T 



NORTHERN WHITE CEDAR 



(Thuja Occidentalis) 



IHIS tree is designated as northern white cedar because there is 

 also a southern white cedar, (Chamcecy Paris ihyoides) and the 

 boundaries of their ranges approach pretty closely. The name occi- 

 dentalis, meaning western, applied to the northern white cedar is em- 

 ployed by botanists to distinguish it from a similar cedar in Asia, which is 

 called orientalis, or eastern. 



The American species has several names, as is usual with trees 

 which grow in different regions. It is called arborvitae in Maine, 

 Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, 

 Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Ontario. White 

 cedar is a name often used in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode 

 Island, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, 

 Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ontario. In Maine, Vermont, and 

 New York it is called cedar. In New York, and where cultivated in 

 England, American arborvitae is the name applied to it. The Indians 

 in New York knew it as feather-leaf. In Delaware the name is 

 abridged to vitae. 



The tree has been widely planted, and under the influence of 

 cultivation it runs quickly into varieties, of which forty-five are listed 

 by nurserymen. It is a northern species which follows the Appalachian 

 mountains southward to North Carolina and Tennessee. It grows 

 from New Brunswick to Manitoba, and is abundant in the Lake States. 



The bark of arborvitae is light brown, tinged with red on the branch- 

 lets; it is thin, and cracks into ridges with stringy, rough edges; the 

 branchlets are very smooth. 



In general appearance the tree is conical and compact, with short 

 branches; it attains a height of from twenty-five to seventy feet, and a 

 diameter of from one to three feet. It thrives best in low, swampy 

 land, along the borders of streams. 



The wood of arborvitae is soft, brittle, light and weak; it is very 

 inflammable. The fact that it is durable, even in contact with the soil, 

 permits its use for railway ties, telegraph poles, posts, fencing, shingles 

 and boats. However, the trunk is so shaped that it is seldom used for 

 lumber, but of tener for poles and posts, the lower section being flattened 

 into ties. A cubic foot of the seasoned wood weighs approximately 

 nineteen pounds. The heartwood is light brown, becoming darker with 

 exposure; the sapwood is thin and nearly white, with fine grain. 



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