FOREST TREES. l6g- 



When dry, the wood of the White Cedar is highly inflammable, 

 burning with great rapidity, and leaving only a residue of fine white ashes 

 which are said to be deficient in the fertilizing salts of the deciduous or 

 hardwood trees. 



The gum of the Cedar is clear and colourless, and possesses a fine 

 aromatic scent, which is given out after showers and during sunshine. 

 The Indians regard the gum of this tree as possessing very healing and 

 medicinal qualities. They chew it as a pleasant luxury ; it excites the 

 flow of saliva, and no doubt is far less injurious to the system than 

 tobacco, of which they are so fond. The Indians use the root of 

 the Cedar as well as that of the Tamerack (or wah-tap) in making 

 their Birch-bark canoes, and of the inner bark the squaws weave 

 mats and baskets. The fibrous bark is soft, pliable, and tough, and 

 is better adapted for the manufacturing of mats than that of the Bass- 

 wood. The thwarts of the Birch canoes are also made of split Cedar. 

 The tough silvery-grey paper which forms the outer covering of the 

 wasps' nests is chiefly derived from the fibrous portions of the White 

 Cedar. While watching these industrious insects tearing off fragments 

 of the silky-thready bark from some old fallen tree, I have thought that 

 a manufacture of paper, or felt, might be produced from this abundant 

 material, for which it seems particularly adapted. The fibre is white, 

 shining, and tough ; it can be beaten to any degree of fineness ; and 

 moreover, seems to be of a more enduring substance than hemp or flax, 

 as I have known portions of Cedar bark to lie on the ground for a very 

 long time, trodden down by the foot, and exposed to every vicissitude 

 of weather, and yet retain their qualities unchanged. It would not be 

 the first time that man has profited by the example of the lower animals 

 in his manufactures, or borrowed from them materials for his work. 

 Who will try to improve upon the paper made by the despised wasp ? 

 Among Its many uses, the Cedar has of late years been adopted for 

 . garden hedges. It is easily obtained ; takes root readily ; is extremely 

 neat and ornamental when trimmed with the garden shears ; is evergreen, 

 and does not intrude upon the borders, as it sends up no shoots from 

 the roots ; is close, warm, and sheltering. Whether it would be proof 

 against the weight of cattle pushing through it I cannot say, unless 

 planted within rails or pickets, as is usually done in gardens. The 

 Hemlock also makes a very pretty garden fence, and possibly the White 

 Spruce, if headed in, might be rendered equally if not more serviceable 

 tor enclosures. A very handsome evergreen fence of mixed trees of the 

 above named species would be very ornamental and more serviceable 

 than the Hawthorn, which, in our native species, is hard to cultivate, 

 having a tendency to grow too high and straggling to make a close, 

 compact fence. 



