TREES 
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it must sometimes be cut up to disadvantage. 
These defects in the trunk of the tree make it 
unavailable for working-up into household furni- 
ture, or for boards ; but no plant in New Zealand 
furnishes such excellent materials for the ground- 
plates of houses, or for posts and rails for fences : 
it also answers well for the wood-work of a 
plough. It grows from fifteen to thirty feet 
without a branch; and varies from twelve to 
twenty feet in circumference. The branches are 
crooked, diffuse, and robust : the leaves are large, 
and of a deep bright green, growing three and 
five together : its bark is rough and grey, and is 
generally covered with a short dry moss : it 
flowers in September and October, and flourishes 
best in a deep rich soil. Its roots are much on the 
surface ; and it is more liable than any other tree 
of the forest to be prostrated to the earth by 
a gale. 
Rewarewa (Knightia excelsd) — This tree is 
found in dry forests, and where the soil is loose 
and gravelly in its texture. It flowers in No- 
vember and December ; and is a fine umbrageous 
tree, with large pale-green leaves, rough, and 
jagged like a saw at the edges. The wood is 
beautifully variegated ; being mottled with red, 
upon a ground of light-brown. It splits freely ; 
and, were it of sufficient dimensions, would make 
elegant furniture, or cabinet articles. Its bark 
is clear, and of a light-brown colour. The height 
of the tree, when full-grown, is from fifty to sixty 
