PiNETUM DANICUM. 



299 



used for posts, sills, railway ties, interior finish, cabinet-making, and 

 almost exclusively for lead-pencils (C. S. Sargent, " Forest Trees of 

 North America "). A decoction of the leaves is occasionally used as a 

 substitute for savine cerate, and an infusion of the berries as a diuretic 

 (U.S. Dispensatory, ed. 14, 526 ; Nat. Dispensatory, ed. 2, 795). 



The trunk decreases so rapidly in diameter as it ascends that the 

 largest specimens rarely afford timber for shipbuilding more than 

 11 feet in length. The diameter of the wood is also very much 

 diminished by deep oblong furrows in every part of the trunk, occa- 

 sioned by the large branches persisting after they are dead (Michx.). 



The Red Cedar derives its name from the beautiful red heart of the 

 wood, which is much prized in its native country for the manufacture 

 of various articles of turners' work. Michaux describes the wood of 

 the tree as being pre-eminent for subterranean pipes, but it is seldom 

 used for that purpose in consequence of it being difficult to procure 

 stems of a sufficient diameter, and as it is daily becoming scarcer it is 

 reserved for more important purposes. Its foliage, when dried and 

 reduced to powder, is frequently used for increasing the efficacy of 

 blister-plaster. Its leaves have also been successfully apjDlied for 

 rheumatism and dropsy, when taken in doses of one or two scruples. 



The economic value of the wood of the Red Cedar is very great, 

 and the uses to which it is applied in America are numerous. The 

 matured or heart wood is of a fine red colour, whence the popular 

 name of the tree ; it is of close texture and fine in grain, admitting of 

 a high polish ; it is also very fragrant, on which account it is employed 

 in cabinet work and inlaying ; it is durable and free from the 

 attacks of insects ; it resists for a long time the action of water, and 

 was much used by the earlier colonists and settlers for water-shoots, 

 stakes, and underground work (Loud. Arb. et Frut. p. 2497, ex 

 Michaux). But the tree does not in general attain a sufficient size to 

 yield planks of more than a few inches in breadth and thickness, which 

 has proved an impediment to its more extensive use for constructive 

 purposes. The chief use made of the wood in England is in the manu- 

 ture of " Cedar pencils," but even for this purpose the wood of the 

 Bermuda Juniper has hitherto been preferred, but it is now becoming 

 too scarce to supply the demand (Loud. Arboret.). 



J", virgmiana, in about fifty years, has in Danish gardens 

 attained a height of 40 feet. A plant lately measured, planted in 

 1845, has attained a height of 25 feet ; another, planted in 1864, is 

 20 feet high. 



J. V. Bedfordiana, Knight, Conif. 12. J. v. harhadensis, Gord, 

 Pin. 114. J. V. |3 australis, Endl. Conif. 28. J. Bedfordiana, hort, 

 J. gracilis, hort. J. Gossainthanea, Lodd. Cat. ; Loud. Encycl. of 

 Trees, 1090. J. virginiana caroliniana, Loud. Encycl. of Trees, 1048. 

 J. V. Gossainthanea, Carr. Tr. Gen. Conif. ed. 2, 45. 



The origin of this beautiful variety is not known with certainty, 



