WHITE CEDAR 211 



branches composing the crown. When growing in the open 

 borders of streams or lakes, its persistent demand for light 

 causes many trees to grow crooked, bending outward in 

 early life and then turning upward, thus rendering the tree 

 unfit for anything but short stuff. 



The wood is very light, a cubic foot weighing only nine- 

 teen pounds when dry. It is soft, straight-grained, easily 

 split, weak, brittle, moderately fine-grained, durable when 

 exposed to the soil, and fragrant. The heartwood is pale 

 yellowish brown, with thin and nearly white sapwood. 

 There is little difference between spring and summer growth. 

 It is largely used for posts of all kinds, telegraph, telephone, 

 trolley and electric-light poles, railroad ties, hop poles, 

 shingles, boats, and sills for buildings. Notwithstanding 

 that the wood is very durable, many live trees above nine 

 or ten inches in diameter will be found hollow for a few 

 feet above the ground. This decay appears to cease after 

 the tree is cut. 



It is a prolific seeder and natural reproduction will take 

 place fairly well, if permitted. It can be readily grown in 

 the nursery, and its shallow, fibrous root system renders it 

 an easy tree to transplant. It is a slow grower, but as it 

 thrives best where more rapidly growing trees do not, and 

 as it is almost indispensable for certain purposes, its propa- 

 gation should be undertaken where the location is suitable 

 and where more valuable species will not grow equally as 

 well. While it will grow on comparatively dry ground, it 

 does not thrive as well there as in its natural soil. 



The seeds mature in one year and should be gathered 

 from the 1st to the 15th of September. They are very small 

 running from one hundred and fifty thousand to one hun- 

 dred and seventy-five thousand to the pound and almost 

 entirely surrounded with a film-like wing, and are readily 

 blown a great distance. The treatment of seeds, propagation 

 in the nursery, transplants are preferable, and subse- 

 quent removal to the forest should be the same as for 

 White Pine except that they should be set closer in the 



