24-76 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



Desmption. The white cedar, according to Michaux, is a tree from 70 ft. 

 to 80 ft. high, and rarely more than 3 ft. in diameter, unless, perhaps, in some 

 of the great swamps, which have not been thoroughly explored. When the 

 white cedars grow close together, the trunk is straight, perpendicular, and 

 destitute of branches to the height of 50 ft. or 60 ft. The bark is very thin 

 on young trees ; but on older trees it becomes thick, of a reddish colour, 

 and similar to that of an old vine. When cut, a yellow transparent resin 

 exudes from it, of an agreeable odour, but in such small quantities, that only 

 a few ounces could be collected in the course of a summer, from a tree 3 ft. 

 in diameter. The wood is light, soft, fine-grained, and easily worked. When 

 perfectly seasoned, and after it has been some time exposed to the light, it 

 is of a rosy hue. It has a strong aromatic odour, which it preserves as long 

 as it is guarded from humidity ; and it resists the alternations of dryness and 

 moisture longer than the wood of any other species of American tree. The 

 concentric circles are always perfectly distinct, even in trunks of consider- 

 able size ; but their number and compactness prove that many years must 

 elapse before the tree arrives at its full growth. Michaux informs us that he 

 has counted 275 annual layers in a trunk only 1 ft. 9 in. in diameter, and 47 

 in a plank only 8 in. thick. The tree, in the climate of London, is of slow 

 growth, seldom exceeding the height of 4 ft. or 5 ft. in 10 or 12 years. There 

 is an old shattered specimen at Mill Hill, probably one of the original plants 

 which were raised by Collinson, which, in 1836, was 15ft. high; and a mag- 

 nificent tree at Pain's Hill, near the temple of Bacchus, which, in 1837, was 

 30ft. high, with a trunk 2ft. in diameter; the trunk is erect, and the branch- 

 lets are pendulous, somewhat in the manner of those of a spruce fir. There 

 is a very handsome tree of about the same dimensions near the Duke of De- 

 vonshire's villa at Chiswick, on the property which in the 17th century be- 

 longed to Sir Stephen Fox, and which is now occupied by Lance, Esq., 



a well known cultivator of Orchidiiceae. Plants, in the Horticultural Society's 

 Garden, which have been 12 years planted, are only 5ft. high; a\id there 

 are some of the same age, but rather higher, in the Hackney arboretum. 



Geography, History, Sj-c. In America, the white cedar grows only in wet 

 grounds in the maritime districts of New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, 

 where it nearly fills the extensive marshes which lie adjacent to the salt mea- 

 dows, and are exposed, at high tides, to be overflowed by the sea. In New 

 Jersey, it covers, almost alone, the whole surface of the swamps, of which 

 the tupelo and red maple occupy the skirts. Farther south, it is mingled 

 with the deciduous cypress, by which it is at length entirely supplanted. 

 In Lower Jersey and Maryland, the swamps are accessible only during the 

 driest part of the summer, and when they are frozen during winter. The 

 trees stand so thick in these swamps, that the light can hardly penetrate 

 through the foliage; and, under their gloomy shade, at every step, are found 

 tufts of the dwarf rhododendron, azalea, and andromeda, the luxuriant 

 vegetation of which proves that they delight in dark and humid places. 

 The Dismal Swamp, near Norfolk, in Virginia, is covered with the white 

 cedar and the deciduous cypress ; the cedars being in the centre of the 

 swamp, and the cypresses on the margin. The white cedar was introduced 

 into England by Peter Collinson, in 1736; and, though it is not so frequent 

 in collections as the common cypress, it is still to be met with in the prin- 

 cipal nurseries. The tree at Pain's Hill, which is in deep sandy loam, shows 

 that, if not common in the climate of London, it is not because it will not 

 thrive there. 



Projjerties and Uses, Sfc. The wood, on account of its lightness, and its 

 power of resisting alternations of dryness and moisture, is in common use, at 

 Baltimore and Philadelphia, for shingles, which are cut transversely to the 

 concentric circles, and not parallel to them like shingles of the deciduous 

 cypress. They are from 2 ft. to 2 ft. 3 in. long, from 4 in. to 6 in. broad, 

 and 3 lines thick at the larger end. At Baltimore, they are commonly called 

 juniper shingles, and are there preferred to those of the deciduous cypress. 



