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exhibit New South Wales timbers at most Gf the principal International Exhibitions, but I regret to express 

 the opinion that strangers to New South Wales have learnt but little of our timbers, for the reason that we 

 have imparted so little information concerning them. There is no doubt that the conventional method 

 of showing timbers at exhibitions is almost a useless one ; if the object be simply to show the appearance 

 of polished blocks, that might easily be attained by carefully colouring and graining pieces of some light 

 and inexpensive wood which would lend itself to the process. 



The fact of the matter is that exhibition collections are, as a general rule, required at too short a 

 notice for justice to be" done to timbers in regard either to variety or quality. Again, recommendations 

 of this and that timber for this and that purpose have been freely made ; many of them appear to be merely 

 guesses, more or less judicious; and should be prefaced with the words " I think." But to rectify such 

 statements, and to assess a timber at it3 true value takes a long time, perhaps longer than any other 

 vegetable product. Under the direction of the Committee of Management of the Technological Museum, 

 I have for the past three years been collecting logs of New South Wales timbers, with complete sets of 

 herbarium material, in case any doubts should crop up. We have, up to date, nearly 130 logs 4 feet long, 

 most of them of fairly large diameter. They have been cut at the proper season, are now undergoing 

 seasoning, and at the proper time each will be sawn longitudinally into halves, one half displayed to show 

 the nature of the wood, while the. other will be, as far as possible, worked into various articles for which 

 it has been pronounced by various writers to be suited. Pieces will also be available for the testing- 

 machine. Now all this requires much time, and is a serious expense, but there appears to be no golden 

 road to a knowledge of timbers any more than to any other branch of human knowledge. One of my 

 reasons for coming here to-night is to ask members of this important Association to help in this national 

 work of learning the truth about our native timbers. I would say to an individual member, " Keep the 

 timber of a particular species under observation, making notes in regard to the experience of yourself, 

 and trustworthy informants, as to its use and capabilities. Try to prove the truth or falsity of reports. 

 But if the botanical name is not known to you already, it is in the highest degree important to collect 

 flowering and fruiting specimens (usually most conveniently obtained by a gun), from a tree of the same 

 kind. The reason of this is, of course, to give precision to your remarks, for if a tree is ever so valuable, 

 it is obvious that it is of no use unless it can be identified." To the difficulty of identifying Australian trees 

 unless botanical precautions have been taken, I have already alluded. I state a truism when I observe 

 that our knowledge of Australian timbers is in its puling infancy, and I need not further apologise for these 

 prefatory remarks, which are intended to show the state cf the case, and thus engineers may see that the 

 slightest observation, on authenticated timber, is worthy of record and will pave the way for a literature 

 of the subject. 



Modern Systems of Classification. 



1892. — In a lecture delivered by me on 5th September, 1892, before the Sydney- 

 Architectural Association of New South Wales, entitled " Some of the Pale Hardwood 

 Timbers of New South Wales " (" Building and Engineering Journal," Sydney, 10th 

 September, 1892) I divided many of the Eucalyptus timbers (of New South Wales) into 

 pale hardwoods, subdividing them into three groups — (a) hard, interlocked ; (b) fissile ; 

 (c) inferior, such as Gums ; which is a useful practical classification. 



In (a) I included Grey or White Box (E. hemiphloia), Spotted Gum (E. maculata), 

 Tallow-wood (E. microcorys), Blackbutt (E. pilularis), Mountain Gum (E. goniocalyx), 

 Blue Gum of the southern ranges (E. Maideni). 



In (b) the Stringybarks, E. capitellata, macrorrJiyncha, eugenioides, obliqua, 

 Mountain Ash (E. Sieberiana), White Ash (a tree we now know as E. gigantea), White 

 Ash (later described as E. fraxinoides), Cut-tail (a tree we now know as E. regnans 

 var. fastigata), Silver-top (a tree that probably is now known as E. nitens). 



In (c) were grouped Peppermint No. 1 (E. piperita), Peppermint No. 2 (a tree 

 now known as E. radiata), Messmate (E, dives), Manna Gum (E. viminalis), Apple Gum 

 [E, Stuartiana). 



