WATTLES AND WATTLE-BAB ICS. 
3i 
Mr. J. E. Brown states that in South Australia this species is much less 
hardy than A. 'pyciuintha. Baron Mueller recommends planting of 
A. decurrens in worn-out lands over-run with sorrel. It is fond of moisture, 
and not of too much heat. The Baron also gives its rate of growth as 
about l in. in diameter every year. Mr. J. E. Brown mentions some trees 
in South Australia 30 feet high and 8 inches in diameter, onlv 5 years of 
age, and I can record similar experience near Sydney, and in New South 
\\ r ales at least, it is a very hardy species. It is rather liable to attacks by 
borers; it would be interesting to enquire whether to a greater cxtent’than 
A. mollis si ma. 
This Acacia is being grown successfully on a somewhat extensive scale at 
Coonoor, in .1 ndia. It thrives pretty well at Ootacamund, but does not bear 
fruit there. 
North-eastern Victoria, New’ South Wales, and Southern Queensland ; 
a coast, highland, and mountain species, notextending farmland. 
40, Acacia mollissima , Willd., syn. A. decurrens , var.: mollis. B.EL, ii., 
415. Black A\ attle of the older New South Wales colonists, and 
commonly so called in Victoria and Tasmania, but now usually called 
“ ^ reen Wattle” in New South Wales, and sometimes “Silver Wattle ” 
“Garrong ” of some aboriginals of Victoria, and “ Warraworup” by 
those at the aboriginal station, Coranderrk. 
c Iho bark, rich in tannin, renders this tree highly important. It varies 
so far as my experiments have shown, in its tannin, from 30 to 54 per cent' 
(s/c) in bark artificially dried. In commercial bark the percentage is some¬ 
what less, according to the state of its dryness—it retains about 10 per cent 
of moisture. Ulb. of black-wattle bark gives 1 lb. of leather, whereas 5 lb. 
of English oak bark are requisite for the same results; but the tannin^ 
principle ot both is not absolutely identical. Melbourne tanners consider a 
ton of black wattle-bark sufficient to tan twenty-five to thirty hides • it is 
best adapted for sole leather, and other so-called heavy goods. The leather 
is fully as durable as that tanned with oak hark, atuf nearly as good in 
colour. Bark carefully stored for a season improves in tanning power 10 to 
15 per cent.* From experiments made it appears that no appreciable 
difference exists in the percentage of tannin in wattle-bark*, whether 
obtained in the dry or in the wet season. Full-grown trees, which supply 
also the best quality, yield as much as L cwt. of bark. Mr. Dickinson 
states that he has seen 10 cwt. of bark obtained from a single tree of <no\antic 
dimensions at Southport, Queensland. A quarter of a ton of bark was 
obtained from one tree at Tambo, Queensland, without stripping all the 
limbs. The height of this tree -was 60 feet, and the stem 2 feet in diameter. 
The rate of growth is about l inch in diameter of stem annually. It is 
content with the poorest and driest, or sandy soils, although in more fertile 
ground its growth is more rapid. (Mueller, Select Extra-tropical Plants .) 
Near Sydney this species flowers about Christmas, while A. decurrens 
flowers in the early spring (August). A sample of a smooth green hark 
from ayoung tree afforded me 33'5 per cent, of tannic acid, and 61*85 per 
We require careful experiments on the subject, making proper allowances for diminu¬ 
tion of moisture on storage. 
