On Feb 25, 2013, at 2:53 PM, Warwick Walker <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Australian Red Gum, is very awesome. > Tell that to the Santa Fe Railroad. They brought up a bunch of Eucalyptus from Oz back in the late 19th Century because it's such a fast growing tree they thought they'd have a prime source of wood for rail road ties. So they brought up about a dozen varieties, all the wrong ones. We got all the fast growing soft wood which has worked its way up the coast since then. I lived in Rancho Santa Fe, the original tree farm turned estates, and now the trees are south of San Francisco. They like California. They also grow their roots very close to the surface and like to fall over a lot when it rains a lot. Turns out the hard grain Eucalyptus is as slow growing as other hardwoods. American Live Oak is the tightest grain oak on the planet. The reason the U.S.S. Constitution was nicknamed "Old Ironsides," is because British canon balls would bounce off its sides, while US cannon balls would shred the British White Oak ships. At one point during the War of 1812, the British snuck a party ashore (I want to say in South Carolina) who attempted to cut down a stand of Live Oaks and haul the lumber back to Portsmouth. American militia chased them off. End of nautical and tree trivia. Best, R.E.F. ---- www.crydee.com Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by stupidity.
