THE PINE SUB-FAMILY. 231 



in groups on a highly cultivated lawn. The form of the 

 tree, when young, is regularly conical, with widely spread- 

 ing, verticillate branches, and foliage of a rich deep-green. 

 As the tree increases with age, it loses the conical form 

 and gradually assumes the tabular, with a somewhat 

 rounded, open head; and this change causes a different 

 effect to be produced a change from the beautiful to the 

 picturesque. 



A -writer in the London Horticultural Magazine, in an 

 article entitled "Sacred and Classical Planting," thus 

 speaks of this tree for that purpose : " Gazing upon this 

 object, the reflections which it excites are numerous. It 

 was seen from Jerusalem, casting a weight of glory over 

 the lofty mountains which environed that city like a mag- 

 nificent rampart. It grew on that site whence the eye 

 commanded a spectacle more glorious, perhaps, than was 

 ever enjoyed from any other spot on the globe, embracing 

 a view almost without interruption from the waters of the 

 Mediterranean to the confines of the Persian Gulf. 



" In its living state, the Cedar, no doubt, conferred a 

 very peculiar and striking character to the scenery of the 

 East; its depth of green and the disposition of its 

 branches rendering it for glory and beauty, unequalled 

 amongst all the objects of the vegetable kingdom." 



The timber of the 0. Libani was considered by the 

 sacred historians more durable and lasting than any other, 

 but if the opinion entertained by Prof. Martyn and 

 others should be correct, the ancients confounded several 

 species, and described other trees belonging to distinct 

 genera under the one name of Cedar. The Cedar of Leb- 

 anon, as known at the present day, is inodorous, soft, and 

 very perishable. 



Van liana, London. We have had this pretty dwarf 

 variety in cultivation, but from some unknown cause we 

 could not induce it to thrive. It has quite diminutive 



