PINETUM DANIclrM. 



405 



regarded by the Hindoos as a sacred tree, and designated by tliem 

 " Devadera," or Tree of God. It is also inferred that this is the Algum- 

 tree brought from Ophir by Solomon, which is represented to possess 

 more valuable properties than the one that came from Lebanon. Mr. 

 Lambert appears to have received from Dr. Wallich a section of a 

 trunk of the C. Deodara measuring nearly 4 feet in diameter ; he also 

 quotes the following passage from Mr. Moorcroft's Journal relative to 

 its durability : "A few years ago a building, erected by the order of 

 the Emperor Akbar, was taken down, and its timbers (of Deodar) were 

 found in a state so little impaired as to render them fit to be em- 

 ployed in a house built for my friend Rajah Shah. Supposing that 

 the former edifice was constructed at the same time as the fort of 

 Najurunger, a.h. 1006, or a.d. 1597, its age is two hundred and 

 twenty-five years. Zenool Abudeen began to reign over Kashmeer 

 A.H. 820, or A.D. 1417, and died a.h. 878, or a.d. 1473. His 

 mother was interred in a domed building of excellent brick and mortar 

 work, reported to have been erected in the time of the Hindoo sove- 

 reigns. Its solid walls, from 7 to 8 feet thick, difi'er much in character 

 from the facing and rubble work in the reigns of the Mogul Emperors 

 of Hindostan. In this building pieces of Deodar were inserted in 

 the walls — by way, apparently, of strengthening the bond — and their 

 ends, or sides, were left on the same plane with the brickwork. The 

 window frames were of the same material, with the difierence, how- 

 ever, of the former being squared, and deprived of the sapwood left, 

 and the surface was only slightly smoothed, and partly retained in its 

 original form. In the latter instance the crust of the wood v^^as 

 generally somewhat crumbly, and had been pierced by the worm 

 about a quarter of an inch in depth ; whilst that of the squared wood, 

 exposed much more to the influence of the weather, was neither 

 crumbly nor worm-eaten, but was jagged, from the softest part of the 

 wood, between the plates or ribs, having often been washed by the 

 rain, though its structure had not been attacked by the worm." 



The introduction of the Deodar marks an epoch in the annals of 

 British arboriculture. Its graceful and beautiful form in its young 

 state, and its grand and imposing aspect in its maturity, place it in 

 the highest rank as an ornamental tree, its value as such being greatly 

 enhanced by the readiness with which it accommodates itself to almost 

 all situations. 'No position and no variety of soil appears to come 

 amiss to it ; on lime or sandstone, rock or clay, it grows with equal 

 facility (Earl Ducie in Trans. Roy. Scot. Arb. Soc. 1874). 



Cedrus Deodara has only once (1878), to my knowledge, produced 

 cones in Denmark. It was at Yalloe, in Zealand. Trees about forty 

 years old, and 30 feet high, or perhaps more, are met with. 



In Professor F. C. Schlibeler's " Yiridarium Norvegicum " (1886) 

 the following account is given at p. 443 : "In Stavanger, on the S.W. 

 coast of Norway_(68° 58' N, 3° 24' E.), there is to be found an example 



