THE EASTERN RED CEDAR.
J. Virginiana, Linn.
The Eastern red cedar is a handsome, narrow pyramid in its youth, often becoming broad and irregular, or round-topped above a buttressed, twisted trunk, as it grows old. The scale-like leaves are four-ranked, blue green when young, spreading, and sometimes three fourths of an inch long, on vigorous new shoots. The dark blue berries are covered with a pale bloom and have a resinous, sweet flesh. This juniper is familiar in aban doned farms and ragged fence-rows, becoming rusty brown in foliage to match the stringy red bark in winter time. The durable red wood is used for posts and railroad
ties, for cedar chests and pencils. The tree is profitably planted by railroad companies, as cedar ties are unsur passed. In cultivation the tree forms an interesting, symmetrical specimen, adapted to formal gardens. (See illustration, page 230.)