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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 19 13 



Many of the Cedars of Lebanon reach an extraordinary height 



been built throughout the province, by which nearly all 

 villages are reached and benefited. 



From Bsherreh the Cedars are reached by a steep and 

 winding road. There are about 400 great trees in all. 

 With the exception of a few stragglers, the grove is en- 

 closed by a neat stone wall to protect the smaller trees 

 from goats. In the centre of the grove is a small Maronite 

 chapel. To dwellers in Syria, where forests of tall trees 

 do not exist, these majestic Cedars must naturally excite 

 wonder and admiration. Modern Syrian writers claim for 

 them the greatest height of any representatives of the vege- 

 table kingdom, but the Redwood tree of California, of 



course, greatly surpasses the Cedars of Lebanon in this re- 

 spect. The fact is, they are about eighty feet high, which 

 is more than the height of the trees of an average Ameri- 

 can forest. They are justly renowned for the size of their 

 trunks, the girth of the largest being forty-seven feet. A 

 striking peculiarity of these trees is the growth of their 

 branches, which extend straight out at right angles to the 

 trunk and are furnished with exceedingly thick foliage, 

 brown as seen from beneath, but when viewed from the 

 hillside their upper surface resembles a rich dark green 

 lawn studded with cones standing erect. These latter are 

 the size of large goose eggs, and add interest to the tree. 



