RARE EVERGREEN TREES. 



539 



]t is a striking and beautiful tree, but has 

 as yet by no means attained the grandeur 

 and dignity which a few more years will 

 give it. Still it is a very fine tree, and no 

 one can look upon it without being inspired 

 with a desire to plant Cedars of Lebanon. 



Fig 118. Cedar nf Lebanon, at Mr. Ask's, near New-York. 



The most remarkable peculiarity in the 

 Cedar of Lebanon, is the horizontal dispo- 

 sition of its wide spreading branches. This 

 is not apparent in very young trees, but 

 soon becomes so as they begin to develop 

 large heads. Though in altitude this tree 

 is exceeded by some of the pines lately dis- 

 covered in Oregon, which reach truly gigan- 

 tic heights, yet in breadth and massiveness 

 it far exceeds all other evergreen trees, and 

 when old and finely doveloped on every 

 side, is not equalled in an ornamental point 

 of view, by any sylvan tree of temperate re- 

 gions. 



Its character being essentially grand and 

 magnificent, it therefore should only be 

 planted where there is sufficient room for 

 its development on every side. Crowded 

 among other trees, all its fine breadth and 

 massiveness is lost, and it is drawn up with a 

 narrow head like any other of the pine 

 family. But planted in the midst of a 

 broad lawn, it will eventually form a sub- 

 lime object, far more impressive and mag" 



nificent than most of the country houses 

 which belong to the private life of a republic. 



The Cedar of Lebanon grows in almost 

 every soil, from the poorest gravel to the rich- 

 est loam. It has been remarked in England 

 that its growth is most rapid in localities 

 where, though planted in a good dry soil, 

 its roots can reach water — such as situations 

 near the margins of ponds or springs. In 

 general, its average growth in this country 

 in favorable soils is about a foot in a year ; 

 and when the soil is very deeply trenched 

 before planting, or when its roots are not 

 stinted in the supply of moisture during the 

 summer, it frequently advances with double 

 that rapidity. 



Although hardy here, we understand in 

 New-England it requires slight protection 

 in winter, while the trees are yet small. The 

 shelter afforded by sticking a few branches 

 of evergreens in the ground around it, will 

 fully answer this purpose. Wherever the 

 Isabella grape matures fully in the open air, 

 it may be cultivated successfully. The few 

 plants that are offered for sale by the nurse- 

 rymen in this country, are imported from 

 England in pots, but there is no reason why 

 they should not be raised here from seeds, 

 and sold in larger quantities at a reduced 

 price. The seeds vegetate freely, even 

 when three or four years old, and the cones 

 containing them may be easily obtained of 

 the London seedsmen.* 



The cone of the Cedar of Lebanon, (of 

 which fig. 119 is a reduced drawing,) is 

 about 4 inches long, and is beautifully 

 formed. 



* Mr. Ash presented us with some cones from his tree in 

 1844, the seeds from which we planted and they vegetated 

 very readily. Tliey should be sown in the autumn, in light, 

 rich soil, in broad flat boxes about four inclies deep. These 

 sliould be placed in n cellar till spring, and then kept during 

 the summer following in n cool and rather shaded situation — 

 the next winter in h cellar or cold pit, and the succeeding 

 spring they may be transplanted into the nurgeiy 



