113 



Bail-. — The greater amount of wattle-bark used by Australian tanners, 

 or exported from our shores, is the produce of 'two species of Acacia — 

 namely, Acacia decurrens (and its varieties) and Acacia pycnantha. There 

 is another Wattle of surpassing excellence, that of Acacia pennin'ervis, 

 variety falciformis, worthy to be mentioned in comparison with these two. 

 Some years ago I examined a wattle-bark from the extreme south of this 

 State, quite different in appearance f romi the smooth barks which are 

 usually associated in Australia with high percentage of tannin. To my 

 surprise I found it to contain 34 per cent, of tannic acid. I repeated the 

 experiments with fresh samples, but the results never varied 1 per cent, 

 altogether. In other words, this bark contains one-third of its weight of 

 tannic acid, calculated on the d,ry bark. Many communications have 

 reached me, particularly from Queensland, in regard to this matter, and 

 the subject is of commercial importance to our State. 



I proceed to give a number of analyses of representative samples of this 

 bark from different places in New South Wales. I have already alluded 

 to one bark which gave 34 per cent, of tannic acid; it also yielded 55-2 per 

 cent, of extract, and came from Brown's Camp, near Delegate. I have not 

 come across a fmer sample of this bark, though there is much of equal 

 .quality. The mature trees which yielded this excellent result must have 

 each contained half a ton of bark. 



Bark from Mount Dromedary, strippedi in December, gave 32-25 per cent, 

 of tannic acid and 5315 of extract. A sample grown at Mount Victoria 

 (Blue Mountains), stripped in June, gave 2903 per cent, of tannic acid, and 

 57-25 per cent, of extract. Height of the tree, 40 feet; diameter of stem, 

 6 inches. Bark from Eylstone (Mudgee Line), stripped in December from 

 young (immature) trees, yielded 25-25 per cent, of tannic acid, and 42-45 per 

 cent, of extract. All the above are from the " broad-lgaved " ■ or typical 

 .k;.nd. 



■ Tiinher. — This wood does not appear to have come into general use; but 

 an expert in the Bombala" district considers it excellent, being 'very durable 

 and very tough, on which account he prefers it to anything else for axe and 

 tool handles. It is said that the timber can almost be bent double upon 

 itself. Trees obtained from high, stony ridges are usually sound, and not 

 attacked by grubs. The above remarks apply to those grown in such a 

 situation. 



Timber examined by me was flesh-coloured, very little sap-wood, and a 

 good, tough timber. Nevertheless, it is inferior to other timbers abundantly 

 available in the places in which it grows. 



• iS'j'zt'. — The typical form is usually a shrub or small tree. The variety 

 falciformis, on the eastern mountain slope and ranges, attains a good height 

 (20 to 40 feet), with a diameter up to 18 inches. Trees £t foot in diameter 

 flVe common. It is found a good size along the strip of forest land fringing 

 the plains of the Monaro. The largest trees appear to occur in the mountain 

 ranges, near Delegate, which form the southern boundary of the Monaro, 

 Tvhere, for instance, near Brown's Camp (the locality from which I first 

 obtained the samples which enabled me to draw attention to the extra- 

 ordinary value of this bark), the trees attain a height of from 40 feet to 

 80 feet, and a diameter up to 2| feet, while trees of a diameter of 18 inches 

 to 24 inches are not scarce in the locality. 



Hahitai.— The typical form is recorded in the " Flora Aus'traliensis " 

 from Queetisland, nortliovn Victoria, southern Tasmania, and from the 

 following New South Wales localities :— Blue Mountains (Sieber n. 458 and 



