by Susan Peck

Foreground: Sweater Savers, Cedar Mountain Lotion, 1/8 oz. Rose Essence. Background: Set of 3 Cedar Bags, and 1 and 1/8 oz. Cedar Essence

   The exhilarating scent of evergreen smells clean and refreshing in the winter air. So we bring that forest fragrance indoors with pine boughs and fresh-cut Christmas trees, which make our homes smell pure and fresh in winter. Perhaps that's why most everyone likes the clean, light scent of cedar to store our woolens- and if the moth don't like it, all the better!
   For some curious reason, cedar trees are seldom bothered by insects...and indoors, moths won't lay eggs where they find cedar. It's one secret of this noble tree's longevity, that we've learned it protects our clothing as well.
   American cedars - mostly evergreens of the juniper/cypress family - tell an interesting story of our growing nation. Tales of cedar's medicinal value spread in the 1500's, when, on the St. Lawrence River, Jacques Cartier's men recovered from scurvy by drinking a potion made from Arbor vitae , the tree of life, known as northern white cedar. Northern Indians called the tree "feather leaf" and used the light, tough, easily hewn wood for their canoes. Today these stately trees of the Great Lakes region may live for 300 years and reach 60 feet high.
   It seemed a paradox that murky swamps along the Atlantic Coast could yield the purest drinking water - but dark, gloomy bogs of swamp cedar had water so incredibly pure, old sailing ships found it stayed fresh longer than spring water, and took it on long voyages. Ashore, amidst the American Revolution, patriots used swamp cedar to make gunpowder. The heartwood of this tree is so decay-resistant it's been used in buildings and boats for centuries.
   More widespread (and more colorful), eastern red cedars have made fine weather-proof shingles and fences since colonial days. Also called the "pencil cedar", this tree supplied the world with pencil wood for more than a century and still survives. Today it grows from Maine to Texas, thanks in part to more than 50 kinds of birds who eat its nutritious blue berry-cones and scatter its seeds along fencerows. The handsome rose brown and creamy white wood is very aromatic - a natural choice for home use.
   Ideal for storing linens, woolens and fine cottons, cedar's clean natural fragrance is so much better than mothballs, and just as effective. If you don't have a cedar closet, try some of these quick and easy ways to protect your clothes and freshen closets and drawers around the house.
    Tuck Cedar Bags in closets, drawers, luggage and the car ...their forest-fresh fragrance purifies the air. Each 3 x 5 muslin sack is filled with evergreen needles, carefully pruned from the growth tips of western cedar trees and solar-dried to preserve their delicate essence. A set of 3 bags, one each of natural cedar, cedar with lavender buds, and cedar with herbs and flowers. Made in the USA. Like the clean, light scent of a mountain breeze, or a walk in the woods after a fresh rain.
   Cedar Essence is a fragrant oil that brings a clean, evergreen scent to your home. Mix it with water and spray as an air freshener, or add a few drops to the water on your wood stove. Sprinkle a few drops on your pet's Dog Nest. Dab it on unfinished wood, or use it to revitalize a cedar chest. Freshens any room in your home.
    Cedar Mountain Moisture Lotion soothes dry skin with a clean, light cedar scent. Rubs in quickly without feeling greasy. A refreshing white hand cream, after shave, facial moisturizer, after-bath lotion you'll want to use year-round. The fragrance is mild and fresh, not sweet. 8 oz. squeeze bottle with spout is handy to use.