UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 604 



Contribution from the Forest Service 

 HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester 



J&sr^tj-t- 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



March 16, 1918 



INCENSE CEDAR. 



By J. Alfred Mitchell, Forest Examiner. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Commercial importance 1 



The wood 10 



The tree 12 



Forest types and associated species- 27 

 Stand 28 



Page. 



Enemies 29 



Management 31 



Artificial foiestation 35 



Appendix 37 



COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 1 



Incense cedar {Libocedrus decurrens Torrey) is comparatively 

 little known on the general market. Only the better grades of lumber 

 are shipped, and not much of this material is produced, owing to 

 the prevalence of " peckiness " or " dry-rot," and to the scattered 

 occurrence of the tree. Frequently it is mixed with other species, 

 there being too small a quantity of it produced in most operations 

 to be handled separately. The local market for it is extensive, 

 however, and it is cut by practically every operator in the mountains 

 of California and southern Oregon, along with the more valuable 

 timber trees with which it grows. 



An inquiry among the operators and dealers throughout California 

 in 1912 showed that the total cut for that year, including local con- 

 sumption, was, in round numbers, 32.810,000 board feet. Table 1 

 gives the cut in California from 1899 to 1916, exclusive of local 

 consumption, and the value of the cut at prevailing wholesale prices 

 where available. 



1 Acknowledgment is made of the valuable assistance rendered in the gathering of data 

 for this publication by various Forest officers of Districts 5 and 6, whose hearty coopera- 

 tion has made its preparation possible, and of the assistance of Dr. E. P. Meinecke and 

 Messrs. T. D. Woodbury, C. A. Kupfer, Ralph Hopping, and L. T. Larsen in the compila- 

 tion of the data and the revision of the manuscript. 



11919°— 18— Bull. 604 1 1 



