With our Eucalyptus (gum trees) little has been done to test their qualities in this line, although one 

 of the first common names applied to them was in connection with cabinet nomenclature, viz., 

 " Mahogany," this designation being bestowed upon Eucalyptus resintfera, Sm., by the first settlers at 

 Port Jackson, where it was then a common tree. Later, however, it was found that there were other trees 

 far more deserving the appellation as they more nearly approached in colour and texture the original 

 Mahogany, Swtefenia Ma ho gam from Honduras. Western Australians and Tasmanians, however, are 

 losing no opportunity of bringing their beautiful Eucalyptus timbers before the British public, for at the 

 Imperial Institute there is exhibited some fine suites of furniture and other samples of the cabinet-makers' 

 art in Karri and Jarrah, and these are an object lesson to the other States in the matter of a better 

 utilisation of some of the Eucalypts in this direction. Our Red Boxes, Red Gums, Slaty Gum, and others 

 are very suitable for special lines of this branch of technology. 



Before leaving the Eucalypts, a word must be said in praise of our much despised " Stringybarks " 

 for cabinet work, for it is in them that Australia has an excellent substitute for the imported " Oaks," and 

 what is of great importance, the supply is unlimited for many years to come. 



For the utilisation of "Stringybarks" in Applied Art, credit must be given to the Tasmanian, 

 for in his Island home one finds the "Stringybarks' largely manufactured into furniture, office fittings, 

 church fittings and decoration, wood-carving, panellings, and various other forms of decorative art. 



For this class of work these have a particularly attractive and pleasing appearance, the two species 

 specially selected being E. Delegatensis and E. obliqua ; the former for preference, as it prepares well and 

 makes very attractive articles of an " Oak " colour. Both these species occur on the mainland as well as in 

 Tasmania, and altogether there are something like twenty species of "Stringybarks" none of which 

 appears ever to have been used in this direction, so here is a big field of investigation for our cabinet- 

 makers. Thousands of " Stringybarks " have been cut down and destroyed in the past as worthless. I 

 regard the introduction here of the "Stringybarks " as a cabinet timber as one of the salient points in this 

 work, for apart from other considerations the supply is apparently inexhaustible. 



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