FAGUS SOLANDRI. 93 
The question of its durability has excited considerable discussion: there 
need, however, be no question on this head. If felled when fully matured, and 
before decay commences, it is of high value both for strength and durability ; 
but if felled too early or too late it speedily perishes. 
It is very easy to bring forward instances where it has perished in a very 
short time. The railway between Christchurch and Lyttelton was laid with 
‘black-birch ” sleepers from the Oxford Forest, but, owing to rapid decay, they 
had to be replaced within fourteen months of the opening of the line. Fences 
in the vicinity of Oxford and Alford Forests erected exclusively of ‘‘ black-birch”’ 
require to be replaced in five or six years. Cases of this kind are much too 
frequent, but they cannot be allowed to neutralise undoubted instances of great 
durability, and may frequently be accounted for by the use of immature or faulty 
timber, or timber felled when the sap has been in active circulation. 
Mr. Blair states, on the authority of Mr. Ingram, that the piles of a hut 
erected at Mr. Pearson’s station, Burnt Hill, in 1851, were in good preservation 
in 1879, and gives several instances of its having been in good condition when 
used as posts, tramway-sleepers, &c., after from fifteen to twenty years. The 
Hon. Edward Richardson, late Minister for Public Works, states: ‘‘ I am quite 
satisfied that, under certain conditions, the heart of black-birch is almost 
imperishable, comparatively speaking, and infinitely superior to the black-pine 
or totara of the Middle Island. The conditions I refer to are—first, that the 
timber be cut at the proper season of the year; and, secondly, and probably 
more important, that the timber is grown on tolerably stiff soil and not subject 
to be flooded.” 
While attaching full value to the numerous instances adduced in proof of 
its durability, it must be stated that they are greatly outnumbered by instances 
of speedy decay ; and that in the same localities which afford some of the most 
striking proofs of its durability equally striking instances of its premature decay 
may we seen sometimes side by side. 
The Oxford and Alford Forests, in the District of Canterbury, consist 
almost exclusively of entire-leaved beech; it is the only species that has been 
converted in either, but in many places in the vicinity fences are to be seen 
falling to pieces before they have been erected seven years, gate-posts and 
sleepers decaying in a like period. The old settlers are fully aware of the value 
of the timber if obtained from ripe trees felled at the proper season of the year: 
this, however, is but seldom done, as the woodmen require a much higher price 
for felling and splitting old trees on account of the greater hardness of the timber. 
C. H. Gorton, Esq., of Burnt Hill, to whom I am indebted for much valu- 
able information respecting this tree, informed me that mature specimens are 
commonly termed “ old-man birch,’”’ and are much disliked by the woodmen, as 
they are very difficult to split. Moreover, they are comparatively few in number, 
so that a large area has to be worked in order to obtain a given quantity ; conse- 
quently the cost of obtaining first-class timber is greatly increased, and the 
selection of ripe trees finds no favour in the eyes of sawmillers, who find it more 
profitable to clear out all timber of sufficiently large size for conversion, without 
troubling too nicely about its maturity. As Ait of the durability of tooth- 
leaved beech when properly selected, Mr. Gorton pointed out a sheepyard which 
had been erected from trees selected by himself tw enty-one years ago ; it was in 
excellent condition, and seemed likely to remain in that state for an indefinite 
period. It cannot be too forcibly stated that it is futile to expect the entire- 
leaved beech to afford durable timber unless obtained from fully-matured trees ; 
and it is equally important that the trees should not be allowed to stand too tau 
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