3o6 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[October, 



for it too produces immense quantities of fine light 

 seeds. It does not require a very large birch tree 

 to produce two or three million seeds in a single 

 season. Now although the birch did not have 

 an even start with the aspen, it has a very great 

 advantage over it after it once gets established ; as 

 the aspen is a short-lived tree, and does not reach 

 a great height, the birch soon overshadows it. 

 And add to this that the aspen seeds will only 

 germinate on finely pulverized soil or on moist 

 land, it will be seen that it must confine itself to 

 the margins of streams, or to moist lands — as it 

 does — to abide its time, till another forest fire 

 gives it an opportunity to extend its bounds. 

 Now what evidence have we of the succession 

 of forest growths, where the timber has been cut 

 ofif without fires having run over the land ? In New 

 England pines are fast covering the lands where 

 pines originally grew. And as a general thing, 

 this is so all over the country, except in some 

 parts of the country where the land is very sandy, 

 and having become broken and washed by heavy 

 rains, the sands have been blown around in a few 

 localities without having been burned over; and 

 in dry climates like Colorado, where, when the 

 forests have been burned off, and the land exposed 

 to the parching sun and drying winds, there is no 

 probability that the land will ever produce vegeta- 

 tion of any kind for ages to come. Indeed it is 

 only at the highest altitudes that Pinus Murryana 

 is to be met with, and where there is more moisture 

 than nearer the base of the mountains. 



Waukegan, III. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Thl Wood of Thuja Gigantea, and of 

 CuPRESSUS NUTKAENSIS. — A Correspondent of the 

 Garden says : 



"Thuja gigantea is, among the trees on the 

 Northwest coast, the Indian's best friend, for out 

 of its wood and bark he manufactures endless 

 articles of domestic, hunting, fishing, and war-like 

 economy. Most of their canoes are hollowed out 

 of it, at least in Vancouver Island; and there is 

 a case quoted where a canoe made out of Cupres- 

 sus Nutkaensis, in Vancouver, was quite an excep- 

 tion, and indeed the canoe was probably traded 

 from some of the northern tribes, and not of Van- 

 couver manufacture at all. The Indian ropes are 

 also very commonly twisted out of its bark. The 

 tree which I took for Thuja plicata, and out of 

 which 1 happened to see the Indians, just at the 

 time I wrote the letter quoted, twisting ropes, I be- 

 lieve, from after investigation, to have been only 

 a stunted form of T. gigantea, and that T. plicata 

 is not a separate species, but for reasons which I 



have given in another place, and cannot now 

 again repeat, is indeed, only a variety of T. 

 gigantea. North of latitude 53° Cupressus Nut- 

 kaensis takes the place of Thuja gigantea, and is 

 applied by the Indians to all the useful purposes 

 of T. gigantea, and to some others in addition. 

 For instance, at the Matlakatlah Mission, on the 

 coast of British Columbia, in about latitude 54° 

 north, where there are fine groves of it, it is sawn into 

 lumber and sent to Victoria, where it meets a ready 

 sale among the cabinet-makers, as it takes a fine 

 polish and works beautifully. Most of the prettily 

 polished discs and little cylinders used by the In- 

 dians in gambling are made either from this wood 

 or from that of Acer macrophyllum. It is also 

 valuable for ship or boat-building. The wood of 

 T. gigantea is whitish, but in its fresh state is 

 yellower; hence the name Yellow Cypress applied 

 to it. It is light, tough, durable, and easily worked. 

 The property ot durability it shares with Thuja 

 gigantea, and, in addition, it has a pleasant fra- 

 grance. On this account the Russians about 

 Sitka used to call it dushnik, or scented wood. It 

 was absolutely at one time exported to China, 

 and returned marked with Chinese characters, 

 which warranted it as ' real Chinese camphor 

 wood,' puissant for many purposes and a sovereign 

 remedy against moths in drawers ! In repairing 

 old Fort Simpson, the only log found sound after 

 twenty-one years' trial of those used for under- 

 pinning was a stock of this." 



To which we may add that it is well-known to 

 American botanists that Thuja plicata, of Enghsh 

 gardens, and Thuja gigantea are identical. In 

 regard to the range of the two species named it is 

 an error that north of latitude yp, Cupressus Nut- 

 kaensis takes the place of Thuja gigantea. The 

 writer of this penetrated near latitude 60'^, without 

 meeting a single specimen of the Cupressus, 

 though the Arbor Vit e was abundant up to that 

 point, and probably it extended further. In the 

 Russian Church at Sitka, which the writer had the 

 chance to examine, the fragrant wood was cer- 

 tainly the Arbor Vitas. With a good chance to 

 botanize for a couple of days about Sitka, no 

 specimen of the Cupressus was seen. The Indians 

 convened to tlie Greek Catholic system do not 

 sit in church on seats, but either kneel or sit on 

 their heels, which is the Indian method of sitting ; 

 and for a " carpet " the floor is strewn with 

 branches of the Arbor Vitae. Our party brought 

 to these people the news of the coronation of the 

 Czar, a year after date ! and the church was at 

 once festooned with the Arbor Vita:, and not the 

 Cupressus. Our little party had also a chance to 

 touch at the Indian Mission of Matlakatlah, which 

 is on the border line between Alaska and British 

 Columbia. We found over a thousand of Indians 

 civilized by a missionary named Duncan, living 

 in houses built by their own hands, like unto ours. 



