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gently to their roots ; thefe beds fnould be arched over 
with hoops, and covered with mats in the heat of the 
day, to ffiade the plants from the fun till they have 
taken new root ; and if the nights prove frofty, it will 
be proper to keep the mats over them in the night, 
but in cloudy or moift weather they muft be always 
open. After the plants are well rooted, they will re- 
quire no other care but to keep them clean from weeds, 
tmlefs the feafon fnould prove very dry, in which cafe 
it will be proper to give them fome water once or 
twice a ■week -, but it muft be but in fmall quantities, 
for too much wet is often very injurious to them fo 
that it will be better to fcreen them from the fun in 
hot weather, to prevent the earth from drying too 
faft, or cover the furface of the ground with mofs to 
keep it cool, than to water the plants often. 
In thefe beds the plants may hand two years, then 
they fnould be either tranfplanted to the places where 
they are defigned to remain, or to a nurfery where 
they may grow two years more ; but the younger thefe 
plants are when they are planted out for good, the 
better the trees will thrive, and the longer they will 
continue, 
When thefe plants begin to flioot ftrong, you will 
generally find the leading (hoot incline to one fide ; 
therefore, if you intend to have them ftrait, you mult 
fiippoit them with (takes,- obferving to keep the leader 
always clofe tied up, until you have got them to the 
height you defign them, otherwife their branches will 
extend on every fide, and prevent their growing tall. 
Thefe trees are by many people kept in pyramids, 
and (beared as Yews, &c. in which form they lofe 
their greateft beauty ; for the extenfion of the branches 
is very fingular in this tree, their (hoots for the moil 
part are declining, and thereby (hewing their upper 
furface, which is conftantly clothed with green leaves 
in fo regular a manner, as to appear at fomediftance 
like a green carpet and thefe waving about with the 
wind, make one of the mod; agreeable profpedts that 
can be to terminate a villa, efpecially if planted on 
a rifing ground. 
It is matter of furprife to me, that this tree hath not 
been more cultivated in England formerly, for till 
■within a few years pad, there were but few here ; 
fince it would be a great ornament to barren bleak 
mountains, where few other trees will grow fo well, 
it being a native of the coldeft parts of Mount Li- 
banus, where the fnow continues great part of the 
year. And from the obfervations I have made of 
thofe now growing in England, I find they thrive bed 
on the pooreft foil ; for fuch of them as have been 
planted in a ftrong, rich, loamy earth, have made but a 
poor progrefs, in comparifon to fuch as have grown 
upon a ftony meagre foil. And that thefe trees are 
of quick growth, is evident from four of them now 
growing in the phyftc garden at Chelfea, which (as I 
have been credibly -informed) were planted there in the 
year 1682, and at that time were not above three feet 
high ; two of which trees are at this time (viz. 1 766) 
upwards of twelve feet and a half in girt, at two feet 
above ground, and their branches extend more than 
twenty feet on every fide their trunks which branches 
(though they are produced twelve or fourteen feet 
above the furface) do at every termination hang very 
near the ground, and thereby afford a goodly (hade 
in the hotteft feafon of the year. 
The foil in which thefe trees are planted, is a lean 
hungry fand mixed with gravel, the furface of which 
is fcarcely two feet deep before a hard rocky gravel 
appears. Thefe trees ftand at four corners of a pond, 
which is bricked up within two feet of their trunks, 
fo that their roots have no room to fpread on one fide, 
and confequently are cramped in their growth ; but 
whether their (landing fo near the water may not have 
been advantageous to them, I cannot fay, but fure I 
am, if their roots had had full fcope in the ground, 
they would have made a greater progrels. I have 
alfo obierved, that lopping or cutting of thefe trees 
is very injurious to them (more, perhaps, than to any 
etljer of the refinous trees) in retarding their growth ; 
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for two of the four trees above-mentioned, being un- 
advifedly planted nearagreen-houfe, when they began 
to grow large had their branches lopped, to let the 
rays of the fun into the houfe, whereby they have been 
fo much checked, as at prefect they are little more 
than half the fize of the other two. 
Thefe trees have all of them produced, for feveral 
years, large quantities of katkins (or male dowers,) 
though there are but three of them which have as yet 
produced cones -, nor is it above thirty-five years that 
thefe have ripened their cones, fo as to perfeft the 
feed ; but now the feeds which fall out of the cones 
on the ground near them, produce plants in plenty, 
which come up naturally without care : and fince we 
find that they are fo far naturalized to our country as 
to produce ripe feeds, we need not fear being loon 
fupplied with enough, without depending on thofe 
cones which are brought from the Levant as there 
are many trees of this kind in England, which already 
do, and abundance more which in a few years muft 
certainly bear : but I find they are more fubjed to 
produce and ripen their cones in hard winters than 
in mild ones; which is a plain indication, that they 
will fucceed, even in the coldeft parts of Scotland, 
where, as well as in England, they might be propa- 
gated to great advantage. 
W hat we find mentioned in feripture of the lofty Ce- 
dars, can be no ways applicable to the ftature of this 
tree ; fince, from the experience we have of thofe 
now growing in England, as alfo from the teftimony 
of feveral travellers, who have vifited thofe few re- 
maining trees on Mount Libanus, they are not inclined 
to grow very lofty, but, on the contrary, extend their 
branches very far ; to which the allufion made by the 
Pfalmift agrees very well, when he is deferibing the 
flouriftung (late of a people, and fays, They (hall 
fpread their branches like the Cedar-tree. 
Rauwolf,. in his Travels, fays, there were not at that 
time (i. e. anno 1 574) upon Mount Libanus more than 
26 trees remaining, 24 of which ftood in a circle; and 
the other two, which ftood at a fmall diftance, had 
their branches almoft confumed with age ; nor could 
he find any younger trees coming up to fucceed them, 
though he looked about diligently for fome. Thefe 
trees (he fays) were growing at the foot of a fmall hill, 
on the top of the mountains, and amongft the fnow. 
Thefe having very large branches, commonly bend 
the tree to one fide, but are extended to a great length, 
and in fo delicate and pleafant order, as if they were 
trimmed and made even with great diligence, by 
which they are eafily diftinguffhed at a great diftance 
from Fir-trees. The leaves (continues he) are very 
like to thofe of the Larch-tree, growing clofe together 
in little bunches upon fmall brown (hoots. 
Maundrel in his Travels, fays, there were butfixteen. 
large trees remaining when he vifited the mountains, 
fome of which were of a prodigious bulk, but that 
there were many more young trees of a (mailer fize ; 
he meafured one of the largell, and found it to be 12 
yards 6 inches in girt, and yet found, and 37 yards in, 
the fpread of its boughs. At about five or fix yards 
from the ground it was divided into five limbs, each 
of which was equal to a great tree. What Maundrel 
hath related, was confirmed to me by a worthy gen- 
tleman of my acquaintance, who was there in the year 
1720, with this difference only, viz, in the dimenfions 
of the branches of the larged tree, which he affured 
me he meafured, and found to be twenty-two yards 
diameter. Now, whether Mr. Maundrel meant thirty- 
fevenyards in circumference of the fpreading branches, 
or the diameter of them, cannot be determined by his 
expreffions, yet either of them well agrees with my 
friend’s account. 
Monfieur Le Brun reckons about 35 or 36 trees re- 
maining upon Mount Libanus when he was there, 
and would perfuade ns it was not eafy to reckon their 
numbers (as is reported of our Stonehenge on Salisbury 
Plain.) He alfo fays, their cones do fome of them 
grow dependent. Which is abundantly confuted by 
the above-mentioned travellers, as alfo from our own 
experience* 
