AMERICAN LUMBER IN FOREIGN MARKETS. 147 



The following trees of the Eucalyptus tribe are the most important : 



The red guin tree (Eucalyptus rostrata), the timber of which is one of 

 the most highly esteemed among the Eucalypti in all Australia, being 

 heavy, hard, strong, and extremely durable, either above or under 

 ground, or in water. For these reasons it is very much prized for fence 

 posts, piles, and railway sleepers. For the latter purpose it will last 

 at least a dozen years, and, if well selected, much longer. The late 

 commissioner of railways reported that sleepers were found quite 

 sound after being twenty-four years in use. It is not to be surpassed 

 in endurance for wood bricks in street paving and for tramways. 



The blue gum tree (Eucalyptus globulus) furnishes a first- class wood. 

 Shipbuilders can get keels of the timber 120 feet long; besides this, it 

 is used for planking and many other parts of the ship. Experiments on 

 the strength of various woods, instituted by the Government botanist, 

 proved the wood of the blue guin tree, in an average of eleven tests, 

 to be about equal to the best English oak, American white oak, and 

 American ash. Blue guin wood is very extensively used by carpenters 

 for all kinds of outdoor work, joists and studs for wooden houses; also 

 for fence rails, telegraph poles, railway sleepers (lasting nine years or 

 more), for shafts and spokes of drays and a variety of other purposes. 



The iron bark tree (Eucalyptus lencoxylon) furnishes a most valuable 

 timber, showing great strength and hardness, and much prized for its 

 durability. It is largely employed by wagon builders for wheels and 

 poles, and is also used by turners for rough work. It proved to be the 

 strongest of all the woods hitherto subjected to test by the Govern- 

 ment botanist, bearing nearly twice the strain of American oak and 

 ash, and excelling hickory by about 18 per cent. It is much recom- 

 mended for railway sleepers and extensively used in underground min- 

 ing work. It is likewise very extensively employed for the handles of 

 axes and other implements by Victorian manufacturers. 



Besides the Eucalypti, the evergreen beech (fagus Cunninghami) and 

 blackwood (acacia melanoxylon) are the most important timber trees, 

 the latter especially being found admirably adapted for the manufacture 

 of railway carriages; also for furniture, which is almost indistinguish- 

 able from that made of the best walnut. 



IMPORTS OF LUMBER. 



In consequence of the native woods being hard, and therefore not 

 easily worked, it is necessary to import almost all the timber required 

 for building purposes. 



