XXVI.] 



IRON-BARK. 



199 



TABLE C. 

 Vertical or Crushing Strain on cubes of '6 inches. 



E = 9395- S = 2264. 

 THE IRON-BARK TREE (Eucalyptus rcsiniferd) 



is found very widely spread over a large part of Aus- 

 tralia, and is considered to be abundant. It is a lofty 

 and erect tree of moderate circumference, and yields 

 timber of from 20 to 40 feet in length, by from 1 1 to 16 

 or 1 8 inches square. It is believed to have been named 

 as above by some of the earliest Australian settlers, on 

 account of the extreme hardness of its bark; but it 

 might with equal reason have been called iron-wood. 



The wood is of a deep red colour, very hard, heavy, 

 strong, extremely rigid, and rather difficult to work. 

 It has a plain straight grain, and the pores, which are 

 very minute, are filled with a hard, white, brittle secre- 

 tion. The tree is generally sound, but liable to the 

 defect of both heart and star-shake, and on this account 

 it is not usually very solid about the centre, consequently 

 the timber cannot be employed with advantage except 

 in stout planks or large scantlings. 



It is used extensively in ship-building and engineer- 

 ing works in Australia, and in this country it is employed 

 in the mercantile navy for beams, keelsons, and in many 

 ways in the construction of ships, especially below the 

 line of flotation, where a heavy material is not con- 

 sidered objectionable. For civil architecture, the orna- 

 mental and the domestic arts, it is not, however, likely 

 to be in much request, its extreme hardness and great 

 weight precluding it from general use. 



