174 ' ^^W SOUTH WALES. 



its liability to gum-veins, consequently large sizes are often defective. 

 Gum-veins of moderate size do not affect the durability of a timber, 

 and my ad\'ice to municipal authorities would be to encourage its use 

 for paving-blocks, kerbing, &c. The authorities of some country and 

 suburban municipalities, where suitable stone is not available, might 

 be reminded that many of our hardwoods form cheap, durable, and 

 neat kerbing-. And in a township hardly anything is more important, 

 both for aasthetic and sanitary reasons, than well-defined roads and 

 paths. The grey gum is well known, amongst forest trees, by the dull 

 grey appearance of its bark, with irregular white blotches. 



The Murray red gum [E. rostrata, Schlecht.) is chiefly found on the 

 flats, subject to inundation, adjacent to the rivers Murray, Edwards, 

 and other rivers and creeks near the New South AVales-Victorian 

 boundary. It is also found in the western districts, always either on 

 the banks of a river, or on land subject to inundation. The great 

 bulk of the Murray red gum forests are in New South Wales, and 

 are largely Avorked for the purpose of supplying Victorian demand. 

 In the southern colony it is used in enormous quantities for railway 

 sleepers, wood blocks, and other situations, such as for posts, house 

 blocks, &c., in which a very dui-able timber is necessary, A draw- 

 back to it is some tendency to shell off, which limits its uses for such 

 purposes as flooring and decking. 



Closely allied to the preceding is the Forest red gum {E. tereti- 

 cornis, Sm.) which is found in open forests, and is not a riverside tree 

 like the preceding. As might be expected from its wide geographical 

 range, and the various soils in which it is found, it varies in quality, 

 but in most parts of the Colony the mature timber is of a very durable 

 character, and hence is used for posts in the ground, a severe test of 

 the durability of any timber. It is a tree that is often gnarled, and 

 shows unmistakable evidence on its trunk of the twisted, interlocked 

 character of its timber. It is consequently difficult to season, but it 

 is worth taking some pains over. 



Both the Murray and Forest red gums are smooth-barked trees,' 

 with the thin outer layer of bark falling off in small ribbons. 



The Sydney blue gum (jE*. saligna, Sm.) is, for the most part, a 

 smooth-barked tree, but the lower part of the trunk has rough, fibrous 

 bark for a height which varies in different districts and situations. It 

 is usually found on the well-drained sides of hills, but a variety 

 (known as Flooded gum) usually frequents the banks of streams, or 

 land subject to inundation. In exceptional cases the two timbers 

 grow intermingled. The flooded gum yields a timber usually inferior 

 in quality to blue gum, and it must not be confused with the Murray 

 red gum, of which the name flooded gum is a synonym. The blue 

 gum of Tasmania and Victoria {E. glohulus) is a pale-coloured timber, 

 quite different in appearance to the Sydney blue gum, which is a red 

 timber usually paler in colour than red mahogany or red gum. It 

 is straight in the grain, comparatively easy to work, and therefore, 

 for a hardwood, a favourite with carpenters. It is the timber most 

 largely used in this Colony for felloes of wheels. 



The Woollybutt {E. longifolia, Link, et Otto.), so called because 

 of the fibrous, woolly texture of its bai-k, is a tree that attains its best 

 development in the southern coast districts. It is not one of our best 



