Os AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



The northern white cedar varies greatly in size and shape, depend- 

 ing on the soil, climate, and situation. Though it is usually associated 

 with swamps in the North, it adapts itself to quite different situations. 

 It grows in narrow, rocky ravines, on stony ridges, and it clings to the 

 faces of cliffs, or hangs on their summits as tenaciously as the western 

 juniper of the Sierra Nevada mountains. However, little good timber 

 is produced by this species on rocky soils. Trees in such situations are 

 short, crooked, and limby. 



The wood of the northern white cedar possesses a peculiar tough- 

 ness which is seen in its wearing qualities. A thin shaving, such as a 

 carpenter's plane makes, may be folded, laid on an anvil, and struck 

 repeatedly with a hammer, without breaking. It is claimed for it that 

 it will stand a severer test of that kind than any other American wood. 

 Toughness and wearing qualities combined make it an admirable wood 

 for planking and decking for small boats. Its exceptionally light weight 

 is an additional factor as a boat building material. The Indians knew 

 how to work it into frames for bark canoes. Its lightness appealed to 

 them; but the ease with which they could work it with their primitive 

 tools was more important. It is a characteristic of the wood to part 

 readily along the rings of annual growth. The Indian was able to split 

 canoe ribs with a stone maul, by pounding a cedar billet until it parted 

 along the growth rings and was reduced to very thin slats. 



The property of this cedar which appealed to the Indians is disliked 

 by the sawmill man. It is hard to make thin lumber that will hang 

 together. The tendency to part along the growth rings develops 

 wind-shake while the tree is standing. About nine trees in ten are so 

 defective from shake that little good lumber can be made from them. 

 It is a common saying, which probably applies in certain localities only, 

 that a thousand feet of white cedar must be sawed to get one hundred 

 feet of good lumber. 



It is good material for small cooperage such as buckets, pails, and 

 tubs, and has been long used for that purpose in the northern states. 



It was once laid in large quantities for paving blocks. Hundreds of 

 miles of streets of northern cities were paved with round blocks sawed 

 from trunks of trees from five to ten inches in diameter. They were not 

 usually treated with chemicals to prevent decay, but they gave service 

 ranging from six to twelve years. They are less used now than formerly. 

 Southern yellow pine has largely taken the cedar's place as paving 

 material. Much northern cedar has been used in the manufacture of 

 bored pipe for municipal waterworks, shops, salt works, paper mills, 

 and other factories. 



The early settlers of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania made 



