LAMBERT’S DESCRIPTION OF THE GENUS PINUS« 
ovato-oblongis ; squamarum margini- 
bus reflexis laceris ; bracteolis panduri- 
formibus. 
The wood of the larch, cut into 
shingles of about one foot square sur- 
face, and half an inch in thickness, 1s 
used in Switzerland for covering the 
roofs.of houses. At first the roofs ap- 
pear white, but in the course of two or 
hree years become perfectly black by 
means of the resin extracted from the 
pores by the sun, which also stops up the 
joints of the shingles and renders them 
impenetrable to rain. Used for subter- 
raneous and subaquatic purposes, it is 
very durable, and Pallas relates that, in 
Siberia, some burial places of an un- 
known nation, and of remote antiquity, 
still remain with beams and supporters 
of Jarch entire. 
. Itis from the pinus larix that the true 
Venetian turpentine is extracted, but 
though it bears the name, very little of 
it is exported from the Venetian terri- 
tories : but it is probable that the mer- 
chants of that country were the first who, 
substituted it for the geniline turpentine 
of Cyprus. The true liquid resin of the 
larch is obtained chiefly from France 
and Germany. That which is most 
commonly met with in the shops, comes 
from New England, but from what tree 
is uncertain. 
The inner part of the wood of this tree 
yields a pure gum, scarcely inferior in its 
qualities to the Arabian gum, but appears 
to have been hitherto used only in Russia. 
It is dryish, of areddish colour ; and of a 
subresinous taste, but wholly soluble in 
water. It is found on the Ural moun- 
tains, when the forests have been set on 
fjre by the carelessness of the huntsmen. 
During the combustion it exudes from 
the medullary part of the trunks, and is 
diligently collected by the natives, not 
only for the purpose of rendering their 
bows glutinous, but also of being eaten 
as a delicacy. 
30 Pinus pendula; black larch. 
Foliis fasciculatis deciduis, strobilis 
oblongis ; squamarum marginibus in- 
flexis ; bracteolis panduriformibus acu- 
mine attenuatis. 
A native of the cold mountainous 
partsof North America. The first tree 
planted im this country grew at Mill Hill, 
in the garden of the late Mr, Collinson. 
$1. Pinus microcarpa; red larch. 
Foliis fasciculatis deciduis; strobilis 
subrotundis paucifloris ; squamis inflexis ; 
bracteolis eliipticis, obtuse acuminatis, 
887 
This species is scarce in England. 
The only tree of any size seen by Mr. 
Lambert is at Whitton, where it was 
planted by John Duke of Argyle. Mr. 
Loddige has cones both of ahs and the 
pendula sent annually from America. 
He has a large plantation of both species 
about eight foot high. 
32. Pinus cedrus; cedar of Lebanon. 
Foliis fasciculatis perennentibus ; stro- 
bilis ovatis, obtusis erectis: squamis ad- 
pressis, rotundatis. 
This celebrated tree is too remarkable 
to be mistaken for any other species. Af- 
ter the excision of a branch, the part re- 
maining in the trunk gradually loosens 
itself, and assumes a round form likea . 
potatoe. If the bark covering it be 
struck smartly with a hammer, the knot 
leaps out. This fact was communicated 
to Mr. Lambert by Sir Joseph Banks, 
and he has repeated the experiment him- 
self. The cedar is extremely tardy in 
its increase of size, even under the most 
favourable circumstances. It has no 
title to its common epithet, lofty ; since 
those which still remain on Mount Le-» 
banon are by all accounts not very high 3» 
but their wide spreading branches beau- 
tifully illustrate the allusion made to 
them by the Psalmist in describing a 
prosperous people. The diuturnity as-; 
cribed by the ancients to the wood of the 
cedar does not correspond with that of. 
pinus cedrus, but applies much better to 
the cupressus horizontalis of Miller. 
The word cedar was probably used. by 
them, as it still is by us, with consider-" 
able latitude. ‘The wood employed as a2: 
covering for black lead pencils is not 
pinus cedrus, but juniperus Bermudiana. 
The late Sir John Cullum has taken 
great pains, inthe Gentleman’s Maga- 
zine for March 1779, to ascertain by 
whom the cedar was first introduced into 
England, and concludes that we are pro- 
bably indebted for it to Sir John Evelyn. 
Some of the most vigorous in this country 
are at Paine’s Hill, Whitton, and Chiswick. 
All that have been mentioned by Sir 
John Cullum and Mr. Lambert are in the 
south of Kngland. It is, we believe, 
not generally known that three fine ce- 
dars are now standing at Bierley Hall, 
near Bradford, in Yorkshire, formerly 
the seat of Dr. Richardson, author of se- 
veral papers in the Philosophical Trans- 
actions, and mentioned with great’ re- 
spect by Dillenius in his preface to the 
third edition of Ray’s Synopsis, and also 
in 43 to his own Historia Muscorum. 
$L4 
