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liable. The collection of seeds of useful and ornamental Australian plants is one 
of those minor industries which are usually neglected, and I will always assist 
collectors in making them true to name. 
Bark— The outer bark is scaly, and in drying falls off, leaving an almost 
perfectly smooth' surface of reddish-brown colour. It is moderately fibrous, and 
will tear into layers if some force be used. The late Mr. C. Fawcett informed 
Baron von Mueller that the bark produces a purplish leather; and he also stated 
that it “ contains a considerable quantity ” of tannin. I examined some from 
Cambewarra, New South Wales. The inner bark alone gave 13'38 per cent, of 
tannin, and the outer and the inner combined 12’8 per cent., a result too low to give 
any encouragement to a hope that cedar bark might be of commercial value. The 
bark is not usually looked upon as a drug ; but in India it is considered to be 
valuable in fevers, dysentery, &c. It has also been considered a reliable anti- 
periodic, and by Dr. Newton a good substitute for cinchona, according to 
Dr. Waring’s official Pharmacopeia of India. I am not aware, however, that 
any alkaloid has been found in the bark, and am disinclined to look upon it 
seriously as a substitute for cinchona. 
Timber. —But the value of a Bed Cedar lies in its timber, for it is without 
doubt the most valuable timber produced in New South Mmles, and it is in 
universal use. It is equal to mahogany, to which it bears a good deal of 
resemblance, except that it is much lighter in weight. The uses of the two 
timbers are much the same, e.g., for tables, cabinets, and furniture in general, also 
for doors and fittings of buildings, where the cost does not stand in the way. When 
kept dry it is very durable. Pieces are now in existence which were taken from 
buildings erected in the very early days of the State, and are as sound as the first 
day they were used. Cedar often shows a beautiful figure, and it would be difficult 
to find any timber to surpass the beauty of picked specimens. Its colour is a 
pleasing red ; it turns a deep rich colour with age. It is very rarely indeed attacked 
by white ants. 
This is the first and foremost among colonial timbers for carriage building. 
Some grades of this, with clear, straight grain, dense and tough, make excellent 
framing for many parts of carriages—in fact, I have been informed that Sydney 
cabs of excellent quality have been built with cedar alone, except the shafts and 
wheels. The features that recommend it for the special use of the carriage builder 
are that it is light and easily worked. It bends well for panels when seasoned. If 
a log be cut through the centre, then quartered, and flitches cut from each of these 
quarters, the result will be that panels even a quarter of an inch thick will not split 
at the ends more than an inch or so—an important matter in a good and expensive 
timber. Mr. Samuel Lownds, late teacher of coachbuilding at the Sydney 
Technical College, informed me that he examined some samples which had been 
exposed to the sun and rain, and also to the drip of water from a galvanised-iron 
