24 FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 



(arborvitse) is limited to the swamps, but as in parts of Minnesota 

 and Michigan, it also invades the ordinary forests. In many 

 swampsi it is wanting, frequently it is sole occupant; more com- 

 monly, however, it is mixed with tamarack, some spruce and 

 often a few scattered hardwoods; it forms dense thickets, repro- 

 duces well, grows rather slowly, is generally under 18 inches in 

 diameter at four feet from the ground, and is less than 60 feet 

 in height; the older trees are normally defective at the butt. 

 The yield of cedar is extremely variable and difficult to estimate. 

 As it is saleable down to 4 and even 3 inches diameter the yield 

 is generally great wherever the swamps have not been burned. 

 A total of 1,300 million feet B. M., the equivalent of 2,600,000 

 cords, may be regarded as a very conservative estimate. Cedar 

 (arborvitse) is cut for posts, poles, both telegraph and telephone, 

 ties, and shingle timber. Wherever it is near highways, cedar 

 finds good market; the logging is generally done on small scale, 

 and exact figures for the total cut axe therefore not accessible. 



TAMARACK. 



Tamarack, hke cedar (arborvitse) grows chiefly in the 

 swamps; only in some of the moist and cold localities, especially 

 along Lake Superior, does it invade to a small extent the upland 

 woods. Unlike the arborvitse the tamarack inhabits the 

 swamps quite to the western and southern limits of the district 

 under consideration, and even stocks part of the swamps of the 

 adjoining oak and jack pine openings or brush prairies. In 

 these drier localities it remains small, but within the more humid 

 parts it attains commonly to 12 or 16 inches in diameter, reach- 

 ing a height of YO to 80 feet with a most remarkably small taper. 

 It reproduces well, grows quite fast, forms very dense thickets, 

 often entirely covering the swamp with poles of nearly one age 

 and size, but also often occupying merely its edges or the center. 

 It may be practically alone, i. e., form groves of pure growth, 

 but quite often it is mixed more or less with cedar, spruce, and 

 some hardwoods. The former condition frequentiy or nearly 



