It was once laid in large quantities for paving blocks. Hundreds of
miles of streets of northern cities were paved with round blocks sawed
from trunks of trees from five to ten inches in diameter. They were not
usually treated with chemicals to prevent decay, but they gave service
ranging from six to twelve years. They are less used now than formerly.
Southern yellow pine has largely taken the cedar’s place as paving
material. Much northern cedar has been used in the manufacture of bored
pipe for municipal waterworks, shops, salt works, paper mills, and other
factories.
The early settlers of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania made a
rheumatism ointment by bruising the leaves and molding them with lard.
This is probably not made now, but pharmacists distill an oil from twigs
and wood, and make a tincture of the leaves which they use in the
manufacture of pulmonary and other medicines.
There is little likelihood that northern white cedar will ever cease to
be a commercial wood in this country. It will become scarcer, but its
manner of growth is the best guarantee that it will hold its place. It
lives in swamps, and the land is not in demand for any other purpose.
ONE-SEED JUNIPER (_Juniperus monosperma_) is also called naked-seed
juniper. Its range lies in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and
Arizona. It attains its greatest development in the bottoms of
canyons in northern Arizona. It is a scrawny desert tree which lives
in adversity but holds its ground for centuries, if fire does not
cut its career short. Its growth is too scattered to attract
lumbermen, and the form of its trunk is uninviting. It may reach a
height of forty or fifty feet, and a diameter of three, but that is
above the average in the best of its range. The desert Indians make
the most of one-seed juniper. They weave its stringy bark into
sleeping mats, rough blankets, and saddle girts. They make cords and
ropes of it for use where great strength is not required, such as
leashes for leading dogs, strands with which to tie bundles on the
backs of their squaws, and cords for fastening their wigwam poles
together. They likewise weave the bark into pokes and pouches for
storing and carrying their dried meat and mesquite beans. The
juniper berries are an article of diet and commerce with the
Indians, who mix them with divers ingredients, pulp them in stone
mortars, and bake them in cakes which become the greatest delicacy
on their bill of fare. White men, when driven to it by starvation,
have sustained life by making food of the berries. A small quantity
of one-seed juniper reaches woodworkers in Texas. The lumber is
short and rough. The numerous knots are generally much darker than
the body of the wood. That is not necessarily a defect, for in
making clothes chests, the striking contrast in color between the
knots, and the other wood gives the article a peculiar and
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