The Garden Magazine, December, 1919 



179 



ous vegetation. The number of trees is about four hundred, 

 and they are disposed in nine groups, corresponding with as 

 many hummocks of the range of moraines. The trees are of 

 various sizes, from about 18 inches to Upwards of 40 feet in 

 girth; but the most remarkable and significant fact connected 

 with their size and consequently with the age of the grove, is 

 that there is no tree of less than 18 inches in girth, that we 

 found no young trees, bushes, nor even seedlings of a second 

 year's growth." Sir Joseph Hooker found only 15 trees 

 above 1 5 feet in girth and these all grow in two of the nine 

 clumps. He estimated the age of the youngest at about 

 100 years and the oldest at 2,500 years, but with no degree 

 of surety. 



To-day some five groves of these Cedars are known, the 

 one containing the oldest trees being on the northern slopes 

 above Bsharri. The largest tree, through not one of the very 

 oldest, is 48 feet in girth, in full growth and vigorous health. 

 In the largest grove, that of Baruk, are many young trees in 

 all stages of growth. Several travellers have noted that 

 seedlings spring up readily but are browsed off by goats. 

 With proper protection against these animals and the for- 

 bidding of the people cutting them these Cedar groves would 

 increase in size and in time become forests, as in the days of 

 King Solomon. 



The Cedar of Lebanon {Cedrus libani) is not confined to 

 the mountain of that name but grows also on the Taurus and 

 Anti-Taurus ranges in Asia Minor, from the province of Caria 

 in the west to near the frontier of Armenia in the east. On 

 these mountains it forms a con- 

 siderable portion of the conifer- 

 ous forest at an altitude between 

 4,000 and 7,000 feet; but it ap- 

 pears to attain its maximum de- 

 velopment in the Cilician Taurus 

 where the climate is a severe one, 

 the snow lying several feet deep on 

 the ground for fully five months 

 of the year. At least such is the 

 statement of Walther Siehe. 



The Director of the Arnold 

 Arboretum heard of this discov- 

 ery on the Cilician Taurus and 

 commissioned Siehe, who used to 

 collect bulbs for that grand old 

 gardener, Max Leichilin, to secure 

 seeds of the Cedar of Lebanon 

 from this cold region. On Feb- 

 ruary 4, 1902, cones with ripe 

 seeds were received at the Arnold 

 Arboretum, and sown. They ger- 

 minated freely and many plants 

 were raised. These Cedars have 

 grown more rapidly in the Arnold 

 Arboretum than any other conifer 

 has ever done. I n fourteen years 

 the tallest was 22 feet high. They 

 passed the seasons unscathed 

 until the dreadful 191 7-18 winter 

 which badly scorched the leaves. 

 This retarded their growth though 

 none died, and now in 1919 they 



CONE OF THE CEDAR OF LEBANON 

 The ripened cones are dull chocolate colored and are produced 

 freely over the few established cultivated trees in America. (Two- 

 thirds actual size) 



are again well furnished with foliage and are growing 

 well. The leaders of many have suffered from pine-needle 

 borers but new ones take their place. The experiment is 

 most promising; and certain it is if the gardens of New Eng- 

 land ever enjoy Cedars of Lebanon as hardy trees it will be 

 through the far-sightedness of the Director of the Arnold 

 Arboretum. Under cultivation several varieties of the Cedar 

 of Lebanon have appeared and the most important are dis- 

 tinguished by such names as argentea, nana, pendula, 

 stricta, tortuosa, and viridis. 



Some 1 ,400 miles from the Cedar forest of Asia Minor and 

 separated by the whole breadth of the Mediterranean Sea 

 grows the Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica). This forms the 

 prevalent arboreous vegetation throughout the eastern pro- 

 vince of Constantine which borders on Tunis. It also 

 abounds on the eastern Atlas ranges, according to Hooker. 

 Henry, a more recent visitor, states that "in Algeria this 

 Cedar forms a considerable number of isolated forests, none 

 of great extent, at altitudes between 4,000 and 6,900 feet." 

 Likewise it grows on the mountains in Morocco but its 

 distribution there is still not properly known though it 

 was in this country that this Atlas Cedar was first dis- 

 covered. Philip Barker Webb visited Tangiers and Tetuan 

 in the spring of 1827 and from a native obtained branches 

 of a Cedar which had been collected in the impenetrable 

 mountains of the province of El Rif where there were 

 said to be vast forests. Webb's specimens are preserved 

 in the museum of the city of Florence, Italy. 



The Atlas Cedar differs from 

 that of Lebanon in having a per- 

 fectly erect, rigid leader, straight 

 stiff ends to the branches — all of 

 which in the Lebanon Cedar 

 droop more or less — shorter leaves 

 and a smaller cone. It is also 

 more easy to transplant and en- 

 dures exposure and bad soil better 

 than the Lebanon. In this coun- 

 try it is generally considered to 

 be the hardiest of the true Cedars. 

 The Atlas Cedar also grows faster 

 than the Lebanon. 



On the principal watershed of 

 the southern ranges in the island 

 of Cyprus grows a third species of 

 Cedar (C. brevifolia). This was 

 discovered in 1879 by Sir Samuel 

 Baker. Since then it has been 

 found by other travellers in Cy- 

 prus and to-day it is known to 

 occupy about 500 acres of forest 

 mixed with Pines and broadleaf 

 evergreen trees. All the Cyprus 

 Cedars discovered are compara- 

 tively young and small, the largest 

 measured being about 60 feet tall 

 and 1 1 feet 6 inches in girth of 

 trunk. This Cedar has a slightly 

 drooping leading shoot and the 

 ends of the branches are pendent 

 as in the Cedar of Lebanon but the 



