Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/219

XXVI.] {| Vertical or Crushing Strain on cubes of 6 inches. 1 square inch.
 * No. 13.
 * No. 14.
 * Total.
 * Average.
 * rowspan=2|Ditto on
 * rowspan=2|Ditto on
 * Tons.
 * Tons.
 * Tons.
 * Tons.
 * 175
 * 195
 * 370
 * 185
 * 5.14
 * }
 * 5.14
 * }

THE IRON-BARK TREE (Eucalyptus resinifera)

is found very widely spread over a large part of Australia, and is considered to be abundant. It is a lofty and erect tree of moderate circumference, and yields timber of from 20 to 40 feet in length, by from 11 to 16 or 18 inches square. It is believed to have been named as above by some of the earliest Australian settlers, on account of the extreme hardness of its bark; but it might with equal reason have been called iron-wood.

The wood is of a deep red colour, very hard, heavy, strong, extremely rigid, and rather difficult to work. It has a plain straight grain, and the pores, which are very minute, are filled with a hard, white, brittle secretion. The tree is generally sound, but liable to the defect of both heart and star-shake, and on this account it is not usually very solid about the centre, consequently the timber cannot be employed with advantage except in stout planks or large scantlings.

It is used extensively in ship-building and engineering works in Australia, and in this country it is employed in the mercantile navy for beams, keelsons, and in many ways in the construction of ships, especially below the line of flotation, where a heavy material is not considered objectionable. For civil architecture, the ornamental and the domestic arts, it is not, however, likely to be in much request, its extreme hardness and great weight precluding it from general use.