THE TIMBERS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 191 



is used in the construction of public works, but with architects 

 the case is different, and they are repeatedly imposed upon by 

 unprincipled suppliers, who, actuated by personal motives, tender 

 inferior timbers for those specified. To this body of gentlemen I 

 would suggest the advisability of appointing a reliable man with 

 a practical knowledge of hardwoods to inspect all timber for their 

 works before it is used. An arrangement such as this would be 

 a trifling expense among so many, and would be highly satisfactory 

 to both architect and client. 



Hardwoods — Effect of Natural Drying or Seasoning. 



It is useless for me to suggest the necessity of only falling and 

 utilizing our timbers in certain seasons of the year when the sap 

 has descended. The call for timber all the year round, and the 

 unquestionable fact that it deteriorates when exposed after being 

 cut makes it essential that freshly cut timber should be always 

 available irrespective of sap. Take in the first instance, what is 

 termed a half-round girder, that is a round log adzed level along 

 its face on one side, a class of girder much in use in the con- 

 struction of road bridges where the length of span does not 

 exceed thirty-five feet ; this half-round log during the process of 



drying in a bridge will split in a 

 similar manner to the sketch. The 

 best of our timbers, such as iron- 

 bark or tallow wood split to a lesser 

 degree, but such species as spotted 

 gum, blackbutt, blue gum, and 

 others of our second-class hard- 

 woods will open in this way, that is, 

 they will split first along the adzed 

 surface, being the weakest and most exposed to damp, through 

 the deck which covers it, and afterwards to a lesser degree along 

 a,ny portion of the surface where defects exist, particularly where 

 gum veins appear. 



Take a round log stripped of its bark, and expose it to the rays 

 of the sun thus : It will be found that it will always crack and 



