Cedrus 
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 b feet 
8 inches in girth, The best that we know in this county is nent . i 
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 24 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 
Hamwood, Co. Meath, a tree, supposed to have been planted in 1844, was 74 
feet by 734 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. 
48 3 
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.p., 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). 
2 Forests of Upper India, 41 (1902). 
III 
