416 
The question of the supply of Eucalyptus seeds for non-Australian countries 
comes into view in this connection. When they are ascertained, seeds will only be 
ordered from optimum districts. However, in spite of the best that can be sent, it is 
not likely that other countries will produce Eucalyptus timber equal to the Australian 
optimum for each species, and thus, in spite of all the non-Australian planting, Australia 
will have the monopoly of the best Eucalyptus timber. This statement of course 
cuts both ways. For example, we may plant in Australia the soft woods of the Baltic 
and the Pacific Slope, but the optima for those timbers lie in the countries mentioned, 
and it is suggested that in Australia we shall never be able to produce such soft woods 
ranking above the second class. 
The timid person who thinks that if we send seed of the highest quality out of 
his country he will be faced with superior forests of his own timbers in other lands, need 
suffer no apprehension. Endeavour should be made (as I have done for many years) 
to supply the best seed available, and correspondents in other countries should take 
reciprocal action. Planters have natural handicaps to begin with, as already indicated, 
and the least a supplier of seeds can do is to see that he is not further handicapped by 
inferior seed. 
B. EXPERIMENTS ON THE STRENGTH OF AUSTRALIAN 
TIMBER. 
Timber is by far the most important commercial product of most trees, certainly 
of Eucalypts, and methods of ascertaining its physical properties have engaged the 
attention of many so-called " practical men," and of many physicists, engineers, and 
botanists. As was to be expected, the amount of work in this direction is much less 
in regard to Australian timbers (and these chiefly comprise Eucalypts) than in regard 
to European and American timbers. 
In leaving this matter in the hands of specialists I would point out how little 
engineering test-work has been done in regard to species concerning whose biological 
history we have data. No experimenter should be encouraged to waste his own and 
other people's time by publishing results which cannot be interpreted in regard to 
known species or recognised standards of timber. 
In my " Useful Native Plants of Australia " I wrote over thirty years ago : 
' Experiments on Australian timbers (chiefly hardwoods) have occupied different 
workers for many years, but they vary so much in their results, and have been performed 
under such diverse circumstances, that it is impossible to condense them into one 
general statement." 
In the matter of engineering tests, my readers must turn to the originals, 
as anything short of the amplest abstracts would be unsatisfactory. The size of the 
piece tested, whence obtained, from what part of the tree, degree of seasoning, are 
only a few of the details that the engineer and user of timber seeks from the 
experimenter. 
