TIMBER OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 91 



posts, coopers' work, boats, and building. This tree ap- 

 preciates swampy situations. The wood is light, soft, 

 reddish in colour, and bears exposure remarkably well. 

 It is abundant in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and 

 Ontario, where it grows to a considerable height but small 

 diameter, and is the timber chiefly used for telegraph posts. 



Incense Cedar (Libocedrus decurrens) is another large tree 

 which grows in Oregon and California, producing a fine- 

 grained wood (Fig. 16). 



Idaho Cedar has been largely used in the past for telegraph 

 posts, but many districts from which the supplies have 

 hitherto come will be worked out in ten or fifteen years' 

 time. 



Canoe Cedar or Red Cedar of the West, also called giant 

 arbor vitae (T. gigantea or T. plicata), used by the Indians 

 for canoes, is another white cedar of the States timber 

 trade and ranks next to Douglas fir as a timber tree in 

 British Columbia, and in Vancouver Island it attains a 

 great size. It is found in the Selkirk Hills ; though rarely 

 more than 150 ft. in height, it is of the considerable 

 diameter of 8 to 10 ft. In Canada it is chiefly used for 

 shingles. The wood takes a fine polish suitable for interior 

 finishing, as there is much variety of shading in the colour. 

 It is also a good deal used for fencing and telegraph posts. 



This tree is in the Vancouver district often confused 

 with the yellow cypress or yellow cedar (Thuya cxcclsa), 

 a tree of about the same height, but of less diameter, and 

 which produces timber of a similar character. 



The cedar woods above described are soft and stiff, but 

 not strong, of fine texture, season rapidly, shrink and warp 

 but little, are very durable, and owing to this quality are, 

 as has been stated, preferred for shingles and much used 



