lie, as I am told, almost half
the Year; for so it does on the mountains of Libanus, from whence I have
received cones and seeds of those few remaining trees: why then should
they not thrive in old England, I know not, save for want of industry
and trial.

They grow in the bogs of America, and in the mountains of Asia; so as
there is, it seems, no place or clime which affrights it; and I have
frequently rais'd them from their seeds and berries, of which we have
the very best in the world from the Summer-Islands, though now almost
exhausted by the unaccountable negligence of the planters; as are
likewise those of M. Libanus, by the wandring and barbarous Arabs. The
cedars we have from Jamaica, are a spurious sort and of so porous a
contexture, that wine will sink into it: On the contrary, that of
Carolina so firm and close, that barrels, and other vessels, preserve
the strongest spirits in vigour: The New England cedar is a lofty
grower, and prospers into excellent timber, which being sawn into
planks, make delicate floors: They shingle their houses also with it,
and generally employ it in all their buildings: Why have we no more of
it brought us, to raise, plant, and convert to the same uses? There is
the _oxycedrus_ of Lycia, which the architect Vitruvius describes, to
have its leaf like cypress; but the right Phoenician resembles more the
juniper, bearing a cone not so pointed as the other, as we shall come to
shew.

After these, I shall not here descend to the inferior kinds, which some
call dwarfs, and common juniper-like shrubs, fitter to head the borders
of coronary gardners, and to be shorn. There is yet another of the
North-America, lighter than cork it self, of a fragrant scent, which is
its only virtue. In short,

After all these exotics brought from our plantations, answering to the
name of cedar, I should esteem that of the Vermuda, little inferior, if
not superior, to the noblest Libanon, and next, that of Carolina for its
many uses, and lasting.

Having spoken of their several species, we come now to the culture, best
rais'd from the seeds, since it would be difficult to receive any store
from abroad: To begin with that of M. Libanus; Those which seem of the
greatest antiquity, are indeed majestical, extending the boughs and
branches, with their cones _sursum spectantia_, as by most we are told;
though a late{255:1} traveller found otherwise, and depending, like
other coniferous trees; the sturdy arm