* The Cedar. 



a swamp; and not only a swamp, but a swamp covered hy 

 every spring-tide, even where the water is saltish; a thing 

 that agrees with no other tree that I know of : for even 

 the Jlder will not live if frequently visited by water that 

 is what is called hrackish. In the account which I am 

 about to give from Michaux, a good deal is said about 

 the height, size, and uses of this most valuable and beau- 

 tiful tree; to which I will just add, that it covers, in the 

 shape of shingles^ almost all the good houses in the United 

 States : painted, this covering will last a hundred years 5 

 and, unpainted, thirty-five or forty. The tree is straight as 

 a gun-stick, and it has all the other characteristics of 

 beauty. The seed is easily obtained ; and how many now 

 worthless moors and morasses, in this kingdom, might, at 

 a very moderate expense, be covered with woods of this 

 valuable timber ! 



176. What MicHAUx says of this tree is as follows 

 " The White Cedar grows only in wet grounds. In the 

 " maritime districts of New Jersey, Maryland, and Vir- 



ginia, it nearly fills the extensive marshes which lie 

 " adjacent to the salt-meadows, and are exposed in high 



tides to be overflowed by the sea. In New Jersey it 

 " covers almost alone the whole surface of the swamps, of 



which the Tupelo and Red Maple occupy the skirts. 

 " Farther south it is mingled with the Cypress, by which it 

 *Ms at length entirely supplanted. In Lower Jersey and 

 " Maryland the swamps are accessible only during the 

 " dryest part of the summer, and when they are frozen in 

 " the winter. The trees stand so thick in them, that the 

 *Might can hardly penetrate the foliage; and in their 



gloomy shade spring, at every step, tufts of the Dwarf 

 " Rose Bay, Honeysuckle, and Andromeda. The luxuriant 

 " vegetation proves that they delight in dark and humid 



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