56 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



but what has certain relations to the neces- 

 sities of man, and which does not serve him 

 somewhere for clothing, for shelter, for 

 pleasure, for medicine, or at least for fuel. 

 The arbor vitas, which we have borrowed from 

 the extremity of the east and of the west, as a 

 mere ornament to our pleasure-grounds, 

 forms an article of utility and profit to the 

 inhabitants of its native soil. 



Kalm says, that it is reckoned the most 

 durable wood in Canada, where the French 

 call it cedre blanc, and the English white 

 cedar. All the posts which are driven into 

 the ground, and the palisades round the forts 

 in Canada, are of this wood. The planks in 

 the houses are made of it ; and the thin nar- 

 row pieces of wood which form both the ribs 

 and the bottom of the bark boats, commonly 

 made use of there, are taken from this wood, 

 because it is pliant enough for the purpose 

 when fresh, and likewise, because it is very 

 light. The Thuja wood is reckoned one of 

 the best for the use of lime-kilns. Its 

 branches are used all over Canada for 

 besoms, which leave their peculiar scent in 

 all the houses where they are used. 



Our plantations have not been more beau- 

 tified by exotic shrubs, than our schools of 

 medicine have been enriched bv Indian 



