CONIFERAE 



69 



Fig. 16. Jimil'cnis J^irgiiiiaiia on limestone outcrops in Jones Valley 

 between Grasselli and Wheeling, Jefferson County. September 30, 1912. 



the quantities that one can still see in the eastern part of the Ten- 

 nessee A'alley. growing on the mountain slopes or piled up await- 

 ing shipment at nearly every railroad station, the end of our sup- 

 ply is not yet in sight. It is true that the largest trees have disap- 

 peared, but there are still about as many small ones as ever, most 

 of them on land too rocky to plow, which seems better suited for 

 the growing of cedar than anything else. And if the native stock 

 should ever get too depleted it could be supplemented by cultiva- 

 tion, to which this species responds very readily. It will grow in 

 any temperate climate that is not too dry, and in almost any soil 

 that is not too wet. 



References: Harper !>. Mohr 2o, White. 



The red cedar has quite a variety of natural habitats, ranging 

 from dry cliff.s — of both limestone and sandstone — and gravelly 

 ridges to damp shady flatwoods and hammocks, shell mounds, and 

 edges of salt marshes. It is also common along fences and road- 

 sides, where birds have dropped the seeds. But all its diverse 

 habitats seem to have one thing in common, and perhaps two. 

 First, they are well protected from fire by the topography, proxim- 

 ity of water, sparseness of the surrounding vegetation (as on 

 rocks), or dampness of the humus. It also seems likely, though 

 that point has not been specially investigated, that earthworms are 

 rare or absent in the soils in which it grows naturally. This is 

 certainly true of the cliffs, and ])robably of the strongly calcareous 



