October 



177 



be discerned upon the branches, and are of an 

 exquisite pale tint like shaded sea-green velvet. 



Cedar catkins are fertilised only by the wind, 

 which carries the pollen from one blossom to the 

 other. The buoyancy of the pollen-grains is much 

 aided by two little bladders with which each grain 

 is furnished, and which can be easily seen by the 

 aid of a microscope. 



The cones are borne on the 

 upper side of the horizontal 

 branches, and are not fully 

 ripe until the autumn of the 

 third year. They do not then 

 fall off like other fir-cones, but 

 the scales and seeds become 

 loosened, and drop to the 

 ground. 



Of these grand mountain 

 trees there are three species, 

 Deodar of the Himalayas, the 

 Cedrus atlantica of the Atlas 

 range in North Africa, and 

 the cedar of Scripture, of 

 which, besides many smaller 



ones, twelve patriarchal specimens may still be seen 

 on Mount Lebanon. These grow at an elevation 

 of about 6000 feet above the sea, their trunks 

 measuring from forty to forty-seven feet in circum- 

 ference at the base. 



It is said that many years ago a Frenchman, who 

 was travelling in the Holy Land, found a little 

 seedling among the cedars of Lebanon, which he 

 wished to bring away as a memorial of his travels. 

 He took it up carefully, and for want of a better 



12 



CEDAR CATKINS. 



