TIMBERS OF THE COLONY. \ 7 7 



Ci(J((r (1)1(1 li(iscir()()(J. 



We now leave the hardwoods, whieli tcnn in jiractice is restrictt'd 

 to Eucalyptus and its allies, ;ind Avhirh does not usually include the 

 l)rush hardwoods, some of wliicli I'aiik amongst the hardest tiuihcrs of 

 the Colony. 



One of the most valualdc tiuiLcrs of this or any otlicr coiiiiti-y is tlic 

 red cedar {Cedrela australi'^, Y.yM.), which resembles the malioj^any 

 of commerce a good deal, with the advantage of possessing only half 

 its weight. It is a superb timber, easy to work, handsome in appear- 

 ance, and durable. It has for many years been the princii)al furniture 

 wood of the Colony, and it has been so much apprec.ted that it is 

 now getting scarce. It is one of our few deciduous trees, and is found 

 in the rich brushes from the Illawarra northward, thougli in market- 

 able quantities only on the nortliern rivers. Closely resembling cedar, 

 and a fair substitute for it is the onion wood {Oicenia cepiodora, F.v.M.) 

 found on the northern rivers. Botanically very closely related to these 

 are the rosewood {Dijsoxijlon Fraserianum, Benth.), and the red bean 

 [D. MueUerl, Benth.) The rosewood has a dainty rose odour, as its 

 name denotes, while the red bean may be described as a scentless 

 rosewood. The rosewood is very abundant ; the red bean less so. 

 Both are admirable furniture woods, and may be recommended for 

 many purposes where a timber a little harder than a soft wood is 

 required. They have a handsome red colour, with often a pleasing 

 figure. The rosewood is particularly valuable as a resistant to white- 

 ants, a circumstance that citizens contemplating the building of a house 

 would do well to bear in mind. 



Pi)ies. 



We boast of two kinds of ])ines which, though not true pines 

 fPhnis) belong, like them, to the cone-bearers (Coniferre). One is 

 the Colonial or Moreton Bay pine, and is confined to our well-watered, 

 rich-soiled northern forests. Its botanical name is Araiicaria Cunniufj- 

 hamii, Ait. It is an inferior pine compared with many of those that 

 are imported, for it lacks durability, and is often a bad colour; but, 

 on the principle, I suppose, of "A prophet is not," kc, our colonial 

 pine does not alwa3^s receive fair treatment. It shoidd ever be borne 

 in mind that the pine from the mountain side is so superior to the 

 pine from the low coast lands as to be practically a different timber ; 

 and secondly, seasoned colonial pine is comparatively light in weight, 

 of good colour, and works well. I have never had a desire to 

 encourage the use of colonial timbers merely on sentimental grounds, 

 but I can state that hundreds of times I have shown planks of 

 colonial pine to citizens who have expressed surprise at its good 

 quality. It has the recommendation of being cheap, and certainly 

 its uses could be advantageously extended — but let it be seasoned. 



Our other pine includes a number of species belonging to the genus 

 CalUtris (Frenda), closely related to the North African tree whicli 

 produces the saudarach of commerce. We call these ])ines cypress 

 pines, and different ones red or black pine, Murray or white i)in(% 

 Richmond River cypress pine, Port Macquarie pine, i'(;c. The chief 

 recommendation of these cypress pines is their power of resistance to 

 white ants — an important recommendation in many parts of Australia 



