200 



Closely connected with the above is the section (p. 61) on defects and unsoundness 

 in timber when warping, and various blemishes may result as the result of ill-usage 

 of the tree. Much of the " shake " noticed in the large logs, and to which all timber of 

 this kind seems liable, appears to be preventable wholly, or in part, by proper 

 seasoning, careful felling, so that the trees do not come clown with a crash, and rejection 

 of trees of the largest size. 



As important deductions are sometimes drawn in regard to the presence or 

 absence of gum-veins as affecting Eucalyptus timbers, the section on " Kinos " should 

 be referred to. 



Some timbers have a special tendency to shell, and amongst them the Bloodwoods 

 (including E. corymbosa and the Western Australian E. calophylla) can be specially 

 enumerated. E. rostrata and its ally E. tereticomis have a similar tendency, and so has 

 the Western Australian E. redunca. 



The paper on " The Timbers of New South Wales," by J. V. de Coque in Journ. 

 Roy. Soc. N.S.W ., xxviii, 189, 1894, has a useful section, " Effect of Natural Drying 

 or Seasoning," which is illustrated. 



The artificial drying of timber is a technical operation, and must be left to the 

 engineer, working in co-operation with the forester. I must dismiss the subject with 

 a few, mainly Australian, references. 



The question of seasoning of timber is a technical matter now being dealt with 

 by industrial specialists, and greater progress will be made now that our taxonomic 

 knowledge of species is much better than it was a few years ago. 



A valuable contribution to the scientific aspects of the problem will be found in 

 R. T. Patton's paper in Proc. Roy. Soc. Vict., xxi, 403 (1919). 



In a paper published shortly afterwards, the same author, " On the Seasoning of 

 Hardwoods," ib., xxxii, 350 (1920), remarks :— ' The results given in this paper do not 

 claim to settle, in any way, the question of seasoning, but are rather a record of accurate 

 observations made on our timber when treated in various ways." 



In the first paper Mountain Ash (E. regnans) was chiefly used; in the present 

 one Messmate (E. obliqua). Both papers should be referred to. 



At p. 230 of D. E. Hutchins' " A Discussion on Australian Forestry " (Perth, 

 1916), we have sections, "Natural and Artificial Seasoning of Timber," and 

 " Deformation during Seasoning," which should be turned to, as they contain a useful 

 precis of Australian experience up to date. 



