FOREST LIFE AND FOREST TREES. 



PART I. 



C H A P T E R I. 



Trees, how regarded by Lumbermen. — Cedars of Lebanon. — Oldest Tree 

 on Record — Napoleon's Regard for it — Dimensions. — Durability of the 

 Cedar, how accounted for. — The Oak — Religious Veneration in which it 

 was held by the Druids — The Uses to which their Shade was appropri- 

 ated. — Curious Valuation of Oak Forests by the Ancient Saxons. — Tho 

 Number of Species. — Its Value. — Remarkable old Oak in Brighton. — Char- 

 ter Oak. — Button-wood Tree — Remarkable Rapidity of its Growth. — Re- 

 markable Size of one measured by Washington — by Michaux. — Disease 

 in 1842, '43, and '44.— The Oriental Tlane-tree— Great Favorite with tho 

 Ancients. — Cimon's Effort to gratify the Athenians. — Pliny's Account of 

 its Transportation. — The Privilege of its Shade a Tax — Used as an Orna- 

 ment — Nourished with Wine. — Hortensius and Cicero. — Pliny's curious 

 Account of one of remarkable Size. 



Lumbermen are accustomed to classify and rate forest trees by 

 the lower, middle, and higher grades, just as animals are classi- 

 fied, from the muscle, through the intermediate grades, up to man, 

 the crowning master-piece of the Creator's skill. But while man 

 is universally recognized as first in the scale of animated nature, 

 there is less uniformity of sentiment in respect to trees, as to 

 which is entitled to hold the first rank in the vegetable kingdom. 

 In the days of King David and Solomon, the noble Cedars of Leb- 

 anon held the pre-eminence, and were celebrated in verse as 

 emblems of beauty, grandeur, and especially of durability ; but 

 " M'ith the moderns the Cedar is emblematical of sadness and 

 mourninsr :" . . 



•*:- 



