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AMERICAN ARBOR VITÆ. 
The full-grown Arbor Yitæ is easily distinguished by its shape and 
foliage. The trunk tapers rapidly from a very large base to a very slender 
summit, and is laden with branches for four-fifths of its height. The 
principal limbs, widely distant and placed at right angles with the body, 
give birth to a great number of drooping secondary branches, whose foliage 
resembles that of the White Cedar. 
On the borders of the lakes, where it. has room and enjoys the benefit of 
the light and air, it rises perpendicularly, grows more rapidly and attains 
a greater size than when crowded in the swamps, where its thick foliage 
intercepts the light and impedes the circulation of the air. I have besides 
remarked that in the SAvamps its trunk is rarely straight, but forms the 
arch of an ellipse more or less inclined. Its sides swell into two or three 
large ridges, which are a continuation of the principal roots. 
The bark upon the body is slightly furrowed, smooth to the touch and 
very white when the tree stands exposed. The wood is reddish, somewhat 
odorous, very light, soft and fine-grained : in the northern part of the 
United States, and in Canada, it holds the first place for durability. From 
the shape of the trunk, it is difficult to procure sticks of considerable 
length and an uniform diameter ; hence in the District of Maine it is little 
employed for the frame of houses, though in other respects proper for this 
object, and still less for the covering. It is softer than the White Pine, 
and gives a weaker hold to nails, for which reason the Canadians always 
join it with some more solid wood. The following extract from my father’s 
journal confirms what I have said of its durability: “In my journey to 
Hudson’s Bay, in 1792, I arrived in August in the vicinity of Lake Chi- 
coutomé, in latitude 48°. I found the mansion-house of the church esta- 
blished by the Jesuits for the instruction of the natives yet standing. This 
building, constructed in 1728, as was proved by an inscription over the 
door, with square beams of the Arbor Yitæ laid upon one another without 
covering on either side, remained perfectly sound after more than sixty 
years.” 
The most common use of this tree is for rural fences, for which it is 
highly esteemed. The posts last thirty-five or forty years, and the rails 
sixty, or three or four times as long as those of any other species. The 
posts subsist twice as long in argillaceous as in sandy lands. While the 
use of such fences continues, the utmost economy should be practised in 
cutting the Arbor Vitæ, according to the rules prescribed for resinous 
trees. In Canada it is selected for the light frame of bark canoes. Its 
branches, garnished with leaves, are formed into brooms, which exhale an 
agreeable aromatic odor. Kalm affirms that the leaves, pounded and 
moulded with hog’s lard, form an excellent ointment for the rheumatism. 
The Arbor Yitæ was introduced into France more than 200 years since • 
the superior beauty of its form and foliage entitle it to preference over the 
