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SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



vour in an instant." He says that the Greeks vise this 

 wood often when they are fishing : burning it at night to 

 attract the fish by the Hght*. The wood does not grow 

 on the island, but is brought from Caloyero, Cheiro, 

 and other places in the vicinity. 



The Red Cedar, Juniperus Virginiana, is a native 

 not only of North America, but also of the West India 

 islands, and of Japan. It is one of the largest timber- 

 trees in Jamaica. The berry is blue; the bark thin, 

 and breaks off in large pieces. The v* ood is of a reddish 

 brown, close and firm, shining, and very odoriferous, 

 like the Bermudas Juniper. Like that, too, it is used 

 for wainscoting rooms, making escritoires, cabinets, &c., 

 cockroaches and other insects dishking the smell of it. 



W. Browne, enumerating many trees, speaks of the 



^' Juniper, where wormes ne'er enter." 



This, however, is contradicted by naturahsts, who 

 maintain that worms make great havoc with this wood. 



This tree is called the Red Cedar in North America, 

 to distinguish it from a kind of cypress (Cupressus, 

 tliyoides) which they call the White Cedar. There is a 

 variety of this species, called the Carohna Cedar. This 

 species was cultivated in England in 1664. This may 

 probably be the tree described by Captain Stedman as 

 the Surinam Cedar. He says, though it bears the name 

 of Cedar, it is different from the cedars of Lebanon: 

 that " the Surinam Cedar grows also to a great height, 

 but is principally esteemed because the wood is never 

 eaten by worms or other insects, on account of its great 

 bitterness : it has also an agreeable smell, and is there- 



* An interesting description of this mode of fishing, as practised 

 in America, is given in The Pioneers." 



