Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-02-13
ment. but it is not thought that he will
survive the shock.
TIMBER CULTURE.
Destruction OF Wharf Property for
Want Of Proper Material.

Destruction OF wharf Property for
Want OF Proper Material.
EDITORS HERALD-I spent but six
months in Australia, but I saw
enough while there to convince
me that the State of California made
a great mistake in importing and
cultivating the blue eucalyptus Of Tas-
mania, instead of the red eucalyptus,
which grows on the Murray river, in
Victoria. The latter tree 1 regard ~
being specially adapted to Southern Cal
ifornia-indeed, l doubt if it would grow
north Of Monterey.
1t makes a good railway tie, and Is
equally available for trestle timbers. I
saw some of these ties which had been
in use for seven years, and they were still
in good state of preservation. The
| wood is much harder and heavier than
our native redwood, and, while il
does not as long resist the action
| of the air, it is nevertheless better able
to support the weight'of heavy trains.
There is no reason why this tree should
not take the place of the Tasmsnian
gum, which has no commercial value
whatever. 1t is also we'll adapted for
building wharves, and will therefore fill.
a long felt want in the timberlees Sec
tions of this State. The long wharf at
Port Melbourne (Sandridge) is ], ,787 feet
long by "a feet in width. 1t was built in
1858, and is still in q good state of
preservation, none of the piling having
yet been replaced. The Peninsular and
Oriental dock at Williamstown, across
the bay from Sandridge, was built in
1856, and has been twice heightened out
in obedience to the demands Of rapidly
growing trade. Its present dimensions
are l,922 feet by 73. took pains to get
into boat at low water and scrape of
the mussels from the piling under each
of these docks, finding both of them still
in good condition.
When you consider that piling made
of Oregon or Puget Sound fir has to be
replaced every six or seven years, not
only at a great outlay, but involving
more or less suspension of business
while such repairs are being made,
think that the counties of Southern Cali
fornia should produce this timber, not
only for home use, but for expectation to
San Francisco and the North Coast AZ
we'll. The teredo is to be found in
Australian waters as we'll as here, and
the limnoria was wholly unknown in Cali
fornia waters till the iron ships began to
bring in Sydney coal into San Francisco
as part of their cargo on their voyage to
Europe.
I also saw wharf at Albany, in West
ern Australia, which was built of Q
species of wood called jarrah. This
seems to be sort of mahogany and
very heavy. The wharf alluded to was
in And
never saw any structure in better state
of preservation. The jarrah is, however,
q tree of slow growth, and more likely to
reimburse the children of the producer
than himself. Nevertheless, any man
who has the patience to plant olive trees
ought to be able to wait till q jarrah tree
shall attain it's maturity.
While am on this subject let me say
something with reference to the Austral-
ian waffle" or acacia now SO extensively
used in the manufacture OF leather in
England and Germany. There are q
dozen different varieties of the acacia in
Australia, but the two species most pre-
ferred for tanning purposes are the
"black waffle" acacia decurrens). which
yields 81 degrees tannin; and the
''broad.leafed waffle" (acacia pycanthia),
which yields about 2S, but is preferred
in some localities as being handler
tree. The price of "black waffle" bark
in London varies from $38 to $42 per ton,
and about $32 to $34 for ''broad-leaf."
have introduced The seeds of these trees
into the counties of Santa Clara, San
Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Butte
and Colusa. They have to be soaked in
water at temperature of 14O degrees
Fahrenheit before planting. At year
old they should be set out about Is feet
to l8 feet apart and let grow till
about five years old, when they
may be cut down and the bark
stripped off. On the large stock farms
in Australia the yearling trees are al
ways set halfway between trees that are
four years old, as the latter have to be
cut down and stripped in the following
year; and the young trees always do
we'll enough after the larger ones are cut
down. MIR. Stratford Strettle, of Gladys
Park, sixteen miles from Melbourne,
has an annual income Of So. 900 per year
from the sale of waffle bark grown on
that beautiful farm.
should take great pleasure in putting
some of your citizens desirous of engag-
ing in waffle culture, in communication
| with the Bureaus of Vegetable Products
for Victoria and New South Wales.
There are several native vegetables of
Southern California which might be in
troduced into Australia greatly to the ad-
vantage Of that country. Any letter ad-
dressed to me at Portland, Ore, will re-
1eive prompt attention.
Yours respectfully,
THOMAS B. MERRY.