60 



After Ironbark I would place this timber second only to Tallow-wood, 

 amongst our hardwoods, for general purposes. Of late years it has been 

 used for railway sleepers, and it has been exported to Europe for sides and 

 head-stocks for railway waggons as an experiment. 



Size. It is one of the largest of our eucalypts, and giant trees have been 

 recorded over the greater portion of the area in which it abounds. 



A tree at Bulli was measured by me in 1891, with the following results : 



Girth at ground, measuring from buttress to butttress, 57 ft. 6 in.; the 

 girth at 3 feet from the ground was 45 feet; and at 6 feet above the 

 ground, 40 feet. The taper was then very gradual for about 90 feet 

 (estimated), where the head is broken off. There are ten principal but- 

 tresses of an average diameter of over 2 feet, but they practically cease to 

 flute the trunk at a height of 10 to 15 feet. This is, probably, the identical 

 tree measured by the late Sir William Macarthur in 1861 at u Bullai, Illa- 

 warra, still in full vigour, and with no external symptoms of decay, 41 feet 

 in circumference, with the bole of immense height." Mr. A. G. Hamilton 

 speaks of " Bulli Blackbutt, 22 yards in circumference at ground, and at 

 stump height would be not much less, as it does not taper much." One 

 at Gosford was measured 156 feet high, and 23 feet in circumtference at a 

 height of 6 feet. 



Habitat. Extending into Queensland on the north, and to Twofold Bay, 

 New South Wales, on the south, from the coast up the slopes and spurs 

 of the Dividing Range to the Table-land, but apparently not found more 

 than 100 miles from the coast, and scarcely crossing on to the western slope 

 in any place. 



This species attains its greatest development in Xew South Wales. The 

 type came from Port Jackson, and it is the coastal form of the species, as a 

 rule. 



I have not seen it from Victoria, but should not be surprised to find it 

 in north-eastern Gippsland. 



Propagation. It is well known that the Blackbutt reproduces itself more 

 freely and more rapidly than most other hardwoods, so much so that when a 

 large one is felled, a dense growth of seedlings, growing into straight 

 saplings, is the usual consequence. It, however, reproduces itself most 

 abundantly upon rich moist fiats, which is the description of land in 

 greatest demand for agricultural pursuits, so that it will, no doubt, be 

 necessary in future to revoke portions of the most easily accessible and 

 richest land in the blackbutt forests in the interests of selectors and for 

 encouragement of agriculture. Wherever practicable, I would recommend 

 the retention of Blackbutt forest reserves, even although the mature timber 

 may have been removed, therefrom, and also the proclamation of additional 

 Blackbutt reserves in suitable localities not likely to be required for settle- 

 ment, and, at the same time, the preservation and conservation of other 

 useful species of hardwoods, which are not so abundant as Blackbutt. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE 116. 

 Typical form -from Port Jackson. 



1. Young shoot. ]>ortion of a seedling. Note the dentate margin, 



and tufts of hairs; also anthers. 



2. Flowering twig, the buds with pointed opercula. 



3. The fruits are nearly globular (pilular). 



