ready, they are perfiftent to the laft degree, and require all the machinery recommended by Mi-
Lambert. If we wait until fpring, when the ground is ready to receive the feed, the cone has by that
time fallen to pieces of its own accord.
The difcovery of the error of the older botanifts on this point has, we imagine, led their fueceffors to
affume, that as the cones of all Cedars are now known to be not perfiftent, the diftinffion taken by their
predecefTors as to the breaking up or not of the cones is of no value at all. We are not prepared to go fo
far. The Deodar has now begun to fruit in this country, and it has been found that its fcales are much
left perfiftent than thofe of Libani Specimens pulled fo green as even to have their unchanged colour and
bloom upon them, can fcarcely be kept from falling to pieces unlefs tied up or netted.
As in the other organs, deceptive fcales may be eafily picked out; but the normal form of the Deodar
at leall is diftina from thofe of the other two. The following outlines (fig. 10), copied
Difference in the fr o m [,r Hooker's paper, already referred to, contraft the form of the fcales of all three :
the fmooth line being that of the Cedar of Lebanon, the (haded line that of the Deodar,
and the dotted line that of the African Cedar. The difference feems to us of fome
value as a fpecific chamber. It will be obferved, however, that the difference is not between all of
them, but only between the Deodar and the other two. It mult alfo be obferved,
that the differences here fpoken of are a&ial differences in the form of the fcales,
not the difference given by Endlicher as fpecific diftin£ions, viz., that the fcale of
the one is bent in near the bafe almoft at right angles, while that of the other is flat.
His words are, " Strobili fquamis bafi, fub angulo redto inflexis," and, " Strobih
fquamis bat haud inflexis." On this diftinition, Dr Lindley fays that this difference
feems "to have no real exiftence, or rather to depend on the age of the cone; for before maturity
the fcales are clofely preffed together and bent upwards, but as the feed ripens they fpread out and
become flraight, or even reflexed, before they fall away from the perfiftent cones. So far as we have
feen, however, the bend referred to is the normal form of fcale in the Cedar of Lebanon, while it is not
fo in the Deodar.
The chief difference here lies in the form of the wings of the feeds. Thefc are
Difference refpectively contrafted in fig. n, by the plain, shaded, and dotted lines, as has been
mt e ee S. ^ ^ £bo v c with the cone and fcales. Here again the difference is not between all three,
but only between the Deodar and the other two. The difference is perhaps of as great fpecific value
as any of the others, the gradual or fudden expanfion of the wing of the feed being a character
which has been found ufeful in difcriminating other allied fpecies; as, for example, the different
fpecies of the Silver Firs of Greece, Picca Cepkalonica, P. Apollinis, &e. Seeds of the
Deodar lofe their vitality- much fooncr than thofe of Atlantica. Thofe brought from India,
unleft fent home with the utmoft defpatch when gathered, will vegetate fparingly and weakly.
On the other hand, feeds of A timtica will vegetate pretty freely although kept over a year.
The odour given out by plants, although fo evanefcent, unfeizable, and impoffible to be defcribed, is by
no means to be defpifed as a character, efpecially in conifers, where wc require every help
Difference wh;ch w e c a n find, and where, moreover, the odour is ufually very marked. Almoft every
fpecies has a different fragrance, and any one who has paid attention to the fubjeft could,
from that alone, diftinguifh many of the fpecies. This is moft marked in thofe fpecies which have a large
amount of refin in their veins (fo to fpeak), and more efpecially in their feeds or feed-vcffels, as Pirns,
Cypreffes, &c. The odour is different in different parts, and (hews itfelf in different ways. The general
odour is diftinft from that given out by the different parts. Who can enter a foreft of Scotch Fir or
Spruce without rejoicing in the delightful fmell ? The fragrance of a journey through a wood of Pirns
Cembm in Switzerland lingers in the memory ever after. As regards this general diffufion of the breath
of the Cedars, there is not much to be faicl: fo far as can be learned in Europe, little or nothing. We
have old groves of Cedar of Lebanon and young groves of the Deodar, but neither of thefe of fuch extent
as to produce any very fenfible effedt. We are told that the forefts of the Deodar abound in fragrance,
but we have not noticed any fimilar ftatement regarding the Cedar. If we try to compare the odour of
the cut twig and bark, or the bruifed leaf, by fimply fmelling the bruifed or cut piece, we find very little
difference, except that that of the Deodar is the moft perceptible. But there is another way of tefting this,
which gives more decided refults. If we boil the twig of a conifer for a few minutes in a very fmall quantity
of water, we fhall find that the water, when cold, has generally a much ftronger fmell than the twig
had before boiling; but, which is curious, it is not the fame fmell. We have no doubt that a chemift could
diftil the fcents of all the conifers, and bottle them up for reference, and that in moft inftances the odour of
the contents of each phial would announce the fpecies from which it had been taken. On applying the teft
of boiling to the Cedars, we find that the Deodar produces a ftrong and pleafing fragrance, but not fuch a
fcent as might be expected from a fir; nothing terebinthine or refinous about it, but a fine nutty fragrance,
fomething (although faintly) like that of oil of almonds. The Cedar of Lebanon gives a fainter trace of
the fame odour, but we have not found it in Cedrus Atlantica. We have not obferved any difference in
the odour of the feeds, but we can vouch for the young cones of the Deodar and Cedar of Lebanon, both,
while in their green ftate, giving out an exquifite fragrance; but our knowledge of the odour of the young
cones of the C. Atlantica is defective.
A difference in the fmell of the timber is a point which has been much infifted on. The wood of the
Deodar is faid to be " highly perfumed with a moft grateful aromatic odour, which it never lofes. It has a
peculiar odour, fo that no infeCt will touch it."—(Madden.) " The wood is highly refinous, and gives a delicious
perfume to the air."* Awriterin the Gardeners Chronicle (,25th Feb. 1854) fays,—" The timber of the
Deodar is in one moft effential particular diftindt from Cedar of Lebanon. The latter is not only foft, but
very (lightly fcented, not much more fo than moft kinds of deal; on the other hand, the fragrance of Deodar
is fo powerful, that while the workmen in the meeting-room of the Horticultural Society in Regent Street
were planing a large fiab from India, which had been prefented to the Society, not only was the houfe filled
with its fweet odour, but the fmell was diftinctly perceptible in the ftreet when the door was left open. The
fhavings of it torch and flare with a great flame, but thofe of the Cedar of Lebanon, whether Englifh or
Syrian, burn with no more fiercenefs than fhavings of pine wood ; in fadt, they are as dry to the touch; while,
on the contrary, thofe of the Deodar are remarkably unctuous." It is, however, an error to fay that the
Cedar of Lebanon is not more fcented than moft kinds of deal. It depends upon their age, and the amount
of refin with which they are charged. The individual fpecimens of Deodar timber on which the obfervations
were made in Regent Street, muft merely have been more highly charged with refin than the fpecimens
which had then been tried of the Cedar of Lebanon. Its prefence in quantity would fufficiently account for
their being harder, more undtuous, burning more brightly, and emitting a ftronger perfume; as we find to be
the cafe, for example, in the Scotch Fir when brought from fuch a country as Memel or Braemar, where the
tree grows (lowly, and is clofe-grained ; while trees grown in moift warm diftridts in England are comparatively
foft, with lefs refin, and confequently lefs undtuoufnefs, perfume, and inflammability. When the Cedar
of Lebanon is of fufficient age it is as fragrant as the Deodar. Mr Wilfon Saunders tells us that when
fome old Cedar trees were cut down at Putney, fome years fince, he got a plank from one of them, which he
has ufed in his garden as a board on which to place pots. It has now been there for years, expofed to the
weather, and has been painted; and, notwithftanding that, it ftill, whenever the fun fhines warmly upon it,
fpreads its powerful and characteriftic perfume all around.
There is now in the collection of the Royal Horticultural Society at South Kenfington a fine longitudinal
fection, a foot and more in diameter, of a Deodar inarched upon a Cedar of Lebanon, fent to the
Society by Mr Tillery, gardener to his Grace the Duke of Portland, illuftrative of the timber of both the
Deodar and Cedar. In this fpecimen the growth of both and the junction by the inarching can be perfectly
traced, and we have at the one end of the flab the wood of the Cedar, and at the other that of the Deodar.
The
' Jamicfon, in Report on Phyfical Aspcfl, &c., of the Punjaub, 5th Oct. 1851.