RED CEDAR : Juniperus virginiana 



No matter what may be said of the inaccuracy in call- 

 ing certain different species of trees " Cedars," that name 

 is so fixed in the lumber trade and in the mind of the pub- 

 lic that submission is the only alternative. The species so 

 misnamed are the Junipers, Thuyas (Arborvitaes), Libo- 

 cedrus, and Chamaecyparis, but in the common parlance 

 they are all "Cedars." 



The Junipers are, no doubt, the most widely distributed 

 species of trees on our continent and may be found in 

 nearly every state of the Union. Except for posts and like 

 uses, and in some sections, for fuel, only one of the eleven 

 species of Junipers in the United States has any commer- 

 cial value as a timber tree, and that is the one commonly 

 called Red Cedar, botanically known as Juniperus vir- 

 giniana. It may be found growing but little better than a 

 shrub in some sections, and as a stately tree one hundred 

 feet high and three or four feet in diameter in others. 

 Ordinarily, where cut for lumber it does not reach more 

 than fifty feet in height and twelve to fifteen inches 

 through. While its size is materially affected by soil and 

 location, it will persist in accepting, with a compensat- 

 ing discount, almost any soil or location from a swamp to 

 a rocky cliff. Its range is from Maine to Florida and west- 

 ward along the Canadian line to North Dakota, and south- 

 ward to Texas. Its best development is south of the Ohio 

 River. Along the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, 

 in the valley of the Tennessee River, and in northern Ala- 

 bama, there could once be seen vigorous stands of large 

 trees, but they are now sadly thinned. It generally grows 

 mixed with other species, but on the so-called " Cedar 

 Barrens " of middle Tennessee it forms pure stands. 



It is an evergreen conifer and in early life, when in the 



