INCENSE CEDAR. 9 
bilities of incense cedar as a pulpwood. These experiments 1 show 
that a fairly good grade of paper can be made from it, although 
somewhat dark in color and difficult to bleach. The available supply, 
however, in comparison with the more desirable pulpwood species, is 
too limited to admit of its ever assuming commercial importance for 
this purpose. 
Among the miscellaneous uses for incense cedar is the use of the 
bark as a top dressing for dirt roads subject to heavy traffic. This 
is common in the vicinity of logging operations, where heavy haul- 
ing is necessary. The tough, stringy bark serves admirably to 
keep down the dust and reduce the wear and tear on the road. It 
also serves excellently as a binder where the ground is soft and 
springy. The bark, which somewhat resembles that of redwood, 
has also been used in the manufacture of souvenirs and novelties, 
although not on a commercial scale. Attempts have also been made 
to utilize it in the manufacture of matches, but it was found to be 
too brittle. 
AVAILABLE SUPPLY. 
COMMERCIAL EANGE AND OCCTJKEENCE. 
The commercial range of incense cedar is confined to the west slope 
of the Sierra Xevadas and the mountains of northern California and 
southern Oregon, although the tree occurs throughout the mountains 
of the Pacific coast from central Oregon to northern Mexico. It is 
found only in mixture with other species, chiefly yellow pine, sugar 
pine, Douglas fir, and white fir, averaging in general about 8 per 
cent of the stand. Throughout most of its range a cut of 2,000 feet 
per acre is a fair average, but in localities particularly favorable to 
its growth it frequently runs from 4,000 to 7,000 feet to the acre and 
forms as much as 18 per cent of the merchantable timber. Cuts of 
from 13,000 to 20,000 feet to the acre have been reported on limited 
areas where it formed from 30 to 50 per cent of the total stand, but 
they are unusual. These variations in the proportion of incense 
cedar in the stand, as well as the stand per acre, are characteristic 
throughout its entire range, but in the southern Sierras, where the 
conditions for its growth are most favorable, the average stands are 
generally heavier and the maximum occurs more frequently. This is 
brought out by a comparison of the average proportion of incense 
cedar in the stand and the average stands per acre in different re- 
gions. For example, in northern California the average stand per 
acre is only about 500 feet, 4 or 5 per cent of the total stand ; but in 
the southern Sierras it averages from 18 to 25 per cent and runs from 
2,500 to 7,000 feet per acre. 
1 For the results of these tests see " Paper Pulp from Various Forest Woods," Forest 
Products Laboratory Series, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Issued 
Mar. 7, 1912. 
11919°— IS— Bull. 604 2 
