THE CEDAR OF LEBANON 



duction to France but it is now pretty well accepted 

 that it was in 1735, by seed carried from England by 

 Bernard de Jussieu, and that the historic tree in 

 the'Jardin des Plantes, Paris, is of this origin and 

 was planted in 1736. From this seed was also de- 

 rived the tree at Beaulieu, and another at Montigny 

 which is considered to be the finest in all France and 

 about 26^ feet in girth of trunk 6 feet from the 

 ground. 



In this country, except in California, the Cedar of 

 Lebanon is rarely seen, and no specimens exist com- 

 parable with those in England. In the New England 

 States the typical form is not hardy and the winter of 

 19 1 7- 1 8 played havoc with the odd trees which have 

 existed with a struggle for a number of years. For 

 that matter it did the same with the Atlas Cedar 

 which is the more hardy of the two. In the most in- 

 teresting "Memorials of John Bartram and Humph- 

 ry Marshall" by William Darlington, published in 

 1849, on page 67 is printed a letter to John Bartram 

 from Peter Collinson, dated from London on Febru- 

 ary 12, 1735, in which the following statement oc- 

 curs: "The Lebanon cone, with a knife carefully 

 pick out the seeds; sow in a box, put large holes in 

 the bottom and cover with shells, in sandy light 

 mould. Let it only have the morning sun." Whether 

 Bartram succeeded in raising plants and if so what 



87 



