Quercus Ilex below, with which the cedar slightly mingles. The cedar forest occupies 2300 acres, four-fifths of this being on the north slope and one-fifth on the south slope, and consists of a mixture in varying proportions of cedar and Quercus Mirbeckii, the latter a beautiful tall tree with semi-evergreen foliage, often attaining 12 feet in girth, This mixed forest is nowhere very dense, except where there are young stands, and grows upon sandstone—the undergrowth being chiefly Rosa and Rubus, with Juniperus in the lower zone. The tallest cedar does not, I believe, exceed over 120 feet; and the largest, which I measured and photographed (Plate 136, 8), are La Soltane, 98 feet high by 24 feet in girth, and Le Massaoud (Plate 136, a), 108 feet by 23 feet. Trees of peculiar shape are common; one, 108 feet by 19 feet, dividing into two stems at eight feet up; and another, Le Cèdre Parasol, which stands on a rocky promontory, being a low tree with a peculiar broadshaped umbrella-like crown. Around the forester's house, Le Rond Point, at 4600 feet, there is a plateau of some extent, with many fine old trees having the habit of the Lebanon cedar as we see it in England.[1] No felling is done at present in this forest, which is rapidly improving in value owing to the entirely successful natural regeneration, cedars being present in all stages of growth.
The wood of the cedar, though without resin-canals, contains a quantity of resin, which gives it a peculiar, penetrating, and distinctive odour.[2] At Batna, libanol, a kind of resin, is obtained by distillation of the sawdust of old trees. This product is very valuable in the treatment of inflammation of the mucous membranes, and is said to be curative in influenza. Cedar wood contains a large amount of white sapwood, 25 to 50 annual rings, with a brown or brownish-yellow heartwood. The heartwood is homogeneous and fine in the grain, and takes an admirable polish. It lasts indefinitely, trees which were cut down fifty years ago in the forest at Batna remaining still on the ground quite sound, and when not exposed to the air is imperishable. Pieces of cedar wood have been found in tombs which are supposed to belong to the Punic period, and portions of ancient mosques built of cedar are in perfect condition. Placed in water, the heartwood becomes very hard; and vats made of it, which have been buried in sand for thirty years, are not only well preserved, but cannot be cut by an axe. The wood of dead trees can be used at once, but that of living trees requires to be seasoned carefully for six or twelve months. Though the timber is used in building, it is rather heavy for that purpose, and has no great elasticity or resistance to flexion under a heavy weight. It is, however, well suited for the finest kinds of cabinet-making.(A.H.)
Cultivation
The seed ripens in most seasons in England at least, as well as that of the Lebanon cedar, and will sometimes come up naturally near the parent trees, as at Cooper's Hill near Windsor, from whence I transplanted two self-sown seedlings to my own garden.
- ↑ An excellent illustration in Garden and Forest, viii. 335 (1895), shows the flat-topped habit of mature trees in their native forest.
- ↑ The odour disappears after exposure to the air for a few years, and is not noticeable in the cedar furniture which is so common in the houses at Batna and Téniet-el-Hâad. Cf. Lefebvre, Les Forêts de l'Algérie, 350 (1900).
