70 



An official report says : 



Stringybark. can be obtained in patches all over Tasmania, but is most 

 abundant in the south; like the Blue Gum (E. globulux) it can be got of any 

 reasonable length or size. It is of quicker growth than the gum, and is of a 

 lighter and milder nature generally. The timber is much used in Tasmania 

 and in the adjacent colonies for house-building, &c. To ensure durability, the 

 wood requires fair seasoning. The different varieties are: Guru-top Stringy- 

 bark, Brown and White Stringybark (the brown being the older growth)^ 

 The White Stringybark makes good palings and shingles. 



Another official report says : 



Euculi/irfua oltliqua (Stringybark) is our most valuable wood. It differs 

 from and is better than the Stringybark of Australia. The timber is light- 

 coloured, and varies considerably from a brown wood, resembling oak, to a 

 much lighter-coloured wood, resembling ash ; and because of the great variety 

 of its uses and its abundance, is more valuable, economically, than Blue Gum, 

 The bark might be made a source of income, as it is suitable for the manu- 

 facture of paper. 



The timber, as I have already hinted, appears to be more valued in 

 Tasmania than 011 the mainland; the utilisation of its bark as a paper- 

 making material is not likely to have any commercial importance, what- 

 ever future may lie before the timber in this direction. 



The following account of E. obliqua timber is taken from Mr. A. O. 

 Green's pamphlet on " Tasmaniaii Timbers" (1902). It and the Blue Gum 

 {E. globulus') are the two most valuable timbers of Tasmania, hence the 

 comparison by Mr. Green and by the author already quoted: 



Stringybark trees are very much more widely distributed through the island 

 than the Blue Gum (/:. globulus), growing over large tracts of poor, hilly 

 country. They attain to an immense size up to 300* feet in height, and 

 from 2 to 10 feet in diameter. The wood is. 011 the whole, of a lighter colour 

 than Blue Gum, and varies from a pale straw to a reddish-brown. In appear- 

 ance Brown Stringybark is somewhat like oak, and it would be a difficult 

 matter for most people to distinguish a picture-frame made of Stringybark 

 from one made of oak. The timber varies considerably, according to the 

 situation and soil in which the tree grows. In appearance it is freer than 

 Blue Gum, but lacks the purplish tint, and is more subject to gum-veins. It is 

 the most general timber for all sorts of constructive work in Tasmania. Ii 

 makes excellent piles, especially for fresh water, but is not considered quite so 

 good as Blue Guui for salt water, being more subject to the attacks of the 

 teredo. It is also used for shipbuilding, the construction of wharfs and bridges, 

 and for railway sleepers, for the dado, flooring, and fitting of houses, and for 

 furniture; it is also an excellent wheelwrights' wood. When polished it very 

 much resembles oak, but has a more sparkling grain; it has a very pretty 

 effect when used for a ballroom floor, or for wainscotting. 



Besides being sawn for almost every purpose, Stringybark is split into fence/ 

 rails, palings, and shingles. It is certain that if this wood and the Blue Gum. 

 properly prepared, were exported to London, a ready sale would be found for 

 it. for the construction of carts and vans. It would very well take the place 

 of English oak and ash used for this purpose, which are every year becoming 

 scarcer. In an International Exhibition a Stringybark sleeper was shown, by 

 the Tasmaniaii Government, that had been twenty-live years under traffic. 

 The usual life of this timber, in bridges, is from twenty to twenty-five years: 

 sleepers average about fourteen years; and none of the Government railway 

 buildings, some of which were built twenty-seven years ago, chiefly of this 

 timber, have yet been renewed. 



Size. It attains the dignity of a large tree. So far as I know, it attains 

 its greatest development in Tasmania. In the first part of the letters of 

 Quaker Missionary Backhouse there are some measurements of large 



* This may be so, but I like particulars of all trees uhcse measurements are reported to approach 300 feet 



