226 GROWTH OF CEDAR OF LEBANON. [PART II. 



who had an orthodox horror of " defective drain- 

 age," at once had an opening made in the spot, with 

 a view of ascertaining the cause and remedying 

 the evil. On this being done however, it was dis- 

 covered that the quagmire had been caused sim- 

 ply and exclusively by theoozings from a single 

 elm-root, a part of which had been cut off in 

 consequence of its projecting from the ground, 

 and thus interfering with the operations of the 

 men engaged in mowing the turf. The colour 

 and smell of the sap must, I imagine, be attri- 

 butable to its having become decomposed after it 

 had left the root. 



On another occasion I saw perfect puddles 

 formed by the constant dripping of sap from two 

 or three broken twigs of a young and vigorous 

 walnut-tree ; and that too in freshly dug mould, 

 where the soil was naturally rather dry than other- 

 wise. 



The growth of the Cedar of Lebanon, so far 

 from being slow as might naturally be expected 

 from its general appearance, and the close texture 

 of its wood, is in fact much more rapid than 

 that of many of our other forest-trees. There is 

 one standing in the Isle of Wight, the girth of 

 which, at one foot from the ground the spring 



