44 
In regions of low rainfall, and in the tropics generally, it is considered to be of 
very little value. For example, in the far west of New South Wales, it is considered 
to be useless for structural purposes. Its average height is 30 to 40 feet, and diameter 
1 to 2 feet. Locally it is not considered of much use, except for firewood. But the 
limbs and branches make excellent charcoal. A charcoal-burner " prefers it to any 
other wood for the purpose," while a local blacksmith pronounces the product 
" excellent." Some specimens of this charcoal were sent to the Technological Museum, 
and it is well-burnt, clean, and in every respect a good article. Mr. Robert Lucas, in 
giving evidence before the Victorian Royal Commission on Vegetable Products, states 
that, in his estimation, this species yields the best charcoal in Victoria for blacksmiths' 
purposes. 
Speaking of Western Australia, the late Dr. A. Morrison wrote to me : " It is 
singular that in the Murchison district and the North-west (within the tropics) E. rostrata 
is considered the poorest timber of those that grow there." 
This simply bears out a point to which I have often drawn attention that so 
much depends on the district from which you obtain a timber. Just as a certain species 
of tree may produce a valuable timber in one locality, and an inferior one in another, 
so conversely we must not be surprised if a timber that we think poorly of may be very 
highly esteemed somewhere else. A tree may have an optimum as regards its timber 
in one district and not in another. Consideration of this point may prevent hasty 
judgments. 
In my " Useful Native Plants of Australia " (1889) I wrote as follows : 
This timber is highly valued for strength and durability, especially for piles and posts in damp 
ground ; it is used also for ship-building, railway sleepers, bridges, wharves, and numerous other purposes. 
This timber is exceedingly hard when dry, and therefore most difficult to work; this limits its use for 
furniture. 
A drawback to this valuable timber is its liability to shell off, which limits its use for flooring, but 
it is an excellent girder wood. 
In the durability of its timber, perhaps, it has only a rival in E. marginata (Jarrah), of Western 
Australia, resisting Tere/lo, Chelura, and Termite, 1 !. When properly seasoned it. is well adapted for heavy 
deck-framing, tho beams and knees of vessels, and for planking above high-water mark. In Victoria it 
has been much used for railway sleepers, and various articles of furniture (Woolls), wheelwrights' work 
(especially felloes), engine buffers, &c. It should be steamed before it is worked for curving. The specific 
gravity ranges from -858 to 1-005, or from 53 J to 62 Ib. per cubic foot. A ton of the dry wood has 
yielded as much as 4 Ib. of pearlash, or 2 Ib. of pure potash. (Mueller.) The air-dried wood of this species 
contained, according to one experiment, 4-38 per cent, of kino-tannin, and 16-62 per cent, of kino-red ; 
the latter (allied to PhlofMtphem) is soluble in alcohol, but not in water; the large percentage of these two 
substances in E. ro.olr/iin a only rivalled, as far as known, by that of the hardest kind of Jarrah 
(E. marginata) (Mueller). In Southern New South Wales it is invariably chosen for house blocks, and 
preferred for posts, Ac., on account of its durability in damp ground. It is also used for slabs, rails, and 
wheelwrights' work. 
A sample of this timber, sent from Victoria to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, was tested by 
Mr. Allen Ransome, who reported : " The sample sleeper sent for trial, though a hard specimen, was 
readily adzed ;i7ul bored, and a plank passed through tho planing machine gave fair results." 
Some Victorian specimens were examined for tensile strength by Mr. F. A. Campbell (Proc. R. S. 
Victoria, 1879). His results are 14,000 to 21,500, 16,200, and 15,700 Ib. per square inch. " The last specimen 
was at a disadvantage, not being hung perfectly straight. They all broke with a long fracture." 
