rOREST TREES. 221 



England. The forests here are open, and there is little 

 undergrowth in many places. But the ground is every- 

 •n-here covered with dead logs and branches, which lie 

 rotting in the wind and sun — a sure sign that the hand 

 of man has as yet but little interfered with the works of 

 nature. It is curious that most of the trees here are 

 rotten at the core ; the wood of many is very brittle, and 

 huge limbs are continually splitting and falling from the 

 trees without any apparent cause, and with but little 

 warning to the passer below. The wood of all is heavy, 

 sinks in water, and splinters much ; and although, when 

 polished, the grain of many of the trees is beautiful, the 

 wood is in general too hard and stringy to be used much 

 for domestic purposes. Posts and rails, and large slabs 

 for building bush-huts, are about the only uses to which 

 the Australian timber can be put. If this country had 

 only the pine forests and rivers of northern Europe, it 

 would be perfect. But Nature divides her gifts, and 

 what she denies to one land, she bestows on another. 

 If the pine and fir could be introduced into these forests, 

 what a boon would be conferred upon the inhabitants of 

 Australia in the nest century ! The kauri pine of IN'ew' 

 Zealand might surely be grown here. All British trees 

 and shrubs thrive in Australia, and in many a settler's 

 garden we see standard-peaches, nectarines, and rose- 

 trees flourishing, without any artificial aid, in a climate 

 that here renders those trees and shrubs common to all, 

 which at home are but the property of few. 



I have seen some fine gun-stocks made both of cherry 



