222 IfATUBAL HISTORY SKETCHES. 



and light wood, but although they may be prized as 

 curiosities, for use they are not to be compared to a good 

 bit of walnut. As a hint, however, I may here add, that 

 if a man fancies a tree for a gun-stock and many of the 

 cherries and light-wood trees, which are the best for this 

 purpose, have a capital curve he should cut down a 

 tree, not too large, hack it roughly into shape, and bury 

 it in the ground for some time to season, and it will not 

 split. 



About thirty-five different species of trees, whose wood 

 can be put to useful purposes, are, I believe, known to 

 grow in Victoria. 



The gum is certainly the Australian oak, and monarch 

 of the forests here ; but although it often grows to an 

 immense size, and is a handsome wide-spreading tree, it 

 has not the majestic or durable appearance of the British 

 oak : moreover, the wood is worth nothing in comparison ; 

 the butt is very short, for the branches begin to spring 

 out afc a short distance up, and the wood is hard and 

 splintery, and little good, except for firing. The branches 

 are more crooked and twisted than in any tree I ever 

 saw. The trees soon rot; and an old gum-tree shows 

 more signs of premature decay, than as being fairly worn 

 out by old age. The bark is as smooth as glass, and the 

 trees very difficult to climb. The leaves are long, and 

 ttipse grow in drooping clusters, of a pale-green colour, 

 white under. The blossom is pretty, of a pale-yellow 

 colour, in thick bunches, and the pollen and honey from 

 afford a rich treat to the honey-eating birds of 



