DURABILITY OF WOOD

Waipukurau Press, Issue 292, 6 August 1908, Page 2

DURABILITY OF WOOD

The tallest trees in the world are the Australian eucalyptus, reaching a total altitude of four hundred and eighty feet. The biggest are the mammoth trees of California, some of which are two hundred and seventy-six to three hundred and seventy-six feet in height, and a hundred and eight in circumference at the base. From measurements of the rings it is believed that some of these trees are two thousand five hundred years old. The oldest tree in the world is said to be on the island of Kos off the coast of Asia Minor. It is several thousand years old: but just how many no one has dared to say. The tree is carefully preserved by a wall of masonry round it, and the trunk is thirty feet in circumference. But there are parts of trees in the form of useful timber which are olde”, probably, than any on the stump. • Beams in old buildings are pi eserved to-day which are known to be over a thousand years old. Piles driven by the Romans prior to the Christian era are perfectly sound to-day, and it is known that they have been immersed in the water for upward of two thousand years. Some woods have remarkably durable properties when immersed in water. They decay rapidly on the stump, many rotting in from five to ten years ; but when immersed in water they last longer than iron or steel.