112 



Trees, Stars, and Birds 



FIG. 73. A spray of juniper. The berries 

 are an important source of food for birds 

 in winter. 



washing machines, ice- 

 cream freezers, and 

 wooden pails. Chests 

 made of it are used for 

 storing furs and woolen 

 garments. Its odor, 

 which is so agreeable 

 to us, is generally 

 thought to be repulsive 

 to moths ; but recent 

 tests show that this is 

 not really the case, 

 that the chests protect 

 the garments by keep- 

 ing the insects from 



getting to them, and that woolen clothing is as safe in 

 any tight chest as in one made of cedar wood. 



When cedar trees were abundant, the wood was used 

 for ties, fence posts, and the sills of houses, for it is 

 remarkably durable. In damp places most kinds of 

 wood decay in a few years, but cedar posts and sills 

 often last 40 years or more. It is also used for the 

 interior finish of houses. 



Hardly any large red cedar trees remain, and in 

 late years men have dug out, for the wood in them, the 

 stumps of trees that fell to the ax more than half a 

 century ago. The wood has sold for as much as a 

 dollar a cubic foot. The sapwood is not red but quite 

 light colored. Both sapwood and heartwood may often 

 be seen in cedar chests. Cedar oil is distilled from the 

 wood and' leaves. 



