TIMBER OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 89 



J. barbadensis at any rate, generally quite straight. The 

 sap is usually only about f inch thick, of dingy white 

 colour, the heartwood of bright pinkish red, of uniform 

 colour ; fine, even, and straight in grain, very compact and 

 durable, light, soft, easily worked, it takes a high polish. 

 A good deal used for poles, and makes one of the most 

 lasting of sleepers, having 50 per cent, longer life than 

 white oak in most situations. Large quantities are used 

 for butter churns and tubs. It is a tree with few diseases, 

 and these do little harm ; one of the few timbers practi- 

 cally immune from fungus. Of late such large quantities 

 of red cedar (J. virginiana) are used in the pencil trade that 

 supplies are getting scarce. 



Something like 315,000,000 pencils are manufactured in 

 the United States yearly, requiring about 7,500,000 cubic 

 feet of timber, of which by far the larger proportion is red 

 cedar. The cedar mills are continually moving to fresh 

 fields to get nearer the supplies, whilst, where that is not 

 the case, old rails and knotty logs are now being used 

 which a few years ago would have been rejected wholesale. 

 It is its softness, straightness of grain, and freedom from 

 defects which render this wood peculiarly adapted for 

 pencil-making, an industry which is practically dependent 

 upon this one wood. Only the heartwood is used for 

 pencils, the sapwood being made into penholders, but as 

 not so many of these are required, much of it goes to 

 waste. There is nearly 70 per cent, of waste in the con- 

 version of the wood into pencils, and this has little market 

 value except for fuel, although some of it is now manu- 

 factured into thick paper for underlaying carpets, and some 

 is converted into fine shavings and used instead of camphor 

 for the protection of furs and woollen goods. A good deal 

 of red cedar is used in Germany for cigar boxes, and its 

 beautiful red colour makes it much appreciated by turners. 



