19 



(e) White Beech {Gmelina LeicJihardtn,'E. y.M..) 

 (An illustrated article descriptive of this timber will be found in the Agricultural 



Gazette for May, 1895.) 



Name. — This timber is consistently styled beech or white beech, and is the 

 principal timber called beech in the Colony, although other timbers pass 

 under the name of she-beech, brown beech, &c. Our timber is paler in 

 colour, softer, and is quite a different timber to the beech of Europe. 



Characteristics. — Pale-coloured, — white with a tinge of brown. As a very 

 general rule it is plain, but occasionally it shows a neat grain, which is 

 ornamental. It is rather close-grained and excellent to work. It does not 

 expand in damp or contract in dry weather if moderately seasoned ; in fact, 

 it is one of our few commercial timbers that can be put to use almost as soon 

 as it can be converted into sawn-stufE, although, of course, it is better for 

 seasoning. 



Principal uses. — It is used for very many purposes where a timber harder 

 and more durable than pine, and softer than hardwood is required. Its chief 

 use is for flooring-boards, chiefly of verandahs, and for decks of vessels, 

 because it shrinks so little. Jt would be almost impossible to misplace for 

 ordinary carpentry purposes, and it is commonly used for house-fittings, 

 floats of mill-wheels, ships' blocks, picture frames, &c. It is an excellent wood 

 for carving, and a well-known vigneron pronounces it to be better than oak 

 for the larger casks, and vats for colonial wine. 



Distribution. — In the coast and coast mountain districts from the 

 Shoalhaven northward, but chiefly north of Port Stephens. 



Quantify availalle. — Not abundant. 



(f) Colonial or Moreton Bay Pine {Araucaria Cunninghamii, Ait.) 



(An illustrated article on this timber-tree will be found in the Agricultural Gazette for 



June, 1895.) 



Name. — Called " Moreton Bay pine," because at one time it was largely 

 supplied to Sydney from the Moreton Bay (Brisbane) district. 



Other names.—" White pine," "Richmond Eiver pine" (because it is so 

 plentiful in that district of northern New South Wales), and " Hoop pine." 

 The origin of the last name is thus explained. The bark is of a tough nature, 

 and does not readily decay on exposure. The timber itself is peculiarly 

 liable to decay under such circumstances, and so it happens that when a tree 

 is felled in the forest and chopped into lengths, if allowed to remain, all the 

 wood disappears, leaving the bark as a " hoop" or natural pipe, reminding 

 one of a pipe for water supply. 



Characteristics. — A softwood, not of high class. Durable when used for 

 such purposes as house-fittings, and kept dry, but very liable to decay on 

 exposure. It is apt to get of a dirty colour with age. Planks often show a 

 peculiar dotted appearance, comparable to a bird's-eye maple figure, though 

 less handsome. 



Principal uses. — This is our principal cheap softwood, and will only be 

 available for local use, as the pine timbers of Europe and America are of 

 far superior quality. It is largely used for flooring, lining and ceiling boards, 

 for packing-cases, and for many other purposes where an easily-worked, 

 cheap softwood is required. There is one use, and an increasingly important 

 one, to which colonial pine may be put, and I ask our Eichmond and Clar- 

 ence Eirer millers to take it to heart. I allude to butter-boxes. An 

 enormous quantity is required every year for New South Wales butter, and 



