420 



THE DEODAR. 



to the trees of Britain, both for the sake of its 

 picturesque beauty and its timber. 



In its native state, the Deodar grows high up on 

 the slopes of the Himalayan chain, attaining an 

 enormous size and hanging the sides of the 

 mountains with a perennial coat of verdure. 

 It is not unusual to see it in favourable situations 

 with a girth varying from twenty-four to thirty 

 feet, with a proportionate height and vast ex- 

 panse. No adequate notion can be formed of 

 the majestic character of the tree from the small- 

 sized specimens now in existence in England. 

 The Deodar varies in appearance greatly during 

 its growth. The young tree looks a good deal 

 like the Larch, rising in an elongated conical 

 mass, tapering off into a bold leading shoot. 

 When it attains a height of fifty or sixty feet, 

 the terminal leader withers, the top becomes 

 flattened, the lateral growth is increased, and 

 the tree drops the character of the Larch, and 

 puts on that of the Cedar. So much does its 

 appearance alter, that the English residents at 

 the hill stations, like Simla, imagine that there 

 are two species : the old tree they call the 

 Deodar, and the younger one, the Kelon.* No- 

 thing can exceed the grandeur of an old Deodar 

 of thirty feet girth. The branches begin to 

 spread, horizontally close to the ground, rising 

 flight above flight in successive sheeted steps 

 into a rounded or slightly flattened top. Seldom 

 or never is the slightest trace of decay seen 

 in the trunk, and the tree never, except when 



* Maddon says that the Kelon of Simla, is the true Deodar, 

 and that the sacred name is there given to a species of Cypress, 

 Cupressus torulosa. 



