Jan. 1892.] THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 235 



young and old, then existed. They all grew in nine irregular 

 clump.s, on a space about a quarter of a mile in diameter. 

 The largest of the trees was over 40 feet in girth, and none 

 of the smaller ones girthed less than 18 inches. Only 

 seventeen trees exceeded 12 feet in girth, and of these the 

 fifteen largest, all over 15 feet in girth, were growing in two 

 of the clumps. No young cedars of a less size, not even 

 two-years' seedlings, were seen. In the autumn of 187.8 

 the cedars were visited by Captain S. P. Oliver of the 

 Itoyal Artillery, who gave a very interesting account of 

 them in the " Gardeners' Chronicle " in the following year. 

 He was told by the guardian of the cedars that there were 

 exactly 385 trees, large and small, the smallest of which was 

 at least fifty years old, and no younger trees were springing 

 up. He sa\v abundance of germinating seeds beneath the 

 trees and over a considerable space beyond them where 

 they had been scattered by the wind, but they were so 

 severely trodden upon by thoughtless tourists, or, worse still 

 — if that be possible ! — by the all-devouring goats, that 

 no young tree had been able to rear its head aloft within the 

 previous half century. 



Although the cedar of Lebanon is a perfectly hardy tree 

 in these islands, there is no record of it growing in Britain 

 till the latter half of the seventeenth century. Evelyn's 

 " Silva," which was written in 1664, contains no mention of 

 it, and the actual date of its introduction, or by whom it 

 was introduced, have not been determined, and probably 

 never will be now. A very fine old cedar, which is still in 

 vigorous health, grows at Bretby Park, the seat of the Earl 

 of Carnarvon, near Burton-on-Trent, in Derbyshire. It is 

 known to have been planted in 1676, and is the oldest in 

 Britain of which there is any authentic record, if it is not 

 absolutely the oldest cedar in England. It is now 82 feet 

 in height, 16 feet 2 inches in girth at 5 feet up, and has 

 a spread of branches 85 feet in diameter. It grows on 

 sloping ground at an altitude of about 360 feet, on a deep 

 loamy soil, resting on an ojDen gravelly subsoil. The stem 

 is clean and straight, with no perceptil)le taper, to a height 

 of 11 feet, where it swells out and divides into a central 

 leader and two heavy side limbs, all rising nearly perpen- 

 dicular, and with their branches forming a fine healthy, 



