30
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
facture of vats, particularly those required for acids. The tree
sometimes forms burrs and these yield highly ornamental wood.
Timber produced by British grown trees is too fast grown to be
of much value.
Another very durable wood, again from a tree native of North
America, is western red cedar, produced by the Western Arbor
Vitae (Thuja plicata D. Don.). The tree is popular in Britain,
especially as a hedging plant, and has found favour, of recent
years, with foresters. Before the war the timber was gaining
in popularity for outdoor work such as greenhouses, weather
boarding, shingles and the like, for it can be used without a
preservative, so resistant is it to fungus attack. It makes attrac-
tive panelling and other interior joinery, but requires careful
treatment by reason of its softness.
The true Cedars (Cedrus) are of little commercial value in
Britain, for the trees from which supplies are obtained are
home-grown and generally ornamental trees which have been
grown under anything but ideal forestry conditions. All three
species—Cedar of Lebanon (C. libani G. Don. in Loud.), Atlas
Cedar (C. atlantica Mannetti) and Deodar (C. Deodara (Royle
ex Lamb.) Loud.)—yield similar timber, which is somewhat
fragrant when fresh. The wood makes splendid linings for
clothes' chests, since clothes' moths find it obnoxious, and it is
said to make attractive furniture and joinery, although it is
doubtful if the timber possesses any sufficiently distinctive features
to make it outstanding in this respect.
A few other conifers must be reviewed briefly. To the trade
the wood of some of the cypresses is known as cedar. Thus
Lawson's Cypress (Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana (A. Murr.) Parl.),
that almost ubiquitous tree of London gardens, is the Port
Orford cedar and in its western North American habitat is
another giant rising to 200 feet and having a diameter of up to
eight feet. Its whitish or yellowish wood has a strong spicy odour
and is remarkable for its durability. Another nice timber, rather
darker in colour and also with a pleasant, spicy smell, is produced
by that disappointing hedging plant the Montery Cypress
(Cupressus macrocarpa Hartw.). Its wood is of rather better
quality than that of Lawson's cypress, and is useful for furniture,
clothes' chests and joinery. The Swamp Cypress (Taxodium
distichum (L.) Rich.), found in the more southern parts of the
United States, produces a wood which has a peculiarly grubby
appearance and a characteristic odour, best described as rancid.
One of its peculiarities is the variability in the proportion of
summer wood in the growth ring. The heartwood varies from
pale reddish brown to almost black. The timber is durable, and
useful for greenhouses, vats, water tanks and a variety of other