58 
In Tasmania the destruction of these trees has often been recommended in 
order to let var. mollis grow, and this advice is probably sound, hut only in cases in 
which one or other has to be sacrificed. 
I think I have adduced sufficient evidence to convince intelligent people that 
the bark is by no means a worthless one, and harks inferior even to this are locally 
used in districts not favoured with the alternative of the use of such a hark as other 
varieties of decurrens. I hope that harks in a particular, district will he tried on 
their merits, and not he condemned without trial. 
In insisting on the general principle of assay of harks, just as a man engaged 
in the mining industry is always careful to sample his stone as occasions require, I 
am quite aware of the special circumstances of Tasmania as regards the “ Silver 
Wattle,” and that the case in that State against this particular variety is stronger 
than it is in our own. In Tasmania the “ Silver Wattle ” grows more in spars than 
with us; its hark has a more than ordinary tendency to shrink ; it is tough and 
fibrous (though not to such an extent as A. binervata, for instance). As wattles 
take longer to mature in Tasmania than with us, it will he quite understood that I 
am in no wav reflecting on the wisdom of the advice of letting the cultivation of the 
best species remain unimpeded. 
A New Zealand (Auckland) correspondent states that his four-year-old var. 
dealbata trees are 35 feet high in a sheltered place, with a diameter of 4 to 8 inches 
at 3 feet from the ground. They grow quicker than var. mollis in his particular 
district. Var. dealbata is not indigenous in New Zealand (nor is, in fact, any 
Acacia), and it is a pity that this species has been introduced into that colony for 
its yield of tan-bark, as I understand has been done in several instances, whether 
deliberately or by a mistake in seed I am unable to say. 
The “Silver Wattle” sometimes obtains an enormous size in Tasmania, 
Victoria, and southern New South Wales. In Tasmania, Backhouse measured a 
tree 11 feet 2 inches in girth, and “ Silver Wattles ” approaching 100 feet in height 
have frequently been found in all three States. 
Timber. —Used in Tasmania for cask staves and treenails. It is also useful 
for rustic work and for fuel. It is more used in Tasmania than in the other States. 
I notice that the Tasmanian Railway Department exhibited one log, six planks, 
one slab, 6 feet by 16 inches by 2^ inches, from Scottsdale Line, at an international 
exhibition. It is, however, not a timber of the first class. The wood was used by 
the Yarra blacks for making the handles of tomahawks. The piece of a bough 
chosen for a handle was pared on one side as far as the pith ; it was then heated 
in the ashes of the fire and bent with the hands.—Brough Smyth (“Aboriginals of 
Victoria,” i, 378). 
