292 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



of Europe, and in these mountains it 

 grows high up in a climate like our own, 

 and among plants native to this country 



like the Yew, the Thorn, and the Lily 



of the Valley — in conditions which are 

 very unlike those of the Californian 

 conifers. The Cedar called atlantica in 

 lists is a variety of this, and though good 

 is not essentially better as a forest tree. 

 These noble Cedars are often put to an 

 unfair test as to endurance by being 

 planted apart from other trees. Think 



CEDAR OF LEBANON: FORM OF ISOLATED TREE. 



of the weight that an isolated Cedar of 

 Lebanon, with its huge spreading arms, 

 has to carry under heavy snowfall, and 

 how much better able to bear it are the 

 trees planted in woods with mast-like 

 stems. The remedy for a great loss of 

 valuable trees lies in planting in more 

 natural ways and in keeping the trees 

 together. Each planter seeks the finest 

 development for his Cedars and so se- 

 lects the best soil and position, often 

 digging a big hole for each tree and 



putting in many loads of earth. This 

 is harmful, first in causing a too rapid 

 growth and soft wood, and secondly, 

 any proofs that the soil and other con- 

 ditions of the place suit the tree is with- 

 held from us by the artificial soil and the 

 changed natural conditions. The tree in 

 its native state inhabits high mountains, 

 often on shaly slopes on which they are 

 healthy, though never so large as where 

 there is some soil. Instead, therefore, 

 of taking the very best soil we should 

 plant upon rocky or sandy places where 

 the tree will, though at first growing 

 slowly, eventually get a safer and hardier 

 growth than it ever would on rich deep 

 soil. This should not prevent our put- 

 ting a group in the pleasure grounds for 

 the sake of their shade. Also it is well 

 to plant it in woodlands, where the trees 

 would be drawn up with a tall stem of 

 fine effect near drives, and as groups in 

 the woods. 



Lebanon is but a small sta- 

 tion of the Cedar, and hap- 

 pily there are vast forests of it in Asia 

 Minor and the Taurus mountains, in 

 Algeria and the Atlas Mountains, with- 

 in a zone of, roughly, 5,000 feet high, 

 and where the snow lies all the winter 

 so thickly as to be still unthawed early 

 in May, when I was in the forests. It 

 is found, too, in Cyprus — a country in 

 which we have now some interest. 



The wood of the Cedar is de- 

 lightfully fragrant and good 

 in colour, a brown or yellow-brown of 

 a warm shade, with the sap-wood well 

 marked. The grain is fine and soft, 

 taking a high polish of especial value 

 in all kinds of ornamental woodwork. 



Area. 



Wood. 



