140 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFERS. 



mentioned. There were five clumps, containing one hundred and sixty- 

 six trees, none of which were above 12 feet in girth, and these 

 were all to the westward of the others. On this side, therefore, the 

 latest addition to the grove had taken place." 



A journey to the Cedar Grove, on Mount Lebanon was undertaken 

 in the autumn of 1878, by Captain Oliver, late Eoyal Artillery, from 

 whose narrative, published in the Gardeners' Chronicle, for August, 

 1879, we extract the following paragraph: — "There are exactly three 

 hundred and eighty-five trees, large and small, but the smallest must 

 be at least from fifty to eighty years old, and no younger trees are 

 springing up. At this time of the year innumerable seeds, which are 

 scattered everywhere beneath the trees from the fallen and expanded 

 cones, are germinating, scattered by the winds ; these germinating seeds 

 extend far beyond the actual area covered by the remaining trees ; and 

 if it were not that they are trodden under foot, or what is still 

 more destructive, eaten by the goats, a few decades of years would 

 soon see a fair sprinkling of healthy young Cedars enlarging the 

 borders of the grove. At present, for want of proper protection against 

 the goats, and thoughtless tourists, the present grove is dwindling 

 away ; and another generation will exclaim against our supineness in 

 thus allowing a relic of the past to die out prematurely." 



IV.— PINUS {Linnceus). The Pine. 



The Pines are mostly tall trees with rounded tops, and with branches 

 generally shortened ; they are easily recognised by their long needle- 

 like, semi-terete, or triquetral leaves, which are produced in bundles 

 of twos, threes, and fives, enclosed at their base in membranous 

 sheaths that are deciduous in some species and persistent in others. 

 All the Pines are evergreen, the foliage of some kinds remaining on 

 the trees for several years. The male flowers are produced at the 

 extremities of the branches, frequently in dense spikes or clusters; 

 the female flowers are also terminal, sometimes solitary, but not 

 unfrequently in whorls or fascicles. The cones of the different 

 species differ considerably in size and shape, but all have persistent 

 scales and remain on the trees for a long period after they have 

 shed their seed, which, in most species, is ripened in the second 

 season. Each scale produces two seeds, which in some species are 

 winged, in others not. 



The cones of Pinus are distinguished from those of Abies by the 

 hard ligneous texture of their scales, and which, in most of the species, 



