CEDRUS LIBANI 
4 6 
brings testimony in support of it:—“ The Maronites say that no sooner do the snows begin to fall than 
these Cedars, whose boughs are now all so equal in extent that they appear to have been shorn, never fail 
to change their figure. The branches, which before spread themselves, rise insensibly, gathering together, 
it may be said, and turn their points upwards towards heaven, forming altogether a pyramid. It is nature, 
they say, that inspires this movement, and makes them take a new shape, without which these trees could 
never sustain the immense weight of snow remaining for so long a time.”* It is to this fabled (it is un¬ 
necessary to add wholly imaginary) property that Southey alludes in “ Thalaba”— 
“It was a Cedar tree 
That woke him from the deadly drowsiness ; 
Its broad round spreading branches, when they fell, 
The snow rose upward in a point to heaven, 
And, standing in their strength erect, 
Defied the baffled storm.” 
Lambert records, as a peculiarity of the Cedar, that if a branch of the Cedar is cut off, “ the part 
remaining in the trunk gradually loosens itself, and assumes a round form resembling a potato ; and if the 
bark covering it be struck smartly with a hammer, the knot leaps out.” Loudon quotes the passage, 
adding, “This fact, Mr. Lambert states, was communicated to him by Sir Joseph Banks; but he adds 
that he had tried the experiment himself.” If he had tried the experiment on an oak, or any other tree, he 
would have obtained the same results; indeed, the knot when ready leaps out under the mere influence of 
the growth of the tree and warm weather without being struck at all. 
Culture .—Loudon says that in whatever soil or situation the Larch grows, there the Cedar will 
probably also thrive. This is not confirmed by the experience which we have had since he wrote. The 
Larch usually thrives throughout Scotland (the Larch disease is an exceptional complaint, the causes of 
which are not yet determined), but in many parts of it the Cedar does not thrive, or, we should say, does 
not grow so rapidly as it does in England. The climate, especially north of the Forth, has too little 
summer heat and too much winter cold, not for its existence, but for its rapid development. As regards 
the winter cold, it probably comes nearer the condition of its natural climate, and the slow-grown Scotch 
specimens, if we had patience to wait for them, may be nearer the Lebanon-grown trees in character as well 
as rate of growth than the English specimens. 
Mr. Palmers tables shew that, during the winter of i860, out of sixty-one places in England it was 
uninjured at thirty-eight, slightly injured at thirteen, much injured at six, and killed at four; in Scotland, 
out of eighteen places, all escaped, except at seven, at one of which (Hamilton Palace) some old trees were 
killed; at the rest the injury done was not great; and in Ireland reports were had from only two places, 
and at both the trees were uninjured. 
The worst injury done was at Hamilton Palace, and at Short Grove in Essex, at both of which it 
was old trees that suffered. At Short Grove there were six trees at the bottom of the park (the lowest 
ground) about 100 years old, from 40 to 60 feet high, and with stems from 9 to 12 feet in circumference; 
and five others about twenty years old, and from 12 to 15 feet high, all killed; and twenty-five trees about 
100 years old, and from 50 to 60 feet high, so much injured, that recovery was impossible. Besides these 
there were in the pleasure-grounds, near the house, four trees about 100 years old, and from 50 to 60 feet 
high, which lost the ends of the branches, and were much injured, though not so severely as those in the 
low grounds; and on the highest ground there were sixteen trees about 100 years old, and from 50 to 60 
feet high, which were slightly injured. 
In some of the places in Mr. Palmers tables where the trees are reported as injured, the young trees 
were left leafless and nearly killed, and the old trees much browned, and the shoots of two or three years 
old 
* La Roque, op. cit. I. p. 93 . 
