TIMBERS. 337 
similar number being felled, both after a lapse of time being 
opened and compared. If the standing timber compared 
favourably with that felled, the former method might be recom- 
mended for adoption, more particularly to settlers in agricultural 
districts, where the standing timber would offer but a small 
obstruction to farming operations, and might be removed at 
convenience.” 
In regard to the soft brush timbers, it is the experience of 
bushmen that, if they are seasoned in the log they go bad; in 
order to season properly they should be split or cut open soon 
after falling. But, of course, there is a difference between 
seasoning in the log under cover, and allowing the logs to be 
exposed to the weather. 
EXPERIMENTS ON THE STRENGTH OF AUSTRALIAN TIMBERS. 
Experiments on Australian timbers (chiefly hardwoods) have 
occupied different workers for many years, but they vary so much 
in their results, and have been performed under such diverse 
circumstances, that it is impossible to condense them into one 
general statement. In regard to those experiments, the results of 
which are more or less difficult of access to the majority of people, 
the author has given brief statements of the conditions under 
which they were performed, and this, taken in conjunction with 
the plan which he has invariably adopted, of giving all information 
known to him in regard to each timber under the name of that 
timber, will render comparison of the experiments as easy as 
possible. 
In this connection he would invite attention to a paper, en- 
titled “ The Want of a Uniform System in Experimenting upon 
Timber,” by F. A. Campbell, C.E., Proc. Royal Soc. of Victoria, 
gth December, 1886. Mr. Campbell summarises as follows the 
circumstances which affect the results in timber tests :— 
1. Age of tree. 
2. Nature of locality where grown. 
3. Part of tree from which timber is taken. 
_ 4. Length of time seasoned. . 
5. Deflection as affecting the bending moment of a beam. 
6. Size of piece tested. 
zZ 
