152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



native mountains that we can find any magnificent specimens 

 of this renowned plant ; and of these specimens the number is 

 small, and constantly diminishing. We are told that, in 1789, 

 there were only seven cedars on Mount Lebanon of a very 

 large size, one or two of which were found by measurement to 

 be thirty feet in circumference. These noble trees are proba- 

 bly the growth of several centuries ; but we should give our- 

 selves up quite too far to the guidance of our fancies if we 

 supposed, as many writers seem inclined to do, that they were 

 coeval with the days of Solomon. 



The whole number of cedars on this spot, large and small, 

 is about a hundred ; and they are said to be annually honored 

 by a pompous religious ceremony, attended by several 

 thousand devotees. But however magnificent the appearance 

 of this tree, and however numerous and interesting the associa- 

 tions with which it is connected, we are compelled, by the tes- 

 timony of the best authorities, to deny to it some of the quali- 

 ties with which it has long been invested in popular estima- 

 tion. It has been called, for instance, a lofty tree. To this 

 title it has no pretension, as we have no well-authenticated 

 account of its exceeding the height of a hundred feet, and it 

 seldom rises to much more than half that elevation. 



There is also a popular impression that its wood is distin- 

 guished by durability. This opinion is derived partly from 

 the representations of the ancients,* and partly from the fact 

 that the timber of its namesakes, the cedars of our own coun- 

 try, is remarkable for this quality. 



According to the great majority of botanists, the wood of the 

 cedar of Lebanon is an inferior kind of deal, resembling some de- 

 scriptions of pine, but less durable. For the purposes of tim- 

 ber, therefore, this tree is unworthy of cultivation. "Whether its 

 beauty and its historical and poetical celebrity arc sufficient 

 recommendations for its introduction, is a question unfortunately 



* It is 'well known that the ancients were far from accurate in their botanical 

 knowledge, and that, even in our day, nothing is more common or more vexatious 

 than tin; great confusion and numerous mistakes which result from describing 

 vegetable productions merely by their popular names. 



There is much controversy among botanists whether the name of cedar was not 

 often given by ancient writers to some species of pine or cypress. 



