By Mr. James Smith. 



131 



which, as in all our full-grown specimens of this species, ascend 

 nearly to the summit of the tree without any strongly marked 

 sub-division.* The secondary branches are disposed in that 

 horizontal position which is so well known and so characte- 

 ristic of the Cedar. In the present case this remarkable feature 

 is almost lost to the view, as the trees do not occupy a very 

 conspicuous point of the landscape. In the neighbourhood of 

 Edinburgh there are no Cedars which possess lengthened 

 trunks, except a few which are young, and which grow upon 

 dry soils, where their progress is comparatively slow. From 

 this it has been concluded that the Cedar would make but an 

 indifferent timber tree. This is perhaps too hasty a conclu- 

 sion, for this defect may arise from want of climate or misma- 

 nagement. The Weymouth Pine, which however is a less 

 vigorous tree at Hopetoun House than the Cedar, has assumed 

 an equally branched and still more bushy form, though it is 

 known to be one of the tallest inhabitants of the North 

 American forests. 



* This appears to be the characteristic of the full-grown Cedar in its native soil ; 

 Burckhardt, describing the Cedars which he saw on Mount Lebanon, says " the 

 oldest trees are distinguished by having the foliage and small branches at the top 

 only, and by four, five, and even seven trunks springing from one base. The 

 branches and foliage of the others [the younger trees] were lower, but I saw none 

 whose leaves touched the ground like those in Kew Gardens." Travels in Syria 

 and the Holy Land, page 21. Sec, 



