1 Frs., 1899. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 11% 
technically known as a “met’’ rail, and possibly useless owing to weakness in the: 
centre. Thelate Mr. James Tyson, the Australian millionaire, wasa good judge of 
rails. On one occasion he had a contract out for some miles of fencing ; and being 
on the station when the fence was going up, he used to wall down and inspect 
the rails. When he found a suspicious-looking ‘“‘met”’ rail, he placed one end 
on the lower rail of the fence and jumped on the centre. If it held out, well 
and good—if it broke, that rail was not paid for. 
In the olden days, the heart was often put in as a top rail, but it is usually 
brittle, especially in the case of gum timber, and will decay much sooner than 
the others. Knots and excrescences on rails are not a disadvantage. Indeed, a 
knotty rail is often stronger than any other. 
There is no need to go further with our description of rail-splitting. Tach 
log of our 3-foot tree has yielded us from 27 to 86 rails; and if it has been a 
tree bursting tree and a good running one, we can get from 100 to 150 rails in 
aday. At £1 per 100, a couple of men in good timber can thus earn an excel- 
lent livelihood. 
When I was timber-getting on Chiltern diggings, in Victoria, the price ran 
as high as £4 per 100; . and as we were working up stringybark-trees, the freest 
of all our forest timbers, it may be supposed that we made a handsome weekly 
cheque. 
It may be asked why we did not at once cut up our whole tree into logs.. 
It is because we might discover that the first log was either impossible to split, 
or that it ran so erratically thatit would not be worth while to work up, any 
more. Sometimes a fairly straight-looking tree will run rails somewhat 
“windy.” Still it should not be rejected on that account, as a good fencer can 
work windy rails into a fence without detriment to its strength. 
Post-splitting differs from rail-splitiing, in that tough windy timber may 
be used, posts being of double the thickness of rails, and great thick heavy 
ends are rather an advantage than a detriment. 
Slabs are run out in the same manner. Staves are split differently. 
Silky oak is the timber used for this work. The staves are all got the: 
“bursting” way. No running outis done. The reason for this is that if the 
stayes were run out the bilge of the cask would shell off much like an Austrian 
bent chair exposed to wet and sun. 
SHINGLES. 
The prettiest work in connection with splitting is the getting of shingles. 
Many trees that woulil not do for posts, rails, or slabs will work up into excellent 
shingles. . 
The blocks are eut off about 15 to 17 inches in length, and are burst into 
billets of a width of 6 inches. 
Some preparation is required for splitting shingles. 
First, a horse has to be erected. The horse consists of a stout forked 
sapling with a butt about 3 fect long and 6 inches in diameter. 
, The butt is supported against a tree at a height of about 2 feet from the 
ground on a leaning fork. The two ends of the brauches forming the horse 
are supported by two saplings slanting crosswise against another tree, as shown 
in Fig. 4. _ 
A block is placed on the ground, which serves to support the billet to be 
split. ‘The splitter has his billets lying handy, and usually piles up a dozen on 
the left side of the horse. k 
With his shingle throw in his left hand and wooden mallet, in the right, 
he halyes the billets, then quarters them, halves these quarters again, and so 
on until the whole billet is split into shingles from 4-inch to 4-inch thick. The 
sap shingle is usually thrown away, and no shingle under 8 inches in width is 
_ retained. ‘The waste in shingle-splitting is very great, all hearts and outsides. 
being rejected. 
