Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-02-19
TO PRESERVE THE RED CEDAR
Forestry Experts Study the Problem
of Keeping Up the Supply in
the South.

The division of forestry in the ma
tiOnal department of agriculture is
sued a bulletin recently on the mat
ter of the reproduction and mainte-
nance of the red cedar in this country.
The lightness, softness and even grain
of this wood have made it a much
sought after of forest products. says
Che New York Sun.
It's most general use is in the manu-
facture of lead pencils. Then it has a
place in small cooperage, such as the
manufacture of tubs, buckets and
churns. A larger use is for furniture
and bodybuilding.
Still larger is the use of it in tele-
phone and telegraph poles, piles for
building structures over water, and
railroad ties. 1t has also an extensive
place in shipbuilding, and in the cigar
trade for boxes. The wood takes a
high polish and its resistance to decay
makes it especially valuable.
The red cedar of the south Atlantic
states is the most desirable CONNER
cially of all the varieties. The stock
is becoming so depleted that factories
where it is being worked up are being
moved constantly.
No statistics have been secured to
show the extent of this depletion, but
one firm that makes lead pencils told
the agricultural department recently
that the product of at least 1875, 900 red
cedar trees, involving more than $780,
900 cubic feet of that wood, are used
every year in this country for lead pen
ellis. The firm also said that $4,000
cubic feet of it were exported annually.
Falllville, Ala, has been a leading
shipping place for cedar telegraph
| poles. The Western Union Telegraph
company has used it as a base of sup
| plies for the southern states for nearly
10 years. 1t has sent from there on an
average of $4,000 poles of red cedar
every year.
In 1890 this company sent out 1,50O
carloads of 65 poles each from Falk-
vile. Some of the trees cut down were
16O years old. The cedar is now nearly
gone and long hauls are necessary to
get it ready for shipment.
In every state in the south there
comes a story of curtailment of the
cedar product and the removal of mills
engaged in using it in manufacture
The price is going up also.
Formerly it could be found anywhere
in Florida. Now it is found in abund
ance only on the western coast. In
great tracts of Tennessee the virgin
growth of the cedar has disappeared
with that of black walnut. In Texas il
is extinct practically in the Brazos an6
! Colorado river valleys.
There is hardly another tree thai
shows a greater Indifference to sol
and climate than the red cedar. Il
grows best in the northern states
where there is marked deposit of lime
in the soil.
1t is scattered irregularly through
the Maritime pine belt, which crosse!
Alabama with a width of about 8!
miles. 1t terminates slowly, but i
grows quite rapidly after being started
The tree keeps on growing for fully
$50 years and often reaches heigh
of so feet. The trunks sometimes ar,
% inches in diameter.
The forestry division finds that thu
red cedar reproduces itself freely espe
cially because of its power to endure
shade. It recommends protection from
fire and live stock and a slight modifica
ton of numbering methods. On bar