570 



THU 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



THU 



bark, while young', is smooth, and of a dark brown colour, 

 but as the tree advances it becomes cracked, and less smooth. 

 The branches are produced irregularly on every side, stand- 

 ing almost horizontal, and the young slender shoots frequently 

 hang down. These branches are not numerous, and the 

 younger ones only have leaves; hence the large trees make 

 but an indifferent appearance, being so thinly clothed with 

 leaves. The flowers are produced from the side of the young 

 branches, pretty near to the footstalk : the males gro.w in 

 oblong catkins, and between these the females are collected 

 in the form of cones. When the former have shed their 

 farina, they soon drop off; but the latter are succeeded by 

 oblong cones or strobiles, having obtuse smooth scales, con- 

 taining one or two oblong seeds. This tree generally answers 

 in grounds where the roots can obtain sufficient moisture, and 

 hence it grows tall in swamps and marshes. Stony hills, and 

 places where many stones lie together, covered with mosses, 

 seem to suit it next to the former situations. It seldom fails 

 to grow on hilly sea-Shores covered with mossy stones; and is 

 also found upon hills near rivers, and other high grounds, 

 but such places commonly receive their moisture from the 

 upper countries. In very dry places it never attains to any 

 considerable size, though it is pretty frequent in the clefts of 

 mountains, where it cannot grow to any great height or circum- 

 ference. The tallest of these trees in the woods of Canada, 

 are only from thirty to thirty-sjx feet high. It is reckoned 

 the most durable of all the timber of Canada, where enclosures 

 of all kinds are seldom made of any other wood, especially 

 the posts which are driven into the ground : the palisades 

 round the forts are made of it, and it furnishes planks or 

 boards for houses. The thin narrow pieces which form the 

 ribs and bottom of the bark-boats, commonly used in Canada, 

 are taken from this tree, because it is pliant enough for the 

 purpose, especially whilst it is fresh, and because it is very 

 light. It is also preferred for the use of the lime-kilns, and 

 the branches are used all over Canada for besoms, which the 

 Indians bring to the town for sale. The fresh branches have 

 a peculiar but agreeable scent, which is perceived very 

 plainly wherever such besoms are used. _The wood is of 

 great value for bowls, boxes, cups, mortars, pestles, and 

 various works of the turner and cabinet-maker; hence this 

 tree deserves a place in all plantations, especially as it bears 

 our severest winters, and soon arrives at a middling stature. 

 The Canadians apply the leaves, made into a salve with hogs- 

 lard, to parts affected with rheumatic pains. For violent 

 wandering pains, they use the cones, with four-fifths of Poly- 

 pody, both powdered coarsely, made into a poultice, with 

 water milk-warm, and wrapped round the body with a cloth 

 between, to prevent its scorching the skin. The Indians 

 employ a decoction of the leaves in coughs and intermitting 

 fevers. This tree flowers early in the spring, and the seeds 

 are ripe towards the end of September. Where the trees 

 grow thick, they seldom yield seeds, but single trees are 

 always loaded. Grows in North America, from Canada, to 

 the mountains of Virginia and Carolina; flowering in May. 

 Propagation. This species is generally increased by cuttings, 

 which should be planted in September upon a shady border, 

 and in a loamy soil. The cuttings should be chosen from the 

 shoots of the same year, with a small joint of the former 

 year's wood at the bottom of each. These should be planted 

 three or four inches deep, in proportion to their length, tread- 

 ing the ground close to them, to prevent the admission of air. 

 If the following spring should prove dry, there should be a 

 little mulch laid over the surface of the ground, to prevent its 

 drying: where this is performed in time, it will save the 

 trouble of watering the cuttings, and it will be much better 



for them, because when they are putting out their young 

 fibres, if they be much watered, that will rot them while they 

 are tender. These cuttings will be rooted enough to trans- 

 plant by the next autumn, when they may be either planted 

 in beds, or trained up in the rows of the nursery. When they 

 are propagated by layers, the young branches only should be 

 laid down in autumn or March, which will also put out roots 

 by the next autumn; when they may be taken up, and trans- 

 planted in the same manner as those raised from cuttings. 

 But although these are very expeditious methods of propa- 

 gating this valuable tree, those who wish to have large trees 

 should always propagate them by seeds, for the plants so 

 raised will be greatly preferable. There is a variety of this 

 species with variegated leaves, but as the difference proceeds 

 from a weakness in the plants, whenever they become strong 

 and vigorous, the leaves return to their plain colour again; 

 to prevent which, they are generally planted in very poor 

 ground. The variety can only be propagated either by cut- 

 tings or layers. 



2. Thuja Orientalis; Chinese Arbor-Vitas. Strobiles squar- 

 rose, with sharp scales; branches erect. These branches 

 grow closer together, and being much more adorned with 

 leaves, which are of a brighter green colour, make a much 

 better appearance than the former : the branches cross each 

 other at right angles. The cones or strobiles are also much 

 larger, of a beautiful gray colour, and their scales end in acute 

 reHexed points. Native of China and Japan. It is generally 

 propagated by layers in the same way as the former; but the 

 cuttings of this, if rightly managed, will take root very freely; 

 but most persons have over-nursed them. If these are 

 planted in September, in a border of soft loam, exposed to 

 the east, and before hard frost sets in, and the surface of the 

 ground covered with old tanners' bark about two inches thick, 

 it will prevent the frost from penetrating the ground very 

 deep; and if this remains in the spring, it will also keep the 

 ground moist; for if these cuttings, or the layers of this sort, 

 are watered in the spring, when they are beginning to put 

 out young fibres, it will certainly rot them. Hence these 

 layers or cuttings ought not to be watered, and should have 

 very little water even when they are transplanted : bat as 

 there are many plants now in England which ripen their 

 seeds, so, those who can be supplied with them, should prefer 

 this to both the other methods of propagating the plants ; 

 for after the two first years, the seedling plants will greatly 

 outstrip the others in growth, and the plants, growing with 

 their branches closer, will be much handsomer. These seeds 

 should be sown soon after they are ripe, which is in the 

 spring. They should be sown in pots filled with soft loamy 

 earth, and plunged into the ground in an east border, where 

 they may have only the morning sun, observing always to 

 keep the pots clean from weeds. Sometimes these seeds will 

 come up in the same year, but they often lie in the ground 

 till the next spritis:; therefore the pots should be put in ft 

 common hot-bed frame in winter, and in the spring the plants 

 will come up : these must not be too much exposed to the 

 sun in the first year, and if in the next winter they are shel- 

 tered under a frame, it will be a good way to preserve them, 

 and in the spring following they may be transplanted into 

 beds, and treated in the same way as those propagated by 

 cuttings. If it be propagated by layers, the plants must 

 stand two years to be rooted. At the beginning of April 

 plant them in penny pots, and plunge them in a moderate 

 hot-bed of tanners' bark, till the beginning of August ; after 

 which inure them to the air by degrees, and place them 

 under some protection during the succeeding winter. In 

 these pots let them remain a second ytar, when they -may be 



