50 
CEDRUS LIBANI 
These were made to stand the climate only by means of covers made of branches, and fastened 
round the trees and above them. In the year 1830 they were about 40 feet high, and sheltering 
had become extremely difficult and expensive. In 1836 or 1837, owing either to the usual precautions 
having been neglected, or to the winter having been unusually severe, all six trees were frozen, dried up, 
and died. 
In Denmark, Prof. Orsted tells us that it is only by great care and skill that the tree can be kept 
alive. 
We have never yet met with or heard of any specimens in Holland, nor do we recollect of any in 
Belgium, although, as it grows at Aix-la-Chapelle, it will doubtless also live in that country. 
Messrs. Henkell and Hochstetter state that a stately Cedar, about 60 feet high, is growing at Boll- 
weiler in Elsass, in the garden of Baumann & Son, which Joseph Baumann, the founder of that 
gardening house, planted in the year 1734.* But there must be some mistake as to this tree, or else it 
must be no longer in existence, and another must hold its place; for M. A. K. Baumann replies to the 
inquiries of M. Vilmorin about it, that the tree now in existence at Bollweiler was planted in 1804 by his 
father, Joseph Baumann, who had received it from Andre Thouin, director of the Jardin des Plantes at 
Paris. The tree very soon lost its leader, in consequence of which the stem, which is now 2 feet 8 inches 
in diameter, branches off at 16 or 17 feet from the ground. It is nevertheless a fine tree, which has borne 
cones for several years past, but almost no growing seeds. 
Many other fine specimens of Cedrus Libani are to be found in Elsass, chiefly in the neighbourhood 
of Strasburgh. 
The tree is common, and thrives well in many parts of Northern Italy. Loudon notes one at 
Monza “twenty-four years planted, 24 feet high, and the diameter of the trunk 16 inches, and of the 
head 24 feet.” It still survives, a large but not very high tree. Other good trees may be seen in Turin 
and at Masse, near Caluso. 
We do not know whether it has been introduced into Spain. The Atlas species might easily be 
brought into, and would doubtless thrive in the mountains of Andalusia. 
Professor Asa Gray and Mr. Meehan, two of the best American authorities, inform us that young 
plants exist in the U nited States of America; but old or fine specimens are not to be met with, as they 
had never seen specimens in America above a dozen feet in height. 
It has been observed in France, and the same remark applies also to Britain, that although the 
Cedar is a mountain tree, the finest specimens are to be found only in plains and valleys, or on the 
declivity of hills of moderate height. M. Vilmorin remarks that some Cedars which he has observed, and 
which stand in lofty and exposed situations, are injured by frost almost every year, and lose a part of their 
foliage, so as to have some branches quite bare, like those of a Larch. New leaves are produced during 
the spring and summer, but the trees look always in very poor condition. They bear no cones, although 
more than fifty years old, and the male catkins are very small. The reason of this doubtless is, that 
although the Cedar is a mountain tree, it has already in France received the equivalent of elevation in the 
more northern latitude. To give it in France the same elevation that it has in Syria, would be practically 
to give conditions equivalent to double its elevation in Syria. 
With regard to the placing or disposal of Cedars when planting them, one thing to be remembered 
is, that it is throwing them away to form close clumps or ordinary plantations of them. So planted, they 
have no more effect than Larch or any other Fir. They get drawn up, and lose their characteristic habit. 
To give them fair play, and turn them to the best advantage, they should be planted sufficiently wide 
apart to attain their full growth without interruption. It is a tree which, to come to perfection, must 
have plenty of air and space. One most effective distribution is that of single trees on a lawn, or in an 
open park. Another is a wide avenue with the trees not too near each other. An example of the fine 
* Henkell & Hochstetter, Synops d. Nadelhozer, 1865, p. 144. 
effects 
