TASMANIAN TIMBERS. 



base of the leaf-stalk. It produces a wood similar to the 

 Silver Wattle, but darker in colour, heavier, and stronger 

 The bark is so valuable, and largely used for tanning, that 

 very feAv large trees are to be found. It will grow to a 

 height of forty feet, and a diameter of two feet. It comes 

 up readily from seed in light soils, and may be made a profit- 

 able source of income, if systematically cultivated, for the 

 bark. 



CONIFERAE 



HUON PINE (Dacrydium franklinii). 



The Huon Pine, so-called from the Huon River, where 

 first found, and also named after Sir John Franklin, is a 

 pine which grows to a great size in the river-bottoms of the 

 West Coast, with a diameter of eight or ten feet, but the 

 ordinary size of the tree will give a plank of from fourteen 

 to thirty inches in width and up to twenty feet in length. 

 The wood is straight-grained, and heavy for a pine, of a 

 bright yellow straw-colour, and very full of an essential oil, 

 which causes it to be almost rot-proof. When made into 

 furniture, the essential oil slowly oxidises, and the wood 

 turns to a smoky-brown colour with age. It is a splendid 

 joiner's wood, and is especially useful for boat-planking, a^ 

 the teredo objects to the essential oil. 



The supply is little more than sufficient for the local de- 

 mand, but it is a timber that is well worth systematic culti- 

 vation. Most of the finest timber grows below flood-level, 

 and it is an exception to the rule that durable timber does 

 not grow in swampy ground, Huon Pine being one of the most 

 durable timbers known. It is not a tough wood, having 

 rather a short fracture, but it steams and bends well. Some 

 trees will cut very handsome figured panels. It has a strong 

 and, to some people, rather a sickly odour. The logs are cut 

 in almost inaccessible gullies, and floated down the streams 

 to the seaport, where they are shipped, generally, to Hobart. 



