Aug. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 
THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. O 
four to five feet, the cones are ovate, from three to four inches long, 
and nearly as broad. The scales are very closely set together, wedge- 
shaped, of a leathery texture, each ending in a sharp recurved spine, 
about a third the length of the scale. The seeds are small and 
flattened, in the form resembling the scale itself. The whole cone is of 
a deep rich brown colour. Allan Cunningham says that this plant 
bears young cones in the month of September. It has never fruited in 
this country. The wood in appearance and colour much resembles 
some of the lighter kinds of deal. It is of a very uniform grain, and 
works well. Some specimens are very beautiful, on account of small 
knots interspersed throughout, giving it somewhat the appearance of 
bird's-eye maple, though being of a lighter colour it has a more delicate 
appearance. It is chiefly used in the colony for house carpentry and 
many kinds of furniture. For the masts of vessels it is peculiarly 
adapted when green, as spars can be obtained in any quantity, from 
eighty to a hundred feet in length ; but it is said in drying, these masts 
cannot be depended on, as there is little lateral cohesion between the, 
fibres, and being entirely devoid of resin, there is nothing to strengthen 
them. The timber procured from the inland or mountain brushes is 
considered superior to that grown near the coast ; from some trees as 
much as ten thousand feet of saleable timber can be obtained. From 
Sydney and other parts, large quantities are imported, giving employ- 
ment to a large number of sawyers, who receive pay at the rate of 21 
10s. per thousand feet. In Queensland, also, the timber is an article of 
great commercial importance. Though there is no actual resin deposited 
in these trees, there is an abundance of a clear, white, transparent 
substance, which exudes from the trunks and adheres to them, hanging 
in the form of icicles. Some fine specimens of the wood of this tree 
were exhibited in the International Exhibition of 1862, in both the 
Sydney and Queensland collections. These are now to be seen amongst 
the magnificent collection of colonial and foreign woods in the Royal 
Gardens, Kew. 
The Araucaria imbricata, Pav., or Chili pine, is, perhaps, the best 
known of all the species, having of late years been so largely planted in 
this country. It was known to the Spanish settlers nearly a century 
back. In 1780, Don Francisco Dendariarena was commissioned by those 
settlers to examine the Araucarias, and report upon their suitability as 
timber for ship-building. The result was that the wood of A. imbricata 
was considered good, and at once applied to the repairing of the vessels 
of the squadron then lying in the port of Talcahuano. In a work 
published by the Abbe Molina, two years later (1782), the tree is 
described as Pinus Araucaria. In the same year the botanist Pavon 
was sent by the Spanish Government in search of this tree ; having 
secured the flowers and fruit (the most necessary parts for determina- 
tion), he had no.hesitation in making it a distinct species of Araucaria 
{A. imbricata). The plant had, however, been gathered by Pavon in a 
