254 SYLVA BOOK ii 



of M. Libanus, by the wandring and barbarous Arabs. 

 The cedars we have from Jamaica, are a spurious sort 

 and of so porous a contexture, that wine will sink 

 into it: On the contrary, that of Carolina so firm and 

 close, that barrels, and other vessels, preserve the 

 strongest spirits in vigour : The New England cedar 

 is a lofty grower, and prospers into excellent timber, 

 which being sawn into planks, make delicate floors : 

 They shingle their houses also with it, and generally 

 employ it in all their buildings : Why have we no 

 more of it brought us, to raise, plant, and convert to 

 the same uses ? There is the oxycedrus of Lycia, 

 which the architect Vitruvius describes, to have its 

 leaf like cypress ; but the right Phoenician resembles 

 more the juniper, bearing a cone not so pointed as 

 the other, as we shall come to shew. 



After these, I shall not here descend to the inferior 

 kinds, which some call dwarfs, and common juniper- 

 like shrubs, fitter to head the borders of coronary 

 gardners, and to be shorn. There is yet another of 

 the North-America, lighter than cork it self, of a 

 fragrant scent, which is its only virtue. In short, 



After all these exotics brought from our plantations, 

 answering to the name of cedar, I should esteem that 

 of the V ermuda, little inferior, if not superior, to the 

 noblest Libanon, and next, that of Carolina for its 

 many uses, and lasting. 



Having spoken of their several species, we come 

 now to the culture, best rais'd from the seeds, since 

 it would be difficult to receive any store from abroad : 

 To begin with that of M. Libanus ; Those which 

 seem of the greatest antiquity, are indeed majestical, 

 extending the boughs and branches, with their cones 

 sursum spectantla^ as by most we are told ; though a 



