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August 26, 1962 - Red CedarRed Cedar Exclusive Sunday Review Sketch by Judd Bennett of East Marion. Focus on By JUDD BENNETT Nature For many generations the East- ern Red Cedar has been a prom- inent feature of the Long Island countryside adding to our every- day outdoor life a fitting touch of green the year around. Whe.^e- ever it chooses to grow on the Island this rugged and pungent evergreen has the Took of being appropriately just right. For a tree it is strangely variable in foliage color and b r a n c h form and is In someway as remarkably varied 'as are the land areas of the Island itself. In the broad free spaces the ,young native Cedar of -,en grows columnar; slender and dense while in the pastured hillsides the growth might be a narrowed straight spire and superbly sym- etrical. When 'the Cedar occurs a- long streams, about ponds and I orders peaty swamps th(ire are often clusters growing together in files which look like thickened windbreak screenings. Where it grows on the lo-t lines of old boundaries it is sometimes with scraggly foliage on many trunks. On windswept beaches and sterile coastal banks the Cedar has that rare strange beauty shaped by , s e a r i n g winds. Bitter winters have altered 'them into contour - hugging trees with a, one -sided storm- molded form having only an oddly tuffed top growth re- maining green. But in the shelt- ered woodlands it is most often seemingly sparse and ill- featured with 'an oldish appearance re- sembling aged forebearerss. . When the Red Cedar grows on inland stony slopes it obtains it's true medium size, yet - for Long Island it ..is a big Cedar tree, with the typical ridged and but- tressed trunk weathered a hand- some silvery gray. This is the tree form. that most resembles the original ancestral Red Cedar stock that once grew free of all but the natural force-. The age Junipers of 'the slightly different Western species, are reminders living today. In Texas, down in the ballad -famed Red River Val- ley, our very same Cedar grows to, it's tue magnificence and full prime. There it towers a lofty ninety,feet with. the supporting trunk a stunning diameter of ov- er . five feet. Not far, beyond; these largest of living Cedar;, the range of the Eastern species dwindles, for they occupy the southwest limit - the othv- limit for the northeast is coal al Cana- da. All of the area east of the Dakotas has some scatterings of Eastern Red Cedar. The Eastern Red Cedar is fast disappearing in every+,,way. It is no longer a wood importam� n commerce. Since colonial .das bas been sought after so unceas- by Paul Stoutenburgh; Cutchogue ingly that it is now virtually with aged beauty are gone. gone or at least the large trees with gedeauty areon e. abyy The demand for Cedar wood stems from it's good quali- ties which are unique *and exceptional. It has fine durability, very easy cutting qualities and an intriguing aromatic odcv, as well as a splendid color. No equal has been found for the making of pencils and most of those we use are made of the Incence Cedar which is quite a different tree. The Red Cedar is still used as a fine Tong- lasting fence post. The continued 'taking of the young trees keeps the growth now living from reaching the old untouched original timber - growth size. The aromatic odor is pleasant and is popular for use in making chests, cabinets and Cedar - paneled clos- ets. It ;is even a bit more popu- lar because of the reputed moth repellant feature. Lacking proper respect nearly all of Long Island's largest Red Cedars have been cut down. They have fallen asp have most of the really big Cedars throughout the Atlantic seaboard. Now a Cedar tree whose trunk is anywhere near: eighteen inches thick is con- sidered large :.It was not so years ago. There are other questions re- la'ting to size after the mention of the many foliage forms, shape3 and colors which the tree as- sumes at various ages. A Red Cedar grown to a height of twen- ty feet and with a three inch dia- eter is about thirty years old depending, of course, on soil and spacing. Those of sixteen inches in . thickness are likely over one hundred and thirty years of age. Hurricane winds topple the Cedar easily - a woodland fire is death. The Red Cedar heartwood is most often a rich brownish red color and this accounts for the common_ name. The sapwood is a light -toned whitish brown. It . is moderately h e a v y, moderately weak and hard but ranks high in .resistance to decay. The texture is fine and uniform with a grain that is straight but commonly well spotted with knots. Working with Cedar is not difficult and few woods have better possibili- , ties for the whittler. The "leaves" are of two differ- ent types. Before young tree> have outgrown what is called "juvenile foliage" the leaves ar•e then needle -like, sharply pointed and feathery and most often a bright grass green color. The ma- ture trees have a distinctive- tuf- fy, slightly rounded, dark green foliage that shows sorrie overlap- ping f I a t n e s s. The bark hasp changes too. Older trees have a bark which is light brown, streak- ed and shreddy. The young have a scaly flattish appearance. The t r e e's simple flowering happens in fate April and is hard- ly noticed but the fruit, the size. of a tiny pea, is prominent hav- ing a contra -Iting bluish-slate col- or with a frosty over blown of grayish white. The berries and the leaves are used medicinally and are also put into perfumes and household preparations in the form of an oil distilled by steam- ing in a still. The berries frw the distinctive flavoring of Gin come from a related Dwarf Juniper. The Red Cedar's fruit is com- monly called "Juniper berry." The Eastern Red Cedar is im- portant to wildfife as a food. source and dense cover protec- t e c t i o n. I't is favored by the Mockingbird., the Robin, the Chip- ping Sparrow and the Song Spar- row for nesting sites. These Spar - rows, the two, along with the Myrtle Warbler, Junco and others find in the groves a splendid rooi.t. Hoofed browsers eat the twigs and green tips. The Cedar Waxwing living up to i't's name eats many of the Juniper barries. The host role the Eastern Red Cedar plays to the apple-rust f u n g u s disea_e is important . n e a r extensive orchards all Ce- dars are banished ruthlessly - this is a sad fault. It is -painful to make this note of a beautiful tree. Cedair wood makes a hot fire and when used in a fireplace the aromatic odor in the smoke re- tains the pungent incense fra- grance of the evergreen foliage. One u n u s u a l use came about years, ago when hunters'eut out well dried sections from old fen- ces and, carved these durable blocN3, into decoys for their wild - fowling. Many of these inspired carvings made long ago are now treasured as `,`folk art" of amaz- ing charm. The Red Cedar grow- ing untouched and unhampered has 'that sjngular beauty too. FIELD OBSERVATIONS ' Random Reports: Augug't East Maricn - Orient Golden Winged Warbler Blue- Winged Warbler Prairie Warbler Hudsonian Curlew Clapper• hail Sparrow Hawk with young Please send your field observa- I tiom, to Paul Stoutenburgh, Box 105, P D No 1, Cutchogue, N Y. TERSE VERSE Figures often prove for sure, When to facts you're gittin' clown, Women spend a lot of time I Mostly just in sittin' down.