208 
Mill," upon the * Ferguson River," measured 22 feet in circum- 
ference at 5 feet up from the ground, and 80 feet to the first 
ranch. It is a fine, straight, handsome tree, apparently perfectly 
sound, and would turn out at least 20 loads of good sawn timber. 
Another large specimen on the * Ferguson " area was 21 feet in 
circumference at 4 feet from the Deka and 75 feetto the first 
branch. nd yet another, this time in the “ Ironpot ” area, 
measured 22 feet in nn at 4 e up, and 60 feet to the 
first limb. These few insta of the actual measurements of 
large Jarrah trees will show p Wilke an er size the species 
will sometimes attain, under what must, of course, be favourable 
circumstances. 
As regards the age of the tree siu it has attained a diameter 
of about 2 feet, or has reached that stage when it may be con- 
sidered fit for the saw mill, I have gone carefully into this 
question by having pet cut down and their concentric r rings 
counted, and have come to the conclusion that in good situations 
it will attain this size when about 40 or 50 years of age. 
o far as my observations have extended, the Jarrah is con- 
fined in its distribution to what is known as the South-western 
Division of the Colony, and this, I understand, is practically its 
eographical limits. This district lies along the western coast of 
the Colony, between latitudes 31 degrees and 35 degrees south, 
and longitude 115 degrees and 119 degrees east. This means a 
stretch of country extending nearly 350 miles running north and 
south, and from 50 to 100 miles east and west, and embraces all 
that portion of the country upon which the heaviest rains of the 
season fall, which measure 40 inches in the south and 35 inches 
in the north. An average of 10 years shows the rainfall of this, 
the atare . of the Colony, as 38 inches 
The J s purely a semi-coastal tree, by Which I mean that 
it is not be as nywhere strictly beyond the influence of the sea, 
and yet is not at all partial to the direct effects of the rn 
Perhaps the best forests of the species are found from 20 to 30 
miles off the coastal line. Whether this fact is only co- Meus 
with the heavy rainfall district, and whether, with an equal rain- 
fall more inland, the result of growth would be equally as good 
as ye the coast, I am not prepared to say. 
The principal habitat of the tree is therefore along the table- 
lands and slopes of the Darling Range, which runs through nearly 
the whole of the en pex et the best areas of 
Jarrah lie along that portion of this e from the Blackwood 
River north to the filia: River, with t the oie portions mid- | 
way between these two points. In all cases it delights in an 
ironstone formation, and it would almost appear as though the 
rougher Se site and the more it is composed of ironstone rocks 
| ba of almost any other vegetation, the better the tree will 
grow. ti is certainly beyond a doubt that, under such circum- 
stances, the timber attains its greatest degree of soundness, 
strength, and general durability. "There are, it is Mbps some fine 
belts and patches of Jarrah forest to be found upon many of the 
lower-lying portions of the district referred to, where the geo- 
logical formation of these is composed of ironstone, as, for 
instance, in the country lying between — and ur 
the timber r is good in every respect. 
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