^ - 



— ■■ 



I - H 





. j'. 



C E D 



wood bein" foft, it may be cut-out with great faci- ' the/Kot ^.vithout fplintering •, nor is the worm To apt 



I , L 



t 



i 



irlt 



1 « 



liry, and being light, 

 the water; There ai 



ra.1 wl;i^ 



Weff ■ '1 



^^'which have been fbrmed'out^of thcfb triir^^which 

 -"are fbrty feet long and fix broad ; the wood js light, 



bdolirt ■ from 



This 



r. 



'of a brown colour, and has a fragrant 



' whence the title of Cedar has been given to' itV; 



■ wood is frequently cut into flilngles for cdvenng ol 



' 'hbiifes, and is found very durable •, but as 't'he worms 



■-'^reapt to eat this wood, it is Hbt praper;fbr- build- 



- ■ ino-- of mips, though it is often 'ufed for thafptirpoie, 



' as'^alfo for flieathing of fliips. It is often 'Ufed for 



wainfcoting of rooms, and to make chells;"be.cfufe 



.'"^Vermin do not fo frequently breed in it,' as in^.any 



'^■•cther forts of wood, this having a -yerf^ battel: ;tafte, 



r» 



f which is communicated to whatever Is pu^, into the 

 '**-chefts, efpecially wJientKe \vood is frefh ; 'for which 

 ' ;. reafon it is never made into^ca^s,. becaufe Ipirituous 

 ' • liquors will di/Tolve part of the refin, and thereby, ac- 



/. 



quire a very bitter tafte. .^^, , -,^^:^, ^ ... _, 



^This tree'rifes with a ftraij: ftem, to the height of le- 



" venty or eighty feet, while young the bark is fmooth, 



and of an Afli-colour i but as they advance, the baric 



becomes rough and of a darker colour. Toward the 



'r 



- 4 



* - 



top it flioots out many fide branches/ garnifhed wi^^^ 

 winged leaves, compofed of fix teen or eighteen pair 

 of lobes (or fmall leaves) fo that 'they ^ are fomctimes 

 near three feet long ; the lobes are broad at "their 

 bafe,^ and are near two inches long, blunt' at their 

 ends' and of a pale colour-, tllefe emit a very :' 



^1 



v.ww«. ... ...V- .........^. , — - -^y oHen- 



five. ■ As I have not fcen any'of thefc fldWerS'upon ; 

 the trees, I can give no defcription of them.' '/The 

 fruit is oval, about the fize of % partridge's egg, 

 fmooth, of a verydark,,colour. and opens in five _ 

 parts, havino; a five-cornered column Itanding m the 



. ' • 



.^»-. 



'^' 



f 



* >^ 



* '*« 



are clofely placed, lapping over each other like the . 



fcaJesof fiih. - ' ^ VIV-. * > w - -^ ' '. ' 



There are fome'plants of this fort in England, which . 



are prcfcfved in the gardens 'of thofe who" are Hribus ■ 



'in colledting exotic plants i 'tKefe have been raifed 



from the feeds 'which have ^been brought frohl Barba- 



does, but tliey are too tender to live in the' open air 



in England ^ therefore thefe plants fhould be treated 



Maho 



*: 



7 





A * 



<- 



*i.- 





years from the feed, I have had the plants upward of 



,^tcn feethicrh. 

 I have received plants of this kind from Paris, by 

 the title of Semiruba^-, but whether the root of this 

 tree is what they ufe in medicine under that appella- 

 tion,, I cannot fay. ■ The feeds of this have alfo been 

 fent me from the French iflands in America, by the 



' tide of Acaiou Cedre. 



Tt IS propagated by feeds, which may be cafily pro- 

 cured from the American iflands, which mufl; befov/n 



^;upon a hot-bed in the fpring, and the plants treated 



.in the fame manner as the next' ■ . 



/ri 



I 



■-*,'. 



fl "-t 



'V 



Mahogony, whofe wood is now 

 well known in England. 



'This tree is a nativ^e of the warmeft parts of x\mcri- 

 ca, growing plentifully in the iflarids of Cuba, Ja- 

 maica, and Plifpaniolav there are alfo many of them 

 "on the Bahama Ifiands, but I have not heard of their 

 } V tein^ found in any of the Leeward Iflands. In Cuba 

 and Jamaica there are trees of a very large fize, fo as 

 to cut into planks of fix feet breadth; but thofe on 

 , the Bahama Iflands are not fo large, though they are 

 ■■'. *^^quently four feet diameter, and rife to a great 

 height, notwithftanding they are generally found 



jir 



»* 



i 



growing upon the folid rocks, where there is fcarce 

 any eardi for their nourifhment. The wood which 

 has been brought from the Bahama Iflands has ufiially 

 pafied under the appellation of Madeira wood, but 



the fame as the Maho- 

 gony. ^ The Spaniards make great ufe of this wood 

 ior building of fnips ; for which purpofe it is better 

 adapted, than any other fort of wood yet known, be- 

 ing very durable, rcfifting gun fliots, and burying 



to eat this wood as that of the Oak, fo that for tfie 

 Wefl: Indies the Ihips built of Mahogony are prefera- 

 ble to. any other. 



The excellency of this v/6od for all domeflic ufcs, 

 is now lufHciently known in England -, and it is mat- 

 ter of furprife, that the tree fliould not have been 

 taken notice of by any hiftorian or traveller to this 

 time; the only author who has mentioned this tree, 

 is Mr. Catefby, in his Natural Hiflory of Carolina' 

 and the Bahama Iflands, before whom I believe nei- 

 ther the tree or the wood was taken notice of by any 

 wTiter on natural hifl:ory, although the wood has 

 been many years brought to England in great quan- 



tities. 



r 



•' In the Wefl: Indies thefe trees are of fo quick growth, 



' as to arrive to a large fize in a few years; the man- 



' ■ ncr of their propagation in the Bahama Iflands, a 



S It 



Mr 



■■"■ fruit is ripe, the outer hard fliell or covering fepa- 



' '■ rates at the bottom, next the foot-fl:alk, thereby ex- 

 pofing the feeds, which are faftened to a hard five- 

 cornered column, Handing in the middle; thefe feeds 



' ' being broad and light, are difperfed on the furface of 



the ground, which is very rocky. Such of the feeds 



as happen to fall into the filTures of the rock, very 



■ foon fend forth roots ; and if theie tender fibres meet 



with refiflrance from the hardnefs of the rock, they 



"creep out on the furface of it, and feek another fif- 



^ -Vfure, into which tney creep, and fwell to fuch a fize 



■ "^'and fl:rength, as to break the rock, and thereby make 



■ way for the root*s deeper penetration ; and by this 

 nouriflimentfrom the rock, the trees grow to a large 

 fize in a few years. ' ' ■ -.. 



The leaves of this tree are winged like thofe of the 



Afh, having commonly fix or eight pair of pinnai 



(or lobes) which are fliorter and broader at their bafe. 



than thofe of the Afli, where they adhere to the mid- 



. rib by very fhort foot-fl:alks ; thefe lobes are very 



' fmooth, having but one vein running through each, 



^ which is always on one fide, fo as to divide them un- 



We 



M 



by's Natural Hifliory, were drawn from a withered 

 imperfe6t fragment, which were the only remains of 

 the flowers which could be found at the time when 

 he was there ; but the fruit he has delineated very ex- 

 aftly, as I have had opportunity of comparing it with 

 fome which have been brought to Ehgland. The en- 

 tire fruit, before it opens, is of a brown colour ; thefe 

 fruit grow ereft, upon foot-fl:alks, which clcfcly ad- 

 here to the five-cornered column, running throup-h 

 the middle of the fruit, and to which the feeds are 

 faflrened, lying imbricatim like flates on a houfe, 

 over each other ; fo that v/hen the fruit is ripe, the 

 outer cover divides at the bottom into five equal parts, 

 arid when thefe fall off, and the feeds are difperfed, 

 the foot-ilalk and the column remain fome months 

 after on the tree. 



It is propagated by feeds, which may be eafily pro- 

 cured from the Bahama Iflands, from whence mofl: 

 of the frcod feeds which have come to Eno-land were 

 brought ; for mofl; of thefe v/hich have been fent from 



J 



have not 



aa Iflands, 



have grown as well as if they v/ere immediately taken 

 from the trees. TJie feeds Ihould be fovvn in fmall 

 .:)Ots filled with light fandy earth, and plunged into a 

 ot-bed of tanners bark, giving tlicm a gentle wa- 

 tering once a week : if the feeds are good, the plants 

 will appear in five or fix weeks ; and wlien they are 

 two inches high, a fufficicnt number of fmall pots 

 fliould be filled with light earth, and plunged into the 

 tan-bed a day or two, that the earth may be warmed 

 before the plants arc put into the pots -, then the young 

 plants flioukl be fnaken out of the pots, and carefully 

 feparated, fo as not to tear their roots, and each plant- 

 ed in a fingle pot, being careful to fl">ade them till 

 they have taken frefli root ; after which they mufl: be 



! treated in th.e fame manner as other tender plants from 



6 



the 



