Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1921-04-14

tree died, but the survivor-a mere
youngster as cedars are measured-is
about forty feet high and has dia-
meter of about fourteen inches near
its base.
The cedar of Lebanon is one of the
hardest trees to propagate, and almost
every one who has tried it has failed.
The "Old Cedar" in Flushing was
particularly the subject of expert
ments and was at last pronounced
sterile, as no one had ever obtained
results with its seeds. 1t remained
for C. H. Rintleman of that town to
experiment successfully with its cones
He loved the tree, made it his hobby,
and finally, after many years spent in
struggles and difficulties. be found a
method of his own, and today he has
several thousand hardy one, two and
three year-old seedlings growing in
his nursery. These seedlings are
are growing successfully in the Ar
lington national cemetery, some as far
away as Wisconsin and California
After making the mistake of following
the old books on the subject and
coddling the baby cedars, and after
he had lost all of his shoots but three
out of several hundred he took the op-
posite viewpoint and put them out of
doors in the snow and icy February
weather, after which they did wond-
erfully.
One of the illustrations show the
first seasons growth of seedlings, and
in speaking of this Mr.. Rintleman
says: "The four larger seedlings in
the picture are ten or eleven inches
high. That is what the seedIingsNook
like from the first seasons growth.
The little Seeding in the center is a
white, five-needled pine; it represents
I fair growth for the first season. 1t
was grown to illustrate how much
stronger grower the cedar of Lebanon
is than the other needed varieties. A
tree Of this sort can readily attain q
heighth of thirty-siX feet in seventeen
years.
"The picture showing the cones and
blossoms (there are four of these)
also gives an idea of the dense forma-
lion and compactness of the needles.
The blossoms are about one and one
half inches long, and one-half inch in
diameter. When they first open they
are of bright yellow color, turning
70 rich brown, and they remain on
the branches about month. The
'hree cones are nearly of matured size,
are about four inches long and about
| three inches in diameter, weigh about
a half pound, and when matured are
blossoms stand erect The blossom
IF the cedar of Lebanon produces a
cone about the size of a nutmeg. It
is filled with substance which looks
like powdered sulphur and smells like
resin. 1t does its fertiHzing of the
:eed bearing cones its substances in
the month of June The seed bearing
cone is growth and when it is the
size of a hens egg it becomes covered
with a very fine wooly-like growth.
If the cone is obstructed so that it
doesn't receive any fertilizer there
will not be any seed in that cone For
instance if a cone happens to have
branch and its needles resting on it
that part Of the cone will be seedless
A cone which has it's full share of
fertilizer will bear $50 to IT'S seeds.
The cone grows from three-year-old
wood and it takes two years to grow a
cone from che cone bud which grows
from the branch. The branch on
which it grows is five years old when
the cone comes to maturity. Then
the cone and the seeds are scattered,
but by that time, in this climate, al
most all the seeds become rotted by
the weather and rain before ready to
fall. There must therefore be some
plan for taking the seeds from the
cone"
Mr.. Rintleman is recognized as an
authority on raising these difficult
trees. In his opinion there is no tree
so well worth planting as the Cedar of
Observation-Disclosures Chronicle of
America.