AMERICAN FOREST TREES 99 



a rheumatism ointment by bruising the leaves and molding them with 

 lard. This is probably not made now, but pharmacists distill an oil from 

 twigs and wood, and make a tincture of the leaves which they use in the 

 manufacture of pulmonary and other medicines. 



There is little likelihood that northern white cedar will ever cease 

 to be a commercial wood in this country. It will become scarcer, but 

 its manner of growth is the best guarantee that it will hold its place. It 

 lives in swamps, and the land is not in demand for any other purpose. 



ONE-SEED JUNIPER (Juniperus monospermd) is also called naked-seed juniper. 

 Its range lies in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Arizona. It attains its 

 greatest development in the bottoms of canyons in northern Arizona. It is a 

 scrawny desert tree which lives in adversity but holds its ground for centuries, if fire 

 does not cut its career short. Its growth is too scattered to attract lumbermen, and 

 the form of its trunk is uninviting. It may reach a height of forty or fifty feet, and a 

 diameter of three, but that is above the average in the best of its range. The desert 

 Indians make the most of one-seed juniper. They weave its stringy bark into sleeping 

 mats, rough blankets, and saddle girts. They make cords and ropes of it for use 

 where great strength is not required, such as leashes for leading dogs, strands with 

 which to tie bundles on the backs of their squaws, and cords for fastening their 

 wigwam poles together. They likewise weave the bark into pokes and pouches for 

 storing and carrying their dried meat and mesquite beans. The juniper berries are 

 an article of diet and commerce with the Indians, who mix them with divers ingre- 

 dients, pulp them in stone mortars, and bake them in cakes which become the greatest 

 delicacy on their bill of fare. White men, when driven to it by starvation, have 

 sustained life by making food of the berries. A small quantity of one-seed juniper 

 reaches woodworkers in Texas. The lumber is short and rough. The numerous 

 knots are generally much darker than the body of the wood. That is not necessarily 

 a defect, for in making clothes chests, the striking contrast in color between the knots, 

 and the other wood gives the article a peculiar and attractive appearance. The 

 trunks are sharply buttressed and deeply creased. Sometimes the folds of bark 

 within the creases almost reach the center of the tree. The sapwood is thin, the heart- 

 wood irregular in color. Some is darker than the heartwood of southern red cedar, 

 other is clouded and mottled, pale yellow, cream-colored, the shade of slate, or streaked 

 with various tints. The wood can be economically worked only as small pieces. It 

 takes a soft and pleasing finish. It is a lathe wood and shows to best advantage as 

 balusters, ornaments, grill spindles and small posts, Indian clubs, dumb-bells, balls, 

 and lodge gavels. It has been made into small game boards with fine effect, and it is 

 an excellent material for small picture frames. Furniture makers put it to use in 

 several ways, and it has been recommended for small musical instruments where the 

 variegated colors can be displayed to excellent advantage. At the best it can never 

 be more than a minor species, because it is difficult of access in the remote deserts, 

 and it is not abundant. 



MOUNTAIN JUNIPER (Juniperus sabinoides) is a Texas tree, occupying a range 

 southward and westward of the Colorado river. It has several local names, rock 

 cedar being a favorite. This name is due to the tree's habit of growing on rocky 

 ridges and among ledges where soil is scarce. It is called juniper cedar, and juniper. 

 Under the most favorable circumstances the tree may attain a height of 100 feet and a 

 diameter of two, but it nearly always grows where conditions are adverse, and its 



