THE NATIVE TREES OF RHODE ISLAND. 
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perfect cone-like symmetry, in open ground, are very satisfactory 
to tree-lovers. It bears transplanting well, but is liable to 
“spring-kill” in very sunny places. 
The red cedar, so-called, forms a characteristic feature in the 
shore scenery of Narragansett Bay. It is a hardy tree, soldier- 
like in its form, and erect posture, and persistent in holding its 
ground. This tree has the widest distribution of any single cone- 
bearing species in America. Everywhere it has important uses — 
with us it is prized for stakes, posts, and fuel. In Florida it yields 
the cedar pencil -wood, which is now in such demand as to make it 
very costly. 
The white cedar always grows in cool, wet swamps. It is a 
valuable tree for the ground which it occupies. It takes complete 
possession of some swampy tracts. A considerable area of the 
Kingstown swamps grows this tree. It readily starts from seeds 
scattered in suitable localities. The wood is light, soft, fine- 
grained, easily split, and very durable. For bo at -building, rail- 
way ties, posts, fencing, and similar uses, it is a valuable material. 
The tree sometimes reaches a height of eighty feet. 
The spruce is too rare a tree in the State to call for special 
notice. If either of our New England species is used for orna- 
mental planting, it should be the white spruce rather than the 
black, as it is a far handsomer tree^y 
Tree Planting as an Investment. 
A paper like what is here presented would be hardly complete 
without some reference to planting trees in forest masses with a 
view to profit. 
Nature is doing much in the back towns of the State to keep 
the land valuable by growing wood. It would be a profitable 
investment, no doubt, if man would help along the matter, over 
certain profitless open lots, by making artificial plantings of de- 
sirable native trees. Not much has yet been done in this line, 
but we are not without at least two notable examples of marked 
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