106 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



Experienced men who have been long engaged in mining the timber, 

 are able to tell by the odor of a chip brought to the surface from a deeply 

 submerged log whether the wood is sufficiently well preserved to be 

 worth recovering and manufacturing. Trunks six feet in diameter 

 have been brought to the surface. Few if any living white cedars of 

 that size exist now. 



Many of the early uses of southern white cedar have continued till 

 the present time, but in much smaller quantities. Fence rails are no 

 longer made of it; shingles and cooperage have declined. On the other 

 hand, it now has some uses which were unknown in early times, such as 

 telephone and telegraph poles, crossties, and piling for railroad bridges 

 and culverts. 



The supply of southern white cedar is not large, and it is being cut 

 faster than it is growing. The deep swamps where it grows protect 

 white cedar forests from fire, and for that reason it is more fortunate than 

 many other species. Not even cypress can successfully compete with it 

 for possession of water soaked morasses. It does not promise great 

 things for the future, for it will never be extensively planted. Its range 

 has been pretty definitely fixed by nature to deep swamps near the 

 Atlantic coast. Within those limits it will be of some importance for a 

 long time. Where it finds its most congenial surroundings, little else 

 that is profitable to man will grow. This will save it from utter ex- 

 termination, because much of the land which it occupies will never be 

 wanted for anything else. 



