WESTERN RED CEDAR 



133 



THIS LOG HAS BEEN ON THE GROUND OVER 1,500 YEARS 



thousand years before Columbus discovered America the red cedar which the woodsman is seen cutting fell to the ground. Since then the 

 three big cedar trees grew over it, reached great size, and were cut down. The largest of the three was 10^2 feet in diameter, and showed 

 an average of 23 rings to the inch, making it 1,449 years old. The fallen tree was found by the woodsman to be thoroughly sound and well- 

 preserved, as he cut out of it numerous shingle bolts. 



to open in August and the seeds sail away on the wind 

 like tiny aeroplanes, scattering far and wide. A single 

 tree produces thousands upon thousands of seeds each 

 year, and at intervals of a few years extra large crops 

 i.re borne. The seed must start to grow quickly or it 

 loses its ability to germinate. It grows best in moist 

 places, such as beds of moss or on decaying logs and 

 stumps. 



Nature has made it easy for the seeds to travel and 

 they are produced so abundantly that young growth of 

 western red cedar is plentiful in the regions of heavy 

 rainfall, where this tree grows best, except where forest 

 fires have wrought havoc by destroying the blanket of 

 moss and vegetable mould that holds the moisture in 

 the ground. Very few young red cedars are found 

 where forest fires have destroyed vegetation and exposed 

 the dry mineral soil. The seedlings have remarkable 

 power to thrive in dense shade and will grow even to 

 old age overshadowed by other trees. However, growth 

 is more rapid where the trees receive plenty of sunlight. 

 In dense forests old cedars have been found that have 

 required more than 50 years to grow a single inch. 

 Average growth is about one inch in radius in 10 years, 

 but trees that have grown one-half inch per year for 

 20 successive years have been found. Some of the 

 largest trees are 700 to 800 years old, or perhaps older. 



Like other forest trees, the character of its growth 



and its relative abundance in the forest varies with soil 

 and moisture conditions and elevation above sea level. 

 In swamps and swales it is sometimes the only ever- 

 green tree in the forest, but such areas of pure growth 

 are of limited size. It is generally found growing with 

 western hemlock, Douglas fir, redwood, western white 

 pine and other species. It is less common on dry south- 

 ern slopes than on the moist north and east slopes, where 

 it is found growing at greater elevations than on the 

 southern exposures. It will grow on dry rocky soil, but 

 does not develop well. Although it climbs the moun- 

 tains to the height of more than a mile above sea level, 

 near its upper limits it grows short and stunted, and at 

 present is of little commercial importance above 3,000 

 feet elevation. At high altitudes, where the summers 

 are short and the winter temperatures sometimes reach 

 3o degrees below zero, it becomes a mere shrub. 



In the "cedar country" of British Columbia this species 

 may constitute 50 per cent to 80 per cent of the mer- 

 chantable timber. On selected areas the cedar logs cut 

 from a single acre may scale 100,000 feet board meas- 

 use, but such heavy stands are not often found. A good 

 yield where cedar predominates is 30,000 to 60,000 board 

 feet per acre. 



The wood has about three-fourths of the strength and 

 stiffness of white oak, and is light and soft. The heart 

 wood is a dull reddish-brown, darkening on exposure; 



