4 8 



superior quality. The manufacture would be proceeded with on a 

 large scale on the property referred to, if the site were not 40 miles 

 from a railway station. The wandoo, or white gum, unlike 

 salmon, York or morrell, is a danger signal to the selector, 

 for the country upon which it is found growing most luxuri- 

 antly, is, to use the words of Mr. Ednie Brown, "of a 

 hard, uncompromising nature (decomposed granite), being flat, 

 stagnant, sour, sandy on top, and invariably resting upon 

 pipeclay. This is very boggy in winter and hard in summer." 

 Moreover, the wandoo often grows among poison plants, and in 

 country that is generally waterless unless shallow wells are sunk. 

 It is a well balanced sturdy little tree, with a white trunk speckled 

 with yellow. The timber weighs over 70 Ibs. per cubic foot, and 

 has been found very useful for railway trucks, receiving buffers, and 

 other works requiring resisting strength. In the ground it will last 

 40 years or more as a fencing post. An average tree is one of 

 60 feet or 80 feet in height and 30 inches in diameter. The white 

 gum is the principal tree on the eastern slopes of the Darling 

 range. The gimlet gum, so called from its twisted or fluted shape, is 

 the companion tree of the salmon gum. These are the only trees 

 to be found on many miles of country in the dry territory east of the 

 Darling range. The gimlet gum flourishes on a good retentive soil r 

 stretching beyond Coolgardie, and w r here it has to be cleared to 

 make way for the plough, the harvest is well worth reaping if the 

 rainfall if sufficient. The timber is much of the same class as that 

 of the salmon gum, and is in general use upon the goldrielcls. 



Raspberry jam, an acacia well known in the York and Beverley 

 districts, is a great friend to the settler in supplying him with cheap 

 fencing, although it is lit for higher uses. According to the Con- 

 servator of Forests, it is a small tree of about 30 feet in height, with 

 stems reaching to i foot in diameter and boles 10 feet to 12 feet in 

 height. It is of a handsome rounded shape when allowed to 

 spread out its branches, and the appearance of the leaves is bright 

 green and somewhat pendulous. The vernacular name is derived 

 from the peculiar scent of the wood, which is wonderfully similar to 

 that of raspberries. An oil of this flavour is obtained from the 

 wood by distillation. The w r ood in the ground seems to last for 

 ever, and the smaller trees are used for fencing posts without 

 splitting. It is a beautiful wood, impervious to white ants, dark in 

 the middle, with a white margin on either side, very heavy, and 

 would make an excellent timber for cabinet and ornamental work 

 of all kinds. 



The sandalwood of commerce, which is found occasionally 

 intermixed with wandoo, York gum, and morrell, is an article of 

 export that in the early days of the colony supplied many a farmer 

 with stores and material. It has been so much sought after, as it 

 was worth 7 or ^"<S per ton, that the Conservator of Forests advises 

 that the exhausted districts will have to be replaced by plantations 



