THE RED CEDAR 
243 
THE GREATER TREES OF THE 
NORTHERN FOREST.— No. 30. 
THE RED CEDAR (Jimiperus Vir- 
ginian a). 
There have been many failures in the 
introduction of trees of the Pine tribe 
into our country, and the way most fail 
is in hardiness orinstartinginour "open" 
winters, before they would do so natur- 
ally in their native countries. The great- 
est test of all is that of hardiness and 
vigour, and in this tree we have one that 
meets it fully , and is of the easiest culture. 
Whether we plant it on the fringe of 
a marsh, on a limestone hill, or even in 
a peat bog, it is happy anywhere save 
in cold clay or hot sand, and never shows 
any of that disfigurement after harsh 
spring winds seen in some of the Cali- 
fornian and Mexican trees. Its beauty 
is remarkable ; it may give us an effect 
something like that of the Eastern Cy- 
press,where,asinsomuchofourcountry, 
there is no chance for that to thrive. 
It is one of the best seaside trees, re- 
sisting thefuUforce of the Atlantic winds 
on the eastern shores of North America, 
and reaching its finest development near 
salt water. 
Introduced by Evelyn in 1664, this 
has now long been a neglected tree, and 
the scanty notice given to it in works 
of reference is surprising. Yet there is 
much to be said of its perfect hardi- 
ness, its beauty, and the distinct effect 
of its reddish-brown or purplish foliage 
in winter, enhanced at times by the clus- 
ters of purplish-white fruits upon the 
female, though these are less often seen 
with us than in America. Flowers of 
both sexes sometimes occur on the same 
tree, but they are mostly apart and to 
enjoy this effect of fruit the sexes must 
be planted together and seedlings se- 
cured from trees selectedfor their beauty 
in this way. In a young state the tree 
is tapering, with its branches rising close 
to the stem, but slowly its outline broad- 
ens until with age the mature tree be- 
comes round- topped and irregular. The 
colder and more northern the situation 
the more compact and closely pyra- 
midal is the habit. There are a few 
avenues of Red Cedar in the country 
— as at Fornham near Bury St. Edmunds 
— but the irregular growth even in care- 
fully selected seedlings is against its wide 
use in this way. 
But we mostly put the Red Cedar 
in the isolated way in which conifers are 
planted in this country, so that it is 
beaten about by every storm and starved 
by the grass around. The better way 
to treat it in order to get its fullest ex- 
pression as a tree, would be to plant it 
young and closely among Larch or 
other upright forest trees, which would 
grow up with it into its true forest char- 
acter. Owing to our ways of planting 
it we rarely regard it as a forest tree of 
70 to 100 feet, which it really is as 
will be seen from the following note 
of the Red Cedar in its own land sent 
us by Mrs. Dandridge from West Vir- 
ginia. Fewer still among us know of 
its high commercial value, which has 
led to its trial as a timber tree in France 
and Germany. 
This tree is not a true 
Cedar, nor do I know 
why it was ever called so, though this 
is the name everywhere given to it in 
In its own Land. 
