THE TIMBERS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 211 



I have taken some trouble to ascertain the true value of the 

 Murray River variety, and have no hesitation in pronouncing it 

 a most inferior timber for use in public works as well as for 

 general building. Comparing it only with the red gum timber of 

 Victoria and South Australia, I attribute its inferiority to two 

 causes : First, but only to a small degree, to climatic influence. 

 Secondly, to its rapid growth, owing to the fact that the localities 

 it inhabits causes it to be subject to excessive moisture, the roots 

 and often the trunk of the tree being under water in the rainy 

 season for two and three months at a time. 



When squared it will shrink while drying one inch to the foot 

 across the grain. The heart is to some extent actually separated 

 from the outer wood by rings or gum veins, and in a tree of any 

 size is more or less dead and often dozy, the result of this defect 

 being that the heart of the tree forms a comparatively unshrink- 

 ing core, and the outer wood in drying is put into a state of 

 tension, and therefore splits along the weakest lines. The red 

 gum of the sister colonies has a remarkable record for durability 

 in public works, particularly in longitudinal beams in railway 

 bridges and as sleepers, and when sawn in sizes not smaller than 

 say ten inches by six inches, will dry or season evenly. The 

 Murray River variety unfortunately shells badly and shrinks 

 unevenly. 



In using the timber it should never be sawn or hewn square, 

 iirst because when you remove the sap-wood it is certain to split 

 and open, and in the second place in squaring you remove the 

 best of the timber, the heart being always weak and brittle. 

 Sawing it into large sizes free of heart has a similar injurious 

 effect, while in scantling sizes it not only cracks and shells, but 

 it also warps and twists badly. 



It is sometimes used in the districts adjacent to where it grows 

 for bridge decking, but the result has been far from satisfactory. 

 The only use I would recommend it being put to would be for 

 round piles, and where possible, driven with the bark on to admit 

 of the sap-wood seasoning slowly, and then only in small bridges. 



