230 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



nearly 100 kinds, comprising all the sorts known to English 

 botanists, that will endure the open air of their mild climate. 

 The great advantage of these Pinetums is, that many of the 

 more delicate species, which if exposed singly would perish, 

 thrive well, and become quite naturalized under the shelter 

 of the more hardy and vigorous native sorts. 



The Cedar of Lebanon Tree. Cedrus. 

 Nat. Ord. Coniferse. Lin. Syst. Moncecia, Monadelphia. 



The Cedar of Lebanon is universally admitted by Euro- 

 pean authors to be the noblest evergreen tree of the old 

 world. Its native sites are the elevated valleys and ridges 

 of Mount Lebanon and the neighbouring heights of the lolty 

 groups of Asia Minor. There it once covered immense for- 

 ests, but it is supposed these have never recovered from the 

 inroads made upon them by the forty score thousand hewers 

 employed by Solomon to procure the timber for the erection 

 of the Temple. Modern travellers speak of them as greatly- 

 diminished in number, though there are still specimens mea- 

 suring thirty-six feet in circumference. Mount Lebanon is 

 inhabited by numerous Maronite Christians, who hold an- 

 nually a celebration of the Transfiguration, under the shade 

 of the existing trees, which they call the " Feast of Ce- 

 dars.^'' 



The Cedar of Lebanon is nearly related to the Larch, hav- 

 ing its leaves collected in parcels like that tree, but diifers 

 widely in the circumstance of its foliage being evergreen. 

 It is remarkable for the wide extension of its branches, and 

 the immense surface covered by its overshadowing canopy 

 of foliage. In the sacred writings it is often alluded to as an 

 emblem of great strength, beauty, and duration. " Behold 



