68 ECONOMIC HOTAXY OF ALABAMA 



JUNIPERUS, L. Ckdars axd Jr>;iPKRs. 

 Juniperus Virginiana, L. (Sabiiui of some authors )( Ri;d) Ckdar 



(Mai) "'■ I^'i^-^- !•'. ^') 



A well-known evergreen tree, blooming in early spring, and 

 attaining a considerable size when it has a chance, but it has been 

 so extensively exploited for its wood that trees over a foot in 

 diameter are now scarce. t)Utside of cultivation. 



It has long been cultivated for ornament, and occasionally for 

 hedges, in all the eastern states, and to some extent in Europe. 

 (Sudworth lists 31 horticultural varieties.) Straight driveways 

 lined with double rows of cedar lead from the highways to the 

 front steps of many old mansions in the South, especially in cal- 

 careous regions. The uses of the wood are various, some of them 

 based on its durability, some on its softness and straight grain. 

 some on its color, and some on its odor. Long logs are used for 

 piles, telegraph and telei:)hone poles, and trestle bents, and shorter 

 pieces for fence-posts. Sawed lumber is made into buckets, churns, 

 clothes-chests (on account of the odor, which repels moths), and 

 especially for pencils. In Middle Tennessee, where it is one of 

 the most abundant trees, and pines are scarce, cedar was formerly 

 used a great deal for building houses, boats and furniture, and even 

 for cross-ties and fence-rails. 



No other wood has been found which possesses just the right 

 physical properties for the casing of lead-pencils, and the supply 

 of straight-grained cedar suited for this purpose is now l)arely suf- 

 ficient, so that its use for other purposes (except i)erha]is fence- 

 posts, for which knotty pieces will answer just as well ) has fallen 

 off considerably. When used for pencils its durability, color and 

 odor are no object, and these qualities are therefore wasted, one 

 might say. The shavings are used to keep away moths, and a valu- 

 abl oil is made from the wood and green twigs. 



Several writers on the subject have expressed the (ipinif)n that 

 the su])ply of cedar was ra])idly ai)i)roaching exhaustion, but the 

 gloomiest predictions about it have not been realized. F. A. 

 Michaux, author of a North American Sylva. seemed to think it 

 was on the verge of extinction over a hundred years ago, when 

 most people had little use for pencils and the number of possible 

 consumers was only a fraction of what it is now ; but judging from 



