55 



It is also used for shipbuilding, the construction of wharves and bridges, and for railway sleepers, 

 for the dado, flooring, and fitting of houses, and for furniture ; it is also an excellent wheelwrights' wood. 

 When polished it very much resembles oak, but has a more sparkling grain ; it has a very pretty effect 

 when used for a ballroom floor, or for wainscotting. 



Besides being sawn for almost every purpose, Stringybark is split into fence-rails, palings, and 

 shingles. It is certain that if this wood and the blue gum, properly prepared, were exported to London, 

 a ready sale would be found for it for the construction of carts and vans. It would very well take the 

 place of English oak and ash used for this purpose, which are every year becoming scarcer. In the 

 Tasmanian International Exhibition before-mentioned, a Stringybark sleeper was shown by the Government 

 that had been twenty-five years under traffic. The usual life of this timber in bridges is from twenty 

 to twenty-five years ; sleepers average about fourteen years ; and none of the Government railway buildings, 

 some of which were built twenty-seven years ago, chiefly of this timber, have yet been renewed. 



Specimens of this timber from Bullarook Forest, Victoria, were examined by 

 Mr. F. A. Campbell (Proc. JR. S. Vict., 1879). His values of the tensile strength 

 in pounds per square inch are 8,500, 8,500, and S,200. They broke with a short 

 fracture. The wood was well seasoned, clean, but not quite free from shakes. 

 Mr. Campbell, however, remarked that this should not affect its tensile strength to 

 any extent. It was known locally as messmate. Rankin gives the following 

 particulars in regard to the timber of E. gigantea (obliqua) : Modulus of elasticity 

 in pounds on square inch, 1,709,000 ; modulus of rupture, 18,000; weight, 54 lb. 

 per cubic foot. 



Experiments on the transverse strength of the wood of E. obliqua by Baron Mueller 

 and J. G. Luehmann. The specimens were 2 feet long and 2 inches square. 



Deflection. 



Total weight 



required 



to break each 



piece. 



Value 



of strength 



s LW 



' 4BD- 



Specific Gravity. 



With the 



apparatus 



weighing "SO lb. 



At the crisis 

 of breaking. 



Air-dried. 



Absolutely 

 dried. 



inches. 

 •12 



•14 



inches. 

 •50 



•48 



pounds. 

 2,053 



1,776 



1,540 

 1,332 



1-045 

 •935 



•867 

 •783 



Some experiments by Mr. James Mitchell on Tasmanian stringybark will be 

 found in Proc. Boy. Soc. V. D. Land, II, part i, p. 124 (1852). 



It has also been tested by Mr. James Mann ("Australian Timber," 1900), 

 and by Mr. A. O. Green ("Tasmanian Timbers," 1902). 



Essential OIL — The leaves yield - 5 per cent, of a reddish-yellow oil of 

 mild odour and bitter taste ; specific gravity, 0'899. It boils from 171-195° 

 (Wittstein and Mueller). An oil obtained in Portugal had the specific gravity 



