CHAP. CXIIl. CONl'FEKiE. CE'uRUS. 24-17 



Many other examples might be given ; but these will suffice to show the use 

 the poets have made of this tree. 



Properties and Uses. The wood of the cedar is of a reddish white, light 

 and spongy, easily worked, but very apt to shrink and warp, and by no means 

 durable. The horizontal section, as Loiseleur Deslongchainps justly observes, 

 exhibits the annual layers very distinctly marked. Each year has apparently 

 two layers; the[one narrow, close-grained, hard, and of a reddish brown ; and 

 the other three or four times broader, loose, spongy, and whitish. In general, 

 the section of the trunk of a cedar bears a nearer resemblance to that of the 

 silver fir, than to that of any other of the Jbietinee. When the tree has 

 grown on mountains, the annual layers are much narrower, and the fibre 

 much finer, than when it has grown on plains ; so much so, that a piece of 

 cedar wood brought from Mount Lebanon by Dr. Pariset, in ] 829, and which 

 he had made into a small piece of furniture, presented a surface compact, 

 agreeably veined, and variously shaded ; and which on the whole may be con- 

 sidered handsome. {Hist, du Cedre, &c., p. 43.) The weight of the wood of 

 the cedar, according to Varennes tie Fenille, is 29 lb. 4 oz. per cubic foot; 

 but Mussenbrack makes it 42 lb. 14 oz., and Hassenfratz 57 lb. This enormous 

 difference, says Baudrillart in the Dictioniiaire des Eaux et Forets, is enough 

 to convince us that the wood could not be in the same state of dryness. 

 The average of these weights gives 43 lb. per cubic foot; but it is doubtful 

 whether the wood of the cedar weighs so much. Varennes de Fenille con- 

 siders it as the lightest of the resinous woods ; and he adds that it contains 

 very little resin, that its grain is coarse, and that he thinks the wood can be 

 neither so strong nor so durable as it has the reputation of being. He conti- 

 nues, that we cannot suppose that the temples of Jerusalem and Ephesus 

 were of the dimensions stated; or, if they were, that the wood of the cedar of 

 Lebanon was used in their construction. He is still more incredulous as to 

 the statue of Diana having been sculptured of so soft a wood, and one the 

 grain of which was so unequal and subject to crack; besides which, he says 

 that the s i e'l of the wood, so far from being fragrant, greatly resembles 

 that of ihe pine. It is very liable to warp and split in dr)ing, on which 

 account it does not hold nails well (a remark which was made by Pliny) ; 

 and it is unfit for use, except in large masses. A table which Sir Joseph 

 Banks had made out of the Hillingdon cedar was soft, without scent (except 

 that of common deal), and possessed little variety of veining; and the same 

 remarks will apply to a table which we have had made from the plank already 

 referred to, as having been kindly presented to us by J. Gostling, Esq., of 

 Whitton Park. The wood of the cedar burns quick!}', throwing out many 

 sparks, though but little heat in comparison with that of the oak or the beech ; 

 though the flame of the cedar wood is more lively and brilliant, on account 

 of the resin which it contains. The charcoal formed from it is very light, 

 produces little heat, and becomes quickly covered with ashes, like the char- 

 coal of the poplar and of the willow. The bark may be used in tanning; 

 and, according to an analysis made by Professor Chevreuil, its astringent pro- 

 perties are, to that of the oak, as 12-75 is to 19"75. The resin of the cedar 

 resembles that of the larch, but it is much less abundant. It flows from 

 wounds made accidentally or by design in the bark, and from the scales of 

 the cones, but no use is made of it. The resin is very abundant in the seeds, 

 being, according to an analysis made by Professor Chevreuil, 41 per cent; 

 while in those of the Pinus Cemhra it is 21 per cent, in those of the P. Pinaster 

 24 per cent, and in those of the P. Pinea 9^ per cent. The leaves which 

 fall from the trees remain on the ground for several years before they become 

 mould ; and Loiseleur Deslongchamps, having seen a plantation of cedars of 

 15 years' growth, with a layer of decaying leaves and mould on the ground 

 underneath the branches of \ in. in thickness, and having learned also that 

 this layer under the old trees of Moimt Lebanon is above a foot thick, sug- 

 gests the idea of planting the cedar on the poorest soils, with a view of 

 ultimately enriching them, and rendering them fit for the growth of pasture 



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