TIMBERS OF NEW SOUTH WALES 221 



Narrow-leaved Bark (E. crebra) and Broad-leaved Bark (K. 

 nidcrophloia). This timber is of deep red colour and is 

 inferior to the white or grey variety. All three of the above 

 varieties are used extensively in bridge construction, for 

 beams in buildings, and wherever great strength is required, 

 also for railway sleepers, posts, and for wagon and carriage 

 building. 



Red Ironbark (E. sideroxylon) is the deepest in colour, a 

 much softer wood, and the least valuable of the ironbarks; it 

 is employed in general building and also for railway sleepers 

 and posts. It grows to large dimensions and is rather 

 liable to ring shakes. A common defect in all ironbarks is 

 the round holes made by the larvae of the wood moth, and 

 when these touch the heart of the log decay and rot set in 

 rapidly. 



Tallow Wood (E. microcorys) is a canary colour when fresh, 

 drying to a pale brown. The least liable to shrink of all 

 Australian hardwoods, heavy, dense, close in grain, strong 

 and durable, fairly free from gum veins, it planes and 

 turns well, though not easily, does not easily split, and is, 

 after ironbark, considered the best of the hardwoods of the 

 colony. For carriage and wagon building it excels all 

 other native hardwoods and is used for this purpose even 

 in New Zealand. It is often used for flooring, especially 

 for ball-room floors, where its greasy nature, whence the 

 name is derived, is an advantage. For decking of bridges 

 and wharves it stands first, and it is considered one of the 

 best woods in the colony for street paving. A small 

 amount was laid in the city of Lincoln, England. 



The flooring of Wagga-Wagga Bridge, over 600 ft. in 

 length, was laid with this timber, and it is considered to 

 have a life of thirteen years in such situations. Tallow 

 wood is liable to attack from a small insect which bores at 



