chap, cxm.

coni'fer^e.

Thu'ja.

2457

scattered over these countries; and it occupies in great part, or exclusively,swamps from 50 acres to 100 acres in extent; some of which are accessibleonly in the winter, when they are frozen over and covered with several feet ofsnow. It abounds exactly in proportion to the degree of humidity whichexists in the soil; and in the driest marshes it is mingled with black spruce, thehemlock spruce, the yellow birch, the black ash, and a few specimens of thewhite pine. In ail of these marshes, the surface is covered with a bed of Sphag-num, so thick, and so surcharged with moisture, that the foot sinks half-legdeep into it, while the water rises under the pressure. On the borders of thelakes, where the arbor vitae has room, and enjoys the benefit of the light andair, it rises perpendicularly, grows more rapidly, and attains a greater size, thanwhen crowded in the swamps, where its thick foliage intercepts the light fromthe trunk, and impedes the circulation of tiie air. In the swamps, its trunk israrely straight, but forms an elliptic curve, more or less inclined to the ground.( Michx .) “ By a strange mistake of Linnaeus , this species is handed down

as a native of Siberia ; because Gmelin (FI. Sib.,v. i. 182). mentions a Thuja,to which he misapplies the synonymes of the present, but which, by his ownaccount, is different; for he says it is paler than the garden kind, and smallerin all its parts. It was brought to him by a travelling surgeon, from rocksnear Pekin in China , and could be no other than T. orientalis.” (Smith in Rees’sCyc.) The American arbor vitae appears to have been first introduced intoEurope in the time of Francis I., at the beginning of the sixteenth century;Clusius having stated that the first tree that he saw of it was one in the RoyalGarden at Fontainebleau, which had been sent from Canada as a present tothat monarch. It was cultivated in England by Gerard, who observes, writingin 1596, that, though not a native of the country, it grew in his garden veryplentifully. As the tree ripens abundance of seeds, it is readily propagated,and, from the time of Gerard, has been one of our commonest hardy evergreens.

Properties and Uses,$c. From the shape of themain stem,Michaux observes,iris difficult to procure trunks of a considerable length, and a uniform diameter;hence, in the district of Maine , the timber of this tree is little employed for theframework of houses, though in other respects it is proper for this purpose.It is softer than the white pine, and gives a weaker hold to nails ; for whichreason, the Canadians always join it with more solid wood. The elder Mi-chaux, in his journey to Hudson’s Bay in 1792, found the church establishedthere by the Jesuits yet standing. This building, constructed in 1728, aswas proved by an inscription over the door, was built with square logs of thearbor vitae, laid one upon another, without covering on either side ; and ithad remained perfectly sound more than 60 years. The most common useof this tree is for rural fences, for which it is highly esteemed. The posts last3o or 40 years, and the rails 60 years; or three or four times as long as thoseof any other species. The posts remain undecayed twice as long in argil-laceous as in sandy soils. In Canada , the wood of the arbor vitae is selectedfor the light frames of bark canoes. Its branches, garnished with leaves, areformed into brooms, which exhale an agreeable aromatic odour. Kalin affirmsthat the leaves, pounded and mixed with hog’s lard, make an excellent oint-ment for the rheumatism. (Michx.)

In Britain , the American arbor vitae can only be considered as an orna-mental shrub or low tree; thriving well in any soil, even in the most exposedsituations, but attaining its largest size in low, sheltered, and moist places. Itbears the knife and the shears; and is frequently employed to form hedges forshelter in gardens and nursery grounds. The smaller branches are long,slender, and remarkably tough, and may he used as ties to faggot-wood, orwattles to fences, where strength and durability are required. The tree isreadily propagated by seeds, which are procured in abundance from America ,or gathered from British trees ; or by cuttings.

In the environs of London . At Mount Grove, Hampstead, it is 20 ft. high, with a trunkAh ln Oiaineter; in the Fulham Nursery, 20 years planted, it is SO ft. high ; at Stanmore, atAbercom Priory, it is 33 ft. high ; at Gunnersbury Park are several cone-shaped trees, 30 ft. high."•South of London. In Hampshire , at Alresford, 13 years planted, it is 19 ft. high. In Surrey, at