218 ABIETINEiE. [part i. 



siderable age before they produce perfect seeds. 

 The Cedar is remarkable for the enormous size 

 of its branches, and for the shelf-Hke character 

 they assume. The tree in a living state lasts 

 several centuries, but the wood is of a very 

 coarse grain and not at all durable ; and though 

 the resin appears so abundant in the cones as to 

 ooze through the scales, there is so little in the 

 trunk that it is never used for turpentine. 



The Deodar Cedar (C Deodara) closely re- 

 sembles the common Cedar in its catkins and 

 cones, but the foliage is of a beautiful glaucous 

 green, and the leaves are so much longer as to 

 give a peculiarly graceful character to the tree. 

 The wood is remarkably durable, very fragrant, 

 and of an extremely fine grain, taking so bright 

 a pohsh, that a table which Mr. Lambert had 

 of it in his drawing-room has been compared to 

 a slab of brown agate. The trunk abounds in 

 resin, and it produces in India a great quantity 

 of fluid turpentine, which though it is of rather 

 a coarse quality, is much used by the natives ; 

 pitch and tar are also produced by charring 

 the wood. The tree on the Himalayas grows 

 above 150 feet high, with a trunk 30 feet or 

 more in circumference, and it is said to live to 

 a great age. It was only introduced into 

 Britain in 1822, but there are numerous speci- 

 mens of it in different parts of the kingdom, all 

 of which appear quite hardy. 



