Notandus minio, nec cedro charta notatur,
refers not to the colour rather, which was usually red, and perhaps temper’d with this bitter oyl (as some conjecture) let our antiquaries determine: The horns and knobs at the ends of the rolling-staves, on which those sheets of parchment, &c. (before the invention of printing, and compacted covers now in use) as at present our maps and geographical charts (peeping out a little beyond the volume) were likely colour’d with this rutilant mixture.
Touching the diüternity of this material, ’tis recorded, that in the temple of Apollo Utica, there was found timber of near two thousand years old; and at Sagunti in Spain, a beam in a certain oratory consecrated to Diana, which has been brought to Zant, two centuries before the destruction of Troy: That great Sesostris King of Egypt had built a vessel of cedar of 280 cubits, all over gilded without and within: And the Goddess in the famous Ephesine temple, was said to be of this material also, as was most of the timber-work of that glorious structure: Though as to the idol τοῦ Διοπετοῦς mention’d in the Acts, (when the mob rose up against the apostle) some will have to be of ebony, others of a vine-tree, the most unlikely of all the rest fit for the carver. The sittim mention’d in Holy Writ, is thought to have been a kind of cedar of which most precious utensils were formed.
As to the magnitude of cedar-trees: We read of divers whose bodies eight or nine persons could not embrace, (as we shall shew hereafter) not here to let pass what Josephus relates Solomon planted in Judea, who doubtless try’d many experiments of this nature, none being more kingly than of planting for posterity: I do not speak of those growing on the mountains of Libanon, in the northern and colder tracts of Syria; or what store those forests of them then afforded: But, as we are inform’d by that curious traveller[258:1] Ranwolsius, (since confirm’d also by the virtuoso, Monconys) there were not remaining above twenty five of those stately trees, and since they were there, but sixteen of that small number, as the ingenious Mr. Mandevill reports in his journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem: There was yet, he says, abundance of young trees, and a single old one of prodigious size, twelve yards and six inches in the girth; I suppose the same describ’d by the late traveller Bruyn, who speaking of the shadow of this umbragious tree, alludes to that of Hosea, Cap. XIV. Ver. 5. which ’tis not improbable might be one of those yet remaining, where that heroick prince employ’d fourscore thousand hewers at work, for the materials of one only temple, and the palace he built in the city; a pregnant instance what time, negligence and war will bring to ruin. But to return to what is said of their present number, Le Bruyn (whom just now we mention’d) makes them 35 or 36, for he could not exactly tell, and pretends (like our Stonedge on Salisbury Plain) none could ever yet agree of their number.
In short, upon reflection of what we have hitherto concerning the universal waste and destruction of timber trees, (where due regard is not taken to propagate and supply them) whole countries have suffer’d, as well as particular provinces: Thus the Apennines are stripp’d of their goodly pine and fir-trees (which formerly the naturalist commends those mountains for) to that degree, as to render not only the city of Florence, but Rome her self so expos’d to the nipping Tramontan’s (for so they call the northern winds) that almost nothing which is rare and curious, will thrive without hyemation and art; so as even thro’ the most of those parts of Italy, on this side the Kingdom of Naples, flank’d by the Alpestral Hills, (clad as they perpetually are with snow) they are fain to house, and retire their orange, citron, and other delicate and tender plants, as we do in England. There remains yet one mountain among the Appennines, cover’d and crown’d with cypress; whereof some are of considerable stature: Nor is all this indeed so great a wonder, if we find the entire species of some trees totally lost in countries, as if there never had been any such planted or growing in them: Be this applied to fir and pine, and several other trees, for want of culture, several accidents in the soil, air, &c. which we daily find produces strange alterations in our woods; the beech almost constantly succeeding the oak, to our great disadvantage; whilst we neglect new seminations. Herodotus speaking of the palms, (plentifully growing about Delos) says the whole species was utterly lost: More I might add on this subject; but having perhaps been too long on these remarks, and long enough on cold M. Libanus, I pass to,
1. Juniper; let it not seem unduly plac’d, if after such gyants, we bring that humble shrub (such as abound with us being so reckon’d) to claim affinity to the tallest cedar; since were not ours continually cropp’d, but maintain’d in single stems, we might perhaps see some of them rise to competent trees; fit for many curious works, tables, cabinets, coffers, inlaying, floors, carvings, &c. we have of some of these trees so large, as to have made beams and rafters for a certain temple in Spain, dedicated to Diana; nor need we question their being fit for other buildings; celebrated for its emulating the cedar, tho’ not in stature, yet in its lastingness: And such, I think, the learned Dr. Sloane mentions growing in Jamaica, little inferior to the Vermudas.
2. Of juniper, we have three or four sorts, male, female, dwarf; whereof one is much taller, and more fit for improvement. The wood is yellow, and being cut in March, sweet as cedar, whereof it is accounted a spurious kind; all of them difficult to remove with success; nor prosper, they being shaded at all, or over-drip’d: The Swedish juniper (now so frequent in our new modish gardens, and shorn into pyramids) is but a taller and somewhat brighter sort of the vulgar.
3. I have rais’d them abundantly of their seeds (neither watering, nor dunging the soil) which in two months will peep, and being governed like the cypress, apt for all the employments of that beautiful tree: To make it grow tall, prune, and cleanse it to the very stem; the male best. The discreet loosening of the earth about the roots also, makes it strangely to prevent your expectations, by suddenly spreading into a bush fit for a thousand pretty employments; for coming to be much unlike that which grows wild, and is subject to the treading and cropping of cattle, &c. it may be form’d into most beautiful and useful hedges: My late brother having formerly cut out of one only tree, an arbour capable for three to sit in, it was at my last measuring seven foot square, and eleven in height; and would certainly have been of a much greater altitude, and farther spreading, had it not continually been kept shorn: But what is most considerable, is, the little time since it was planted, being then hardly ten years, and then it was brought out of the common a slender bush, of about two foot high: But I have experimented a proportionable improvement in my own garden, where I do mingle them with cypress, and they would perfectly become their stations, where they might enjoy the sun, and may very properly be set where cypress does not so well thrive; namely, in such gardens and courts as are open to the eddy-winds, which indeed a little discolours our junipers when they blow easterly towards the Spring, but they constantly recover again; and besides, the shrub is tonsile, and may be shorn into any form. I wonder Virgil should condemn its shadow. Juniperi gravis umbra..... I suspect him mis-reported.
In the mean time, botanists are not fully agreed to what species many noble and stately trees, passing under the names of cedar, are to be reckon’d; and therefore (for I cannot but mention those of the Vermuda again in this place) being so beautiful, tall, thick-set with evergreen-leaves, like the juniper, with berries indeed much larger, and may also be propagated by layers: Affording a timber close, ruddy for the most part; easy to work, and yielding excellent flooring, fit for wainscot, and all curious cabinet-works; keeping its agreeable odor and fragrancy longer than the rest: There is also made a pleasant and wholsome drink of the seeds, as they do of our common juniper; of which hereafter. Nearest the Bermuda juniper, comes the Virginia, both yet exceeded by that of Carolina, for the perfections already mention’d, speaking of cedar, not forgetting the Oxy-Cedrus, which is reputed a sort of juniper: The berries so abounding on our uncultivated bushes, and barren heaths, always pregnant, annually ripen, tho’ not all at a time; some sticking longer, so as there will be black, green, and gray, succeeding one another.
4. And these afford (besides a tolerable pepper) one of the most universal remedies in the world, to our crazy forester: the berries swallow’d only, instantly appease the wind-collic, and in decoction most soveraign against an inveterate cough: They are of rare effect, being steeped in beer; and in some northern countries, they use a decoction of the berries, as we do coffee and tea. The water is a most singular specifique against the gravel in the reins; but all is comprehended in the virtue of the theriacle, or electuary, which I have often made for my poor neighbours, and may well be term’d the forester’s panacea against the stone, rheum, pthysic, dropsie, jaundies, inward imposthumes; nay, palsie, gout, and plague it self, taken like Venice-treacle. Of the extracted oyl (with that of nuts) is made an excellent good varnish for pictures, wood-work, and to preserve polish’d iron from the rust. The gum is good to rub on parchment or paper, to make it bear ink, and the coals, which are made of the wood, endure the longest of any; so as live embers have been found after a year’s being cover’d in the ashes: See St. Hierom ad Fabiolam, upon that expression, Psal. 120. v. 4. If it arrive to full growth, spits and spoons, imparting a grateful relish, and very wholesome, where they are us’d, are made of this wood, being well dried and season’d. And the very chips render a wholesome perfume within doors, as well as the dusty blossoms in Spring without, and excellent within to correct the air, and expel infection; for which purpose the wood should be cut about May, and the rasures well dried.