19 
300* feet in height, and from 2 to 10 feet in diameter. The wood is, on the whole, of a lighter colour than 
Blue Gum, and varies from a pale straw to a reddish-brown. In appearance Brown Stringybark is some¬ 
what like oak, and it would be a difficult matter for most people to distinguish a picture-frame made of 
Stringybark from one made of oak. The timber varies considerably, according to the situation and soil 
in which the tree grows. In appearance it is freer than Blue Gum, but lacks the purplish tint, and is 
more subject to gum-veins. It is the most general timber for all sorts of constructive work in Tasmania. 
It makes excellent piles, especially for fresh water, but is not considered quite so good as Blue Gum for 
salt water, being more subject to the attacks of the teredo. It is also used for shipbuilding, the construc¬ 
tion of wharfs and bridges, and for railway sleepers, for the dado, flooring, and fitting of houses, and for 
furniture ; it is also an excellent wheelwrights’ wood. When polished it very much resembles oak, but 
has a more sparkling grain; it has a very pretty effect when used for a ballroom floor, or for wainscotting. 
Besides being sawn for almost every purpose, Stringybark is split into fence rails, palings, and 
shingles. It is certain that if this wood and the Blue Gum, properly prepared, were exported to London, 
a ready sale would be found for it, for the construction of carts and vans. It would very well take the 
place of English oak and ash used for this purpose, which are every year becoming scarcer. In an Inter¬ 
national Exhibition a Stringybark sleeper was shown, by the Tasmanian Government, that had been twenty- 
five years under traffic. The usual life of this timber, in bridges, is from twenty to twenty-five years ; 
sleepers average about fourteen years ; and none of the Government railway buildings, some of which were 
built twenty-seven years ago, chiefly of this timber, have yet been renewed. 
Specimens of this timber from Bullarook Forest, Victoria, were examined by- 
Mr. F. A. Campbell ( Froc . F. S. Viet., 1879). His values of the tensile strength in 
pounds per square inch are: 8,500, 8,500, and 8,200. They broke with a short 
fracture. The wood was well seasoned, clean, but not quite free from shakes. 
Mr. Campbell, however, remarked that this should not affect its tensile strength to 
any extent. It was known locally as Messmate. Rankin gives the following 
particulars in regard to the timber of E. gigantea ( obliqua ):—Modulus of elasticity 
in pounds on square inch, 1,709,000; modulus of rupture, 13,000; weight, 541b. 
per cubic foot. 
Experiments on the transverse strength of the wood of E. obliqua by Baron Mueller and J. G. Luehmann. 
The specimens were 2 feet long and 2 inches square. 
Deflection. 
Total weight 
required to break 
each piece. 
Value of strength 
LW 
°~4 BD 2 
Specific Gravity. 
With the apparatus 
weighing 780 lb. 
At the crisis of 
breaking. 
Air-dried. 
Absolutely dried. 
Inches. 
Inches. 
lb. 
•12 
•50 
2,053 
1,540 
1-045 
•867 
•14 
•48 
1,776 
1,332 
•935 
•783 
Some experiments by Mr. James Mitchell on Tasmanian stringybark will be 
found in Froc. Fog. Soc. V. E. Land, II, Part I, p. 124 (1852). 
It has also been tested by Mr. James Mann (“Australian Timber,” 1900), 
and by Mr. A. O. Green (“Tasmanian Timbers,” 1902). 
* This may be so, but I like particulars of all trees whose measurements are reported to approach 300 leet. 
B 
