The Cedar. 



" tion^ or perhaps by the seeds of the preceding year. The 

 wood is light^ soft, fine-grained, and easily wrouglit. 

 " When perfectly seasoned, and exposed for some time to 

 " the light, it is of a rosy hue. It has a strong aromatic 

 odour, which it preserves as long as it is guarded from 

 " humidity. The perfect wood resists the succession of 

 dryness and moisture longer than that of any other spe- 

 cies ; and for this quality principally, as well as its ex- 

 " treme lightness, it is preferred at Baltimore and Phila- 

 " delphia for shingles, which are cut transversely to the 

 " concentrical circles, and not parallel, like those of the 

 *^ Cypress. They are from twenty-four to twenty-seven 

 inches long, from four to six inches broad, and three lines 

 " thick at the larger end. In the advertisements of Balti- 

 " more they are called Juniper Shingles, and are sold at 

 " four or five dollars a thousand. At Philadelphia and 

 " Baltimore they are generally preferred to those of Cy- 

 press, as they are larger and are free from the defects of 

 " splitting when nailed upon the rafters. The houses in 

 " those cities, as well as in New York and the smaller cir- 

 cumjacent towns, are covered with them ; they usually 

 " last thirty or thirtj^^-five years. The domestic consump- 

 " tion is great, and the exportation to the West Indies is 

 estimated at several millions. The White Cedar has 

 long ceased to be employed for the frames of houses : 

 stocks of sufficient dimensions are rare, and are more 

 " profitably reserved for shingles and for other works of 

 "joinery, for which this species is superior to the White 

 " Pine, being still more durable and more secure from 

 worms. It continues to be used in building only near 

 " the great swamps, in which it abounds, as about Greategg 

 " Harbour and Indian River in New Jersey, and near the 

 " Dismal Swamp in Virginia. The superior fitness of this 

 wood for various household utensils has given rise, in 



