Mr. Anonymous Game #72 @ 30/01/2020

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robutacion

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Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
G'day peoples,

This will be the first monthly game for 2020 so let's hope everybody has a go at it.

Here in South Australia and maybe in other states, there is one particular tree species that is/was known as the boundary tree, in fact, it was common to run the barbwires in between these trees and create a fence that in this case was a boundary fence but not always, I've seen paddocks within the same property being divided this way.

One of the main issues when cutting and processing them was the wires on the chainsaws chains first and then on the band or mill saws, many folks tend to bulldoze them into a pile and light them on fire, some use it for firewood.

The main question is;

What tree species am I referring to...?


Now, for a bonus of an extra AU$50.00 prize voucher, and again the first person to answer the bonus question correctly, regardless of who won/secured the main prize of AU$100.00, or which answer comes first.

The bonus question is;

Why was this particular tree species selected for this particular purpose, apart from many other possible purposes...?


I would like to remind you all of the new conditions I introduced in game #32 and that is what actually the gift voucher amount will be spent on, and allow the actual winners to make their own choices. The only RULE that I ask you all to respect is that I allow each 1/3 of the value amount (AU$100.00) to be used for the selection of blanks/packs between the 3 main blanks types I make/sell, there is, raw/natural wood blanks, stabilized blanks/packs and Resifills (cast blanks), this means basically that you can select 1/3 of each type or all raw/natural blanks but never the voucher amount of all stabilized or Resifill blanks, I hope this has come clear if not, let me know...!

A voucher code will be sent by PM or email to the winner that will use it to put his/her's order, any freight/shipping is not included in the prize/voucher so, you will be requested at checkout to pay for posting.

PS: You are allowed 3 guesses but each guess on a separate post

Good luck...!

Cheers
George
 
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Jay

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Dec 5, 2018
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110
Location
Atascadero, CA
I am going to guess: Red Gum.

My guess is only because I got my recent order from you with an enclosed list of species available and that looks like a good guess.
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Interesting answers but consider this;

When these people decided to use certain trees to mark/make their boundary fences and paddocks within the same property they would have a few things in mind, they needed the wood to be very strong, durable, resistant to Termites and other wood borers infestations, long life expectancy
weather-resistant and possibly producing some type of fruit, nut, flower they could use making those fence trees having multiple purposes as I mentioned before.

Hope this helps,

PS: I didn't say that these species are part of my timbers list but I also didn't say that is not.

Cheers
George
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
hills weeping fig, lots of trunks = lots of fence posts
Oh yeah, there it comes the famous hills weeping fig tree species, I haven't heard of it for some time and I couldn't think of a worse tree species to be used for fence purposes, every bug in the world loves to feed on that wood that should obviously taste sweet to the bugs/borer so no chance.

Cheers
George
 

Dehn0045

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
Messages
1,533
Location
US
Last guess: tickle tongue, the benefits are obvious (sorry, just taking the opportunity to prime the uninitiated for Edgar's upcoming puzzles. Clearly, no tickle tongue down under, but you can imagine what it'd be like if there was)
 

Humongous

Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
382
Location
Canandaigua, NY
Macadamia?

Well George you made me do some research and I learned something. I had no idea that macadamia was indigenous to Australia, They were introduced to Hawaii in 1882 as a windbreak for sugar cane. Don't know if it's right but at least I have more trivia facts.
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Some great guesses...!

Some of you may not realise or remember that I have mentioned a few times in past threads/posts of this tree being used as fences with the wires in between the trunks or even planted very close to the fence lines to delineate the boundaries from some distance away and the fact is that was due to this practice in the old days that made thousands of trees simply disappear (burn or otherwise) when new generations purchased the land and subdivided it into small blocks, fences and whatever was near them were simply bulldozed into a pile, unfortunately, most of this happened this last 50 years and in many cases out of site, shame really...!

Cheers
George
 

KLJ

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Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Messages
410
Location
Flat Rock North Carolina
Olive because it requires little water, lives a long time, is easy to grow, very valuable in many ways, such as firewood, fruit, oil, lumber, was not native to Australia so when planted it would stand out as different so the boundary lines could be seen easily from a distance.
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
I have given you guys many hints/clues in almost every post I made particularly post #17 and I would like that some of you that have already put at least one guess to read post #17 carefully and realise that I'm giving the answer to my "bonus question" within what I wrote, consider what you said on your post and post again, being a bit more specific of what I expect the answer to be for the bonus question, as I said before, I have provided a few examples as to what the people in those days though when planting those trees.

PS: One more day and I will close this game. ;)

Cheers
George
 

Edgar

New Member Advocate
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Feb 6, 2013
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Alvin, TX 77511
I would say that the main reason those particular trees were planted was because of the "fruit" that they produce and what it can be used for. The fact that it also has "good fencing characteristics" didn't really have much, if anything to do with their selection as a "boundary tree".
 

3Peake

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May 20, 2010
Messages
331
Location
Lancashire, England
I think it is more likely to be fruit trees like apple, pear , plum or persimmon trees as long as the fences could be strung between them was a bonus to the fruit harvest.
 
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robutacion

Member
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Aug 6, 2009
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Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
And the winners ARE...!

Well, I can tell that Edgar knew exactly what I was talking about but he decided to be generous and pass on the correct answers so that others could have a chance, thanks mate, you're a good sport...! ;)

The thing is that I have 2 members that in a way answered correctly, the first one was Dehn0045 on post #7 that identified the tree species I was after but his answers to my bonus questions was not really what I was after nor the main reason those trees were planted the way they did, however, KLJ on post #31 did identify also the tree species I was after but he was the second person to do so BUT, his answer to my bonus question was nothing less than perfect, the only way I can be fair to both of them is to award the first question prize of AU$100.00 to Dehn0045 and the AU$50.00 to KLJ as the prize for the bonus question, I hope you guys agree...!

A few occasions where I spoke about Olive wood/trees I mentioned that I got always caught with wires while trying to cut the trees, those wires would normally make their presence noticed on the bandsaw buggering up my blades also:mad: the wire was in fact the old wires used in between the trees or when fences were out far too close to the trees and as they grew they "swallow" the old wires that in most cases you had no idea they were there.

Our first European Settlers to this region, Italians, Greeks, Portuguese and others, they planted many Olive trees on the land they just acquired but they didn't want to put the trees in the middle of the land, they had other purposes for the open or cleared land so, using these trees to fence their piece of land allowed them to maintain one of the most important cultural, dietic and fuel resources they were used to all their lives such as symbolism of the Olive tree, the cured olives and the olive oil that were/are still 2 of the most regular ingredients on their tables, the fuel resources were in the form of the firewood mainly yearly trimmings that those trees produced.

In the 1950's the Olive oil had little or no value, as the trees grew the volume of olives and therefore olive oil was far superior to the in house consumption, the rest of the Australian population did not consume or have any interest for olive oil so overtime Olive oil producers/owners needed an income but the Olive trees weren't given them much so they started to rip the trees out and replace them with things like vines, Almond groves and others that were doing well at the time.

By then, the trees were 70 to 100 years old, the old fence lines were rusted away and the younger generations didn't want to have anything to do with Olive trees so, the easiest way to clean the trees and the old fence attached to them was to bulldoze them into a pile and lit them on fire, new fences were built as the land was subdivided, faster with more modern materials and a lot easier to maintain, using trees as fence posts may look a good idea at the time but quickly turns into a mistake/problem

One other area where Olive trees were planted was near the rivers/creeks edge, this endup being a big mistake also and the reason why today you rarely see an Olive tree near a creek.

Interestingly, and after the large majority of the mature Olive trees planted in the area were gone in the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's the Olive oil consumption in Australia has increased dramatically, Olive oil was imported by container fulls until some of these Settlers descendants and other persons with land and money to invest, reversed what we saw in the 50's and started to plant genetically modified Olive trees into large Olive groves, these new species were made to produce less wood and more fruit, grow faster and smaller, you can go to a planted Olive grove 40 years old or more and the trees are all smaller than the larger species planted originally, the tree bark is a light grey in colour and they produce little to no heartwood, I have opened plantation Olive trees 20 or so years old that some have no heartwood at all and other would have a small round centre of between 1" to 1"1/2 if you're lucky.

The Olive oil trade became so important in this region that so winegrowers have pulled the vines out, Almond groves and others to plant Olive trees groves. Their initial investment is considerable and the trees won't start producing before 5 or 6 years of age if looked after properly, machinery does all the olive collecting by shaking the trees to hell and back but somehow they seemed to accept that, something that the older tree species wouldn't cope with.

I hope that you learnt something, anything to do with Olive trees always fascinates me (as you may know), it may seem that there ain't much more I could talk about in relation to Olive trees but believe me, there is a lot, lot more that isn't always common knowledge.

Anyway, congrats to both winners and thank you very much to everybody that participated, most appreciated.

Both winners will receive their respective vouchers very soon.

Cheers
George
 
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