404 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



without a branch. Here, too, the character of the timber was 

 different from that grown in southern aspects and rich soil, being 

 more compact, harder, and of a deeper red, owing to its slow growth. 

 The boat-builders along the Jhelum River distinguish its timber under 

 the appellation of "Peliptur," and consider it the most valuable of all 

 for its durability, both for naval and architectural purposes, the wood 

 being compact, rather close-grained, long-fibred, highly resinous, 

 deliciously perfumed, and lasting for a great number of years, even 

 though much exposed to the elements, being but little afffected by 

 water, as boats built of its timber will last for twenty or thirty years, 

 while those built of the "Cheer" (Pinus longifolia) only last six or 

 seven (G. Gordon, "The Pinetum," 1875). 



The excellence of Deodar timber is proved beyond all doubt ; but 

 the inaccessible situation of the forests and the cost of transport are at 

 present insuperable obstacles to its general use in Britain. ■ Whether 

 the trees growing in this country will yield timber as good as that 

 afforded by native trees, can only be determined by time, and as yet 

 no trees of sufficient age and size exist in England to furnish any 

 criterion of the quality the timber may prove to possess in its maturity. 

 It must be remembered also that the Deodars in Great Britain are 

 growing under climatal conditions very different from what they are 

 on the Himalayas, where "for nearly half the year they are enveloped 

 in snow, and where from the middle of March to the middle of June 

 there is considerable dryness in most of the situations ; from the 

 middle of June to the middle of September there is a cloudy atmo- 

 sphere, almost continual rain, and great moisture of the climate ; in 

 autumn there is fine clear weather" (Report of Dr. Royle to Her 

 Majesty's Commissioners of Works). 



The Deodar Cedar may be justly considered as one of the most 

 graceful and lovely trees that adorn the pleasure-ground or forest, 

 producing long, spreading, pendulous branches that are amply covered 

 with branchlets which, when young, have a lightish grey bark. The 

 leaves vary from an inch to nearly two inches in length, of a light 

 glaucous colour, somewhat three-sided, acute at apex, quite linear 

 throughout, growing in bundles on the old wood, but solitary on the 

 young shoots. Male catkins cylindrical, from an inch to an inch and 

 a half in length ; somewhat club-shaped, with yellowish-coloured 

 anthers tinged with red. Cones from 4 to 5 inches long, and from 

 8 to 9 inches in circumference, on short footstalks, quite erect, 

 generally in pairs. Scales broad, membranous. The wood of the 

 Deodar Cedar is considered to be almost imperishable. It has a 

 strong smell of turpentine, and from the fineness of its grain is 

 susceptible of a very high polish. This species of Cedar is sup- 

 posed by some to be the one used in the construction of Solomon's 

 Temple, but its never having been discovered on or near Mount 

 Lebanon is a strong argument against this opinion. It is, however, 



