The sap in the form of gum called Canada balsam is used in medicine, and is obtained from blisters on the bark or by cutting the bark.
Southern Cypress, Bald Cypress, Deciduous Cypress.—Found growing naturally in the swamps of the South, but will grow in drier soil, if planted in the North. Several fine specimens in the parks of Philadelphia, New York, and Brooklyn. The lower part broadens out near the ground into a conical base and in its native swamps the roots send up peculiar formations known as cypress knees.
Leaves very delicate and feathery, not often over half an inch long, cones round and an inch in diameter. Drops its needles like the larch each fall.
Wood very durable in damp situations, valuable for flooring and interior finish.
Red Cedar.—The common cedar of the United States, found in all sections where trees can grow at all, in sand, swamp, rocky hillside, and abandoned farm. Reaches its greatest height in the South.
Wood of beautiful colour and grain, soft and not strong, easily worked, but inclined to brittleness. Used in many trades; it furnished in the past the only wood for lead pencils. Owing to its scarcity, substitutes are now being tried. Very durable in contact with water and soil. Used extensively for posts, small boats, cooperage, ties, chests, and interior finish.
Foliage difficult to describe, being sharp and awl-shaped in the young trees, changing in later years to a flat scale shape. Very often both forms are found on the same tree. Seeds are the common cedar berry, pale green in colour, about a quarter of an inch long, each berry containing two or three seeds. These are liked by the birds and they are dropped along fences frequently, so that in a few years the fences become lined with young cedar trees.
White Cedar.—Found in swamps along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Has a more delicate foliage than red cedar, and, growing in dense thickets, is apt to be taller and straighter.
The wood is light brown in colour, soft, weak, and, like red cedar, durable in moist situations. Used for making shingles, for boat-building, and for the same general work as the red variety.
Arbor Vitæ—called in many sections white cedar. It is an entirely different tree from the real white cedar, having decidedly flattened and very aromatic foliage. Used a great deal for hedges before the days of the California privet. Seed borne in a tiny cone half an inch long.