CEDRUS ATLANTICA. 
5 
end, bring deep trouble in the distribution of the waters, by converting the streams of water from a source of fertility into devastating torrents. 
To protect the forests in a more complete manner, the mutilation of trees should also be forbidden, to which the Arabs are only too prone ; and 
the extraction of the resin, with the barking (to which the P. Halepensis is especially exposed), should be placed under proper regulations. The 
objedl cannot be attained, nevertheless, in the elevated mountains with rapid slopes, except by the absolute interdiction of the right of pastur¬ 
age on the summits; for, by the destruction of young plants, and the oldness of the forest, which is the consequence, the flocks contribute much 
to lower the level of altitude reached by the arborescent vegetation. The rapidity of the growth of trees in hot climates will soon, besides, come 
to recompense the process of administration, as the forests of the neighbourhood of Batna, which have been submitted to forester control, and are 
in the way of repairing their losses, strikingly prove. In the report of our journey in the province of Ban, we have already called attention to the 
important results obtained in the environs of Saida by the surveillance of military authority, for the amelioration of the woods which cover the 
northern reverse of the chasm which separates the Zell from the high plateaux. This example demonstrates that the military authority can, by 
an efficacious repression, obtain from the natives, without addition of expense, and without the organisation of a numerous staff, the strict obser¬ 
vation of the measures necessary to prevent the diswooding of the country.” ( Cosson , op. cit., vol. v. p. 39.) 
History. —The first notice which we have of this form of the Cedar is by Guiseppe Manetti, in his 
“ Catalogus Plantarum Csesarei Regii Horti prope Modiciam ad annum 1842.” Modicia or Monza is 
situated only a few miles from Milan ; and the Imperial Gardens of whose contents Manetti published this 
Catalogue, may be called the Botanical Gardens of Milan. Endlicher, in 1847, quoted Manetti’s descrip¬ 
tion, and recognised the African Cedar as a species, although that botanist’s characters were not very 
sufficient. Decaisne adopted the species in 1853, in the paper above referred to; and since then it has 
been generally admitted. Nurserymen now give out the species under the names of Cedrus Atlantica, 
C. Africana, and C. argentea; but, according to our judgment, there is no more warrant for their doing 
this than there would be for them making two or more species of the varieties of the Cedar from Mount 
Lebanon itself. 
M. Carriere says it was introduced about 1842, a statement doubtless resting on Manetti’s publica¬ 
tions/his catalogue having been published in 1842 ; but, as it is not noticed in the catalogue itself, but in 
the supplement, which was published in 1844, it ought rather to be referred to that year, or 1843. It was 
probably a year or two afterwards before it was generally introduced into Britain, that is to say, intro¬ 
duced knowingly and intentionally, as a distinct species. But that seeds may have been previously 
gathered in Algeria, and brought to Britain without suspicion that they were anything but the Cedrus 
Libani, seems very probable. There are in 
various places in England old trees which 
possess the character assigned to the Algerian 
form, and which, accordingly, are supposed 
to be specimens of, and have received the 
name of, Cedrus A tlantica. At Kew, the 
largest specimens labelled Cedrus A tlantica 
seem of an older date than Manetti’s paper; 
and whether they are so or not, at least we 
are informed that the only warrant for the 
name assigned to them is their appearance 
and the character of their foliage, nothing 
being known of their origin. They have not 
yet borne fruit. 
There is a tree at Eastnor Castle, Here¬ 
fordshire, which is 65 feet high, and upwards 
of 40 years of age, which was at one time 
thought to belong to this species ; but which, we understand, on more advice, is now rather considered an 
exceptional specimen of the common C. Libam. There is another, upwards of a hundred years old, at 
Easton Park (a seat of the Duke of Hamilton’s), in Suffolk, which was also thought by some to be entitled 
to the designation of C. A tlantica. It is peculiar in appearance, surpassing all the rest of the Cedars in 
beauty and effeCt, and has the habit and foliage of that Cedar. Mr Irving, the gardener there, tells us, on 
jj 21 J c the 
Fig. 9- —Cone of a Cedar of Lebanon at Easton Park, with the foliage and habit of, and erroneously supposed 
to be, Cedrus A tlantica. 
