CHAP. CXIII. coni'ferje. rnu\jA. 2457 



scattered over these countries ; and it occupies in great part, or exclusively, 

 swamps from 50 acres to 100 acres in extent; some of which are accessible 

 only in the winter, when they are frozen over and covered with several feet of 

 snow. It abounds exactly in proportion to the degree of humidity which 

 exists in the soil ; and in the driest marshes it is mingled with black spruce, the 

 hemlock spruce, the yellow birch, the black ash, and a few specimens of the 

 white pine. In all of these marshes, the surface is covered with a bed of (.Sphag- 

 num, so thick, and so surcharged with moisture, that the foot sinks halt-leg 

 deep into it, while the water rises under the pressure. On the borders of the 

 lakes, where the arbor vitae has room, and enjoys the benefit of the light and 

 air, it rises perpendicularly, grows more rapidly, and attains a greater size, than 

 when crowded in the swamps, where its thick foliage intercepts the light from 

 the trunk, and impedes the circulation of the air. In the swamps, its trunk is 

 rarely straight, but forms an elliptic curve, more or less inclined to the ground. 

 (Michx.) " By a strange mistake of Linnaeus, this species is handed down 

 as a native of Siberia ; because Gmelin (FL Sib., v. i. 182). mentions a Thuja, 

 to which he misapplies the synonymes of the present, but which, by his own 

 account, is different ; for he says it is paler than the garden kind, and smaller 

 in all its parts. It was brought to him by a travelling surgeon, from rocks 

 near Pekin in China, and could be no other than T. orientalis." (Smith in Rees's 

 Cyc.) The American arbor vitae appears to have been first introduced into 

 Europe in the time of Francis I., at the beginning of the sixteenth century ; 

 Clusius having stated that the first tree that he saw of it was one in the Royal 

 Garden at Fontainebleau, which had been sent from Canada as a present to 

 that monarch. It was cultivated in England by Gerard, who observes, writing 

 in 1596, that, though not a native of the country, it grew in his garden very 

 plentifully. As the tree ripens abundance of seeds, it is readily propagated, 

 and, from the time of Gerard, has been one of our commonest hardy evergreens. 



Properties and Uses,cfc. From the shape of themain stem,Michaux observes, 

 it is difficult to procure trunks of a considerable length, and a uniform diameter ; 

 hence, in the district of Maine, the timber of this tree is little employed for the 

 framework of houses, though in other respects it is proper for this purpose. 

 It is softer than the white pine, and gives a weaker hold to nails ; for which 

 reason, the Canadians always join it with more solid wood. The elder Mi- 

 chaux, in his journey to Hudson's Bay in 1792, found the church established 

 there by the Jesuits yet standing. This building, constructed in 1728, as 

 was proved by an inscription over the door, was built with square logs of the 

 arbor vitae, laid one upon another, without covering on either side ; and it 

 had remained perfectly sound more than GO years. The most common use 

 of this tree is for rural fences, for which it is highly esteemed. The posts last 

 35 or 40 years, and the rails 60 years ; or three or four times as long as those 

 of any other species. The posts remain undecayed twice as long in argil- 

 laceous as in sandy soils. In Canada, the wood of the arbor vitae is selected 

 for the light frames of bark canoes. Its branches, garnished with leaves, are 

 formed into brooms, which exhale an agreeable aromatic odour. Kalm affirms 

 that the leaves, pounded and mixed with hog's lard, make an excellent oint- 

 ment for the rheumatism. (Michx.) 



In Britain, the American arbor vitae can only be considered as an orna- 

 mental shrub or low tree ; thriving well in any soil, even in the most exposed 

 situations, but attaining its largest size in low, sheltered, and moist places. It 

 bears the knife and the shears ; and is frequently employed to form hedges for 

 shelter in gardens and nursery grounds. The smaller branches are long, 

 slender, and remarkably tough, and may be used as ties to faggot-wood, or 

 wattles to fences, where strength and durability are required. The tree is 

 readily propagated by seeds, which are procured in abundance from America, 

 or gathered from British trees ; or by cuttings. 



Statistics. In the environs of London. At Mount Grove, Hampstead, it is 20 ft. high, with a trunk 

 10 in. in diameter; in the Fulham Nursery, 20 years planted, it is 30 ft. high ; at Stanmore, at 

 Abercorn Priory, it is S3 ft. high ; at Gunnersbury Park are several cone-shaped trees, 30 ft. high. 

 — South of London. In Hampshire, at Alresford, 13 years planted, it is 19 ft. high. In Surrey, at 



