pyramidal in form, with erect stiff leaders; but in slightly older trees the leader begins to incline over on one side, and the branches to thicken and elongate, and this process being continued, eventually the tree assumes when old the habit of Lebanon cedars, as we see them in English parks. In other parts of the forest the older trees are more or less scattered with the same admixture of junipers and evergreen oak, the undergrowth being Phillyrea and broom. The cedar appeared to be slow in growth, the annual shoots of young vigorous trees not exceeding three or four inches in length. From observations made in one section of this forest the tree shows at different ages the following dimensions:—
| Age. | Diameter. | Height of Market- able Timber. |
Total Height. | |
| Feet. | Inches. | Feet. | Feet. | |
| 125 years | 2 | 7½ | 46 | 98 |
| 160 years„ | 2 | 11½ | 52½ | 105 |
| 200 years„ | 3 | 3 | 59 | 115 |
| 255 years„ | 4 | 3 | 59 | 125 |
| 305 years„ | 4 | 11 | 59 | 125 |
An official document, which I saw at Batna, gave the total number of sound trees over 40 inches in girth as 265,500, estimated to contain between ten and eleven million cubic feet of timber, the total timber in the forest, young and old trees, cubing 16,000,000 feet. In addition, there is still standing 900,000 cubic feet of dead timber. In a few spots, as in the Chellala-Bordjen section, there are rather dense stands of old trees, which run to 7000 cubic feet per acre; but there are large tracts in parts of the forest which have scarcely 150 cubic feet to the acre.
The tree produces seed abundantly every two or three years; and regeneration is good in favourable situations, as in northerly ravines. The cones[1] disarticulate in November, after the autumnal rains, but if the weather is exceptionally dry, do not open. Seedlings appear under dense cover, but in such situations grow slowly, and do much better in the partially open places between large trees. The widespreading branches which the tree ultimately produces show, I think, that in old age it requires a great deal of light, and tends to grow in a more or less isolated condition; but until middle age the trees bear crowding without injury. In the bare parts of the mountain, where the trees were cut away many years ago, artificial planting has been tried on a small scale, and has succeeded on northern slopes when two-year-old seedlings have been planted in autumn. Plants put out in the spring on the southern slopes have died of drought, which is the great enemy to both artificial and natural regeneration.
The forest of Téniet-el-Hâad is about a day's journey from Algiers—four hours by rail and thence seven hours by the coach to the town, which is distant from the cedars about an hour's walk. The mountain-range runs in a N.W.-S.E. direction, the cedars ascending to the summit of the crest, 5900 feet, and descending on the north side to 4250 feet, and on the south side to 4900 feet, there being a zone of
- ↑ Only the central part of the cone contains good seed. In January the basal scales of many cones were still remaining around the central axis, the other scales having fallen much earlier.
