Cedrus 483 



destroyed so many of this tree in the north. The tree at Abercairney is 

 remarkably weeping in habit, and measured, in 1904, 51 feet high by 4 feet 



8 inches in girth. The best that we know in this county is perhaps one at 

 Murthly, which is older and bore cones in 1892. It grows well at Gordon Castle, 

 where there is a tree about 50 feet high, and as far north as Dunrobin in 

 Sutherlandshire. At Conan House, Ross-shire, there is a healthy tree 47 feet by 



9 feet 9 inches. At Leny, near Callander, there is a very old-looking but rather 

 stunted deodar, which may have been introduced by the distinguished Indian 

 naturalist Buchanan Hamilton, grandfather of the present owner, but when I saw 

 it in 1906 it was only about 45 feet by 7 feet. 



At Smeaton-Hepburn, a tree' planted in 1841, when it was 2^ feet high, 

 measured in 1902, 55 feet in height and 6 feet 7 inches in girth. 



The finest deodar in Ireland is growing at Fota, Co. Cork, and measured, 

 in 1903, 84 feet high by 7 feet 2 inches in girth. At Coollattin, Wicklow, there are 

 two trees, one of which measured, in 1906, 53 feet by 6 feet 10 inches. At 

 Ham wood, Co. Meath, a tree, supposed to have been planted in 1844, was 74 

 feet by 7^ feet in 1905. At Mount Shannon, Limerick, there is a tree 66 feet 

 by 8 feet 5 in. in 1905. At Emo Park, Portarlington, a tree measured, in 1907, 

 61 feet by 7 feet 4 inches, and was thriving; but in the dry climate of Queen's 

 County, the deodar as a rule is not a satisfactory tree. 



Timber 



The timber is the most important of any in North- Western India, and supplies 

 a large quantity of railway sleepers, bridge, and building timber. Gamble says that 

 it is rather brittle to work, and does not take paint or varnish well. It has also a 

 very strong odour which, although pleasant in the open air, is not so in a room. It 

 is extremely durable, probably with cypress {Cupressus torulosa) the most durable 

 of Himalayan woods. Stewart mentions the pillars of the Shah Hamadin Mosque 

 at Srinagar in Kashmir, which date from 1426 a.d., and were quite sound when 

 he wrote. Its grain is so straight that the logs can be split into boards, which are 

 afterwards trimmed with an adze ; and shingles for roofing, according to Webber,* 

 stand the changes of climate for centuries without any sign of decay. 



The weight of well-seasoned dry wood of average growth is about 35 pounds 

 per cubic foot, branch wood being very much heavier and more full of resin. 



Oil is extracted from it by distillation, which is a dark brown, strong, and 

 unpleasant smelling fluid, said to be a good antiseptic, and serves to coat the inflated 

 skins known as " mussucks" used for crossing the Himalayan rivers. (H. J. E.) 



1 Sir Archibald Buchan-Hepburn in Proc. Berwick Nat. Club, xviii. 210 (1904)- 

 * Forests of Upper India, 41 (1902). 



HI 



