JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 16, 1868. 



averaging 1 lb. per bunch, and highly coloured ; in fact, well 

 finished in every respect. 



I fully concur with the high opinions passed on Mrs. Pince's 

 Black Sluscat, and think it will prove a valuable addition to our 

 late-keeping Grapes. — Charles Eobekts, Dorfuld Hall. 



MADAME PILLION ROSE. 



I AM not vain enough to suppose that any remarks I make 

 upon the article signed " Q. Q.," appearing in your number for 

 September 24th, would receive much attention, but I cannot 

 refrain from making one suggestion, which I hope " Q. Q." 

 will adopt — that is, do not discard Madame Fillion. The first 

 year I grew it my opinion coincided with that of " Q. Q.," but 

 last year I was truly thankful I had preserved it. Its colour, 

 which is certainly a rose of a beautiful hue, was decidedly 

 good, its form striking, and I can only say everyone who came 

 to see my Koses exclaimed when they came to Madame, '• Oh ! 

 what a lovely Rose." From June to September I dote upon 

 having a Rose in my button-hole ; whenever I could pluck one 

 from Madame Fillion I did so. — An Amateuk gkowing 150 

 Yat.ieties. 



THE CEDAR OF LEBANON AND DEODAR. 



Amongst the trees to which Holy Writ and individual beauty 

 have combined to give more than ordinary interest, the Cedar 

 of Lebanon must assuredly take the pre-eminence. Its beauty, 

 utility, and the district whence it comes have united to give 

 it a charm which, perhaps, no other tree possesses, and its uses 

 and abode have lost none of their interest since the latter has 

 been more fully known, and the tree itseU has been transported 

 to almost all the countries of the globe, where there is a chance 

 of its succeeding. In our own country it has long been a fa- 

 vourite, and at no time more so than at the present, when it 

 has so many competitors ; and, probably, a century hence may 

 diminish the number of these rivals, as it is very questionable 

 whether many of them possess that robustness of constitution 

 requisite to adapt them for a climate like ours, so very diffe- 

 rent from those they came from. On the other hand, some of 

 the earliest-introduced specimens of the Cedar of Lebanon, 

 although rivalling in size our indigenous trees, look as if they 

 would also equal them in longevity and the other features that 

 give majesty to a tree. 



A sort of poetry is also attached to this noble member of the 

 vegetable world ; its name is learnt in childhood, is familiar to 

 all ages and classes, and when we meet with a majestic speci- 

 men of this tree, our admiration of it is increased rather than 

 diminished by the recollection that its native home is so many 

 hundreds of miles away, and in a position so different from 

 those where it is usually met with here. Other and not less 

 remarkable features of interest are presented by the Cedar of 

 Lebanon, it being noised abroad, and that too with a strong 

 appearance of truth, that this tree, to which we had been 

 assigning a site only on the mountain frontiers of the Holy 

 Land, has its counterpart many thousands of miles away in 

 the interior of the great Asiatic continent, and at least a 

 thousand miles from any sea coast, while the base of Lebanon 

 is not far from the sea. Several thousands of feet difference 

 in the elevation would also imply that the trees thus found 

 widely apart could not have had a common origin. At the 

 first introduction of the Cedar from central Asia, it was never 

 dreamt that its relationship to the Cedar already amongst us 

 would or could be pushed so close as it has been, yet such is 

 the case ; and as the similarity of the Cedar from the distant 

 Himalayas to that of Lebanon becomes yearly more and more 

 apparent, the opinion gains ground that they are one and 

 the same species, varied only by the circumstance of their 

 long abode in their respective positions. 



The opinion that the Deodar and Cedar of Lebanon are both 

 the same species has become more widely entertained since the 

 specimens of the former have attained a larger size and 

 assumed more of the rigidity of the Cedar of Lebanon, losing 

 at the same time that pendulous habit which forms the charac- 

 teristic difference. Some specimens we have here seem passing 

 gradually from the one Cedar to the other, while parts of trees 

 still more show the same change going on. Leaving this, 

 however, for futurity to determine, it is not a little singular 

 that a tree of such scriptural interest should also be equally 

 an object of veneration to heathens, the Cedar of the Himalayas 

 being held in no less regard by the tribes inhabiting the rich 



and interesting country lying at the base of the tree's moun- 

 tain home, than the Syrian Cedar was in patriarchal times. 

 Probably one of the causes of the respect paid to this tree in 

 both instances is a property for which the tree is remarkable, 

 and one which must have addressed itself forcibly to a primi- 

 tive people, and that is the durability of its timber. 



From the limited quantity of Cedar timber that has found 

 its way into this country, it has not yet had that fair trial of 

 its merits which other woods have had, but enough of it seems 

 to be known to prove that it is never likely to attain a high 

 place among the woods adapted for making ornamental furni- 

 ture, for neither in point of beauty nor adaptability to the pur- 

 pose can it be compared with some woods that we possess, 

 while for building it is hardly likely ever to compete with the 

 Pine and other timber which we have from northern Europe 

 and America. There is one merit, however, which it possesses, 

 and which places it on a level with the best woods we have — 

 its durability is equal to that of any known timber, and it is, 

 doubtless, on that account, that Solomon was directed to use it 

 in the building of the Temple ; and I believe that trees of much 

 smaller growth than those usually employed for building pur- 

 poses, nevertheless cut up into scantlings that will equal, if 

 not excel those of the best Pitch Pine. The wood does not 

 seem to work up well into furniture, being liable to split, and 

 being less ornamental than many others. Its durability would 

 appear to be due to the large amount of resin which it con- 

 tains, and which it does not part with so readily as many of 

 the Pine tribe. This circumstance, I believe, also secures to 

 it the fragrance that delights many, and which, doubtless, was 

 no little recommendation to it in the early ages of the world, 

 when paints and varnishes were less thought of than they are 

 now, and it would be diificult to say the ancients were wrong. 

 Paint has been much less used during the last twenty years in 

 the fittings of churches and dwelling-houses than formerly, and 

 it is probable that thick coatings of varnish, which have in some 

 cases been substituted for it, will give way also ; at any rate, 

 the opinion that these substances maintain durability in all 

 cases seems to be less generally entertained. In some in- 

 stances, doubtless, they are to a certain extent beneficial, while 

 in others they are as certainly a source of premature decay, and 

 unpainted timber in a sound state can be met with in places 

 some centuries older than any bedaubed with colouring. 



As Cedar wood is rarely met with in any other condition than 

 exhibiting its structural formation, I shall confine myself to its 

 durability when in an unpainted condition, and, as in most 

 cases, where it is kept dry. As the durability of timber in many 

 warm climates is partly due to the resistance it affords to in- 

 sects of various kinds which prey upon it, it is not unlikely that 

 the resin this Cedar possesses and retains, is offensive to these 

 agents of destruction. Even in this country we are not exempt 

 from the destructive effects of such enemies. Beech chairs 

 quickly fall a prey to them. The Deodar is as durable as the 

 Cedar of Lebanon, if, indeed, both are not the same species. 



It is much to be regretted that the patriarchal trees of 

 Lebanon, like their compeers in California, are far from nu- 

 merous ; in fact, the reports of recent travellers place the 

 number very low indeed, a gradual diminution having been 

 going on for centuries. Some authorities dating back to 1550, 

 make the number of large old trees only twenty-eight, and sub- 

 sequent enumerators have made them gradually less, until in 

 181H there were only seven, which appears to be the number 

 of the principal group at the present day ; but one or two 

 solitary specimens have been discovered on other parts of the 

 mountain, enabling some travellers to make as many as ten 

 trees of the largest size. Around these a smaller crop is spring- 

 ing up of the sizes often met with in English pleasure grounds, 

 but the whole area of the once- important forest of Lebanon is 

 reported to be narrowed into a space not larger than that of 

 many private pleasure grounds, and the number of trees of all 

 sizes (excepting, perhaps, the smaller seedlings, of which there 

 is abundance), is said not to exceed 500. An American tra- 

 veller. Dr. Thompson, counted 443. This number seems small, 

 and all writers concur in lamenting the decreasing numbers of 

 this interesting forest, and leaving us httle hopes of the tree's 

 reappearing in any great number, unless under those conditions 

 of artificial culture or protection which deprive it of most of its 

 interest. 



The trees, it would appear, are growing on those rocky shelves 

 which form an important feature in all mountain countries, 

 where the decomposed rock mingled with vegetable matter has 

 formed a soil adapted for most of the fruits and plants that are 

 useful to man, and where the ConiferK thrive particvilarly well. 



