38 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jan., 1900. 
| Wine Storage.—The same red wine was kept for eight months in the 
without any difference of taste or colour compared with other wines in “| 
casks. 
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BLACKBUTT, ; 
Cooperaye.—Very cross-grained; very hard to work. It could mt 
be dressed smooth. It was riddled with worm-holes, and for a lo i 
time leaked through worm-holes and through joints, not being dressél 
smooth. The cooper who made the casks said that he had the greatest dificil 
to work it, and even then, after very great trouble, the work was unsatisfactor] i 
Maceration in Brandy.—The brandy was dark in colour, good aroma, an 
good taste, not bitter, like the other timbers. Mixed with water the brandj 
keeps clear, and forms no sediment. ; 
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Wine Storage.—One cask only was made of blackbutt; it was filled with 
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wine of Black Shiraz, and the wine returned to the same casks after ead 
racking. No strange taste could be noticed in the wine. 
In fact, the four timbers experimented have communicated no strange tai 
to the wine stored in them during nine months. 
Two of them, the Silky Oak and Cudgerie, can easily be worked, and make” 
good casks. White Beech is absolutely unfit, and Blackbutt seems so difficult 
work that it cannot be recommended. 
NOTE BY GOVERNMENT BOTANIST. 1! 
The timber in question was supplied to Mr. Frere for the purpose of E 
experiments on my recommendation, and his report is a valuable one, althoug!” 
I am sorry to say the results of his experiments do not bring out our timber 
in too favourable a light. But honest opinion, and the results of systematl 
experiments, is what we require, as much harm has been done in time past } 
irresponsible oyer-praise of the properties of our timbers and value of thell 
for specific purposes. i 
For those who desire further information I would invite consideration % 
my paper, “ Colonial Timber. for Wine Casks,” in the Gazette for June, 1894 
See also papers by Mr. J. D. Lankester on timbers for wine casks and vats !! 
the Australian Vigneron and Fruit-growers’ Journal for July, 1890, 2 
September, 1898. 
Mr. G. S. Perrin has some “Notes on the Timber Trees of Victot 
suitable for Wine Casks” in the Victorian Journal of Viticulture, p. 10% 
Mr. Alward Wyndham writes to the Sydney Mail of 15th September, 189 
speaking highly of Native Beech (of which, as’ will be observed, Mr. Fr 
speaks less favourably), and also has a note on Rosewood, in regard to which ; 
have some observations in my paper above quoted. Mr. Wyndham’s letter i] 
particularly valuable, and is quoted in extenso :— l 
AUSTRALIAN WOODS FOR WINE CASKS. 
To the Editor of the Sydney Mail. 
Str,—In Mr. Maiden’s paper on this subject, given lately in the Mail, he b%® 
omitted one native wood—the Beech—which is of high value for the purpose. Bee 
has been used at Bukkulla vineyard, near Inverell, for about thirty years for larg: 
casks and vats with the utmost satisfaction. With precaution in steaming the ney” 
casks, it does not impart a taste to wine, nor discolour white wine, and it is perfectly 
pee taee instance, at Wardell. In this district (the Clarence) there 
also a 
three times the cost for a less suitable wood. The Silky Oak splits excellently 
into staves. J have found it suit well for 5-gallon wine-kegs, althoug" 
from inclining to be porous, the wine oozed out slightly at the ends of the staves 
first time of using. Afterwards it takes up, and is perfectly tight. Boiling water Py 
into the new kegs, after remaining in them for some days, was not discoloured at a»! 
