132 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



it is most important in 

 southwestern British Co- 

 lumbia, the coast region oi 

 western Washington and 

 other Western sections. 



Cedar, a name of very 

 ancient origin, meaning 

 "life from the dead." has 

 been applied to many un- 

 related kinds of wood 

 which possess the one 

 common characteristic of 

 exceptional durability. The 

 "Cedar of Lebanon" sup- 

 plied the timbers for Solo- 

 mon's temple, and the 

 Egyptians used cedar oil 

 for preserving mummies, 

 and the wood for mummy 

 cases. Carved figures of 

 cedar, supposed to be more 

 than three thousand years 

 old, may be seen in the 

 museums of today. In the 

 United States, red cedar, 

 incense cedar, southern 

 white cedar, northern white 

 cedar, and cypress are 

 genera which have one or 

 more species commonly 

 known as "cedar," al- 

 though in some cases this 

 term is a local one only. 

 Two species of Arborvitac 

 are native to America, one 

 being the white cedar of 

 the northeastern United 

 States, and the other west- 

 ern red cedar, sometimes called the giant Arborvitae or 

 gigantic cedar. 



Giant Arborvitae, like so many of the Pacific Coast 

 trees, attains magnificent proportions. In the low fer- 

 tile bottom lands near Puget Sound and Vancouver 

 Island, specimens 200 feet high and 15 or 16 feet in 

 diameter have been found. Its ordinary size is from 

 V/t to 8 feet in diameter with a height of 100 to 150 

 feet. A prominent feature thai gives this tree a very 

 different appearance from other trees of the Pacific 

 Coast is the rapid tapering of the trunk from a greatly 

 enlarged and fluted base. A tree 15 feet in diameter 

 near the ground is usually only 9 or 10 feet through 20 

 above. Young trees do not have excessively swollen or 

 furrowed bases, and are regular in outline, making splen- 

 did poles. Practically all of the very old trees are hol- 

 low at the center for a considerable distance above the 

 lin^e. 



Like most evergreen trees, when growing in the open, 



tern cedar retains living branches almost to the 



fi Tming a stately and symmetrical spire of green. 



A WESTERN RED CEDAR, ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST, 

 CALIFORNIA 



Next to Douglas fir, the cedar is the most important timber tree in 

 British Columbia and in the State of Washington. It grows over an 

 area of about 300,000 square miles. 



Trees growing in dense 

 forests are free of branches 

 for 40 to 80 feet above the 

 ground, and the matured 

 trunks usually are slightly 

 curved. Young trees have 

 slender, upcurving limbs, 

 but as the branches grow 

 in length they swing down 

 in graceful curves, with an 

 upward sweep of the ends. 

 The top of a vigorously 

 growing youthful cedar 

 ends in a slender, nodding, 

 whiplike tip. Xot infre- 

 quently two tips a "dou- 

 ble leader" are formed, 

 causing a fork in the stem 

 of the tree. As the trees 

 grow in age they gradually 

 develop rounding tops. 



The bark is less than 

 an inch thick, even on the 

 large trees. In color it is 

 bright cinnamon red, but 

 the exterior is frequently 

 a grayish brown from long 

 exposure to the weather. 

 Shallow seams separate 

 the surface of the bark 

 into narrow strips that 

 extend irregularly, but con- 

 tinuously, the length of the 

 trunk. These bands of 

 bark are flat on young 

 trees, but on older trees 

 they become rounded. The 

 inner bark is tough and 

 fibrous, and can be peeled 

 from young trees in ribbons 20 or 30 feet long. 



Like the eastern Arborvitae, the leaves are tiny scale- 

 like affairs that overlap each other and press closely 

 to the twigs. The latter are noticeably flat, branching 

 and rebranching into open, fernlike fans of pale green 

 that delight the eye. The leaves remain on the tree 

 about three years; as the main stems of the branch 

 develop, the short, flat side branches also die and fall. 



Both the pollen-producing and the seed-forming flow- 

 ers are borne on the same tree, but usually on different 

 twigs. They are very small, brown, scaly bodies that 

 bloom inconspicuously in the early spring. The clus- 

 tered russet-brown cones are about one-half inch long 

 and stand erect upon the branches. They consist of a 

 few thin leathery scales arranged in pairs, the three 

 middle pairs are larger than the others and each bears 

 two or three seeds. The seeds are very small and light, 

 w ith a pleasing aromatic odor. Each seed has thin gauzy 

 wings on either side and almost surrounding it, .instead 

 of a single long wing at the end, as is the case with 

 the seeds of most cone-bearing trees. The cones begin 



