584 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A SLEEPIN'G-PORCH OF CYPRESS 



J ' ^^HiS^HB South Carolina a cypress 



-^^^^^^™" grave-marker was so well 



preserved after 140 years' 

 exposure to the weather 

 that the letters could be 

 easily read. A still greater 

 life is claimed for cypress 

 coffins at Charleston, 

 South Carolina, which 

 were found sound at the 

 time of the earthquake, 

 though put in the ground 

 in 1678. Roofs of cypress 

 shingles withstand cen- 

 turies of exposure. There 

 is record of one roof still 

 serviceable after 250 

 years : of another lasting 228 years ; and of a third where 

 the roof is still good after 200 years. A roof of cypress 

 shingles placed on Mount Vernon in 1743 while \\^ash- 

 ington was alive, was 

 removed in 1913. 

 Waterpipe laid in New 

 Orleans in 1798 was 

 sound when dug up in 

 1914. There are a num- 

 ber of records of cy- 

 press railroad ties still 

 in use after 30, and 

 even 40 years. Cypress 

 ties, either with or 

 without tie plates, hold 

 second place in the 

 order of merit, accord- 

 ing to a table of com- 

 parative values of ties 

 published by the Amer- 

 ican Railway Engineering Association. Railroads that 

 have used cypress ties report favorably as to their lasting 

 qualities wherever they were manufactured from heart- 

 wood. " White " or sap cypress makes excellent ties 

 when treated with creosote. Cypress is especially adapted 

 for tie use in trolley lines and branch lines of railroads. 

 Cypress " knees " are utilized for hanging baskets for 

 vines and flowers and they also make excellent bird houses. 

 The " knees " have also been used for beehives. The 

 negroes made a salve from the resin found in the bark 

 and cones of cypress. In the early days of the South, 

 cypress was the best canoe wood where yellow poplar 

 cotild not be obtained. There is a record of a cypress 

 canoe, 30 feet long and 5 feet wide, that would carry a 

 load of more than 6 tons. 



The factory demand for cypress is not of recent devel- 

 opment. In catering to this trade the cypress manu- 

 facturers adopted the original policy of ascertaining the 

 sizes and grades of material their customers require ; then 

 making an earnest and successful effort to furnish exactly 

 what was needed. 



Consequently in various small manufactured articles 

 cypress lumber has been more closely utilized than anv 



r.i<i';Exiii)Usi-; huilt ijf cypress 



other kind, with the possible exception of white pine. Ten 

 years ago the " pony mill," equipped to work up slabs and 

 edgings, was an adjunct of many of the plants in the 

 South. These mills took the offal of the main plant and 

 converted it into stock of the sizes required by manu- 

 facturers of many products made of wood. This stock 

 was four foot and under length and of such widths and 

 thickness as cotild be used or cut to advantage. Rough 

 lumber for the manufacture of pails, casks, washing ma- 

 chines, machine parts and miscellaneous wooden ware 

 was produced in the approximate sizes required by 

 the customer. In this way a market was created for those 

 portions of the log which ordinarily are used for fuel or 

 employed to fill in low spots about the saw-mill premises. 

 Those who casually read the list of products made of 

 cypress may gain the erroneous idea that this wood safely 

 may be employed for any purpose for which wood is 

 desired. That idea has never been encouraged by those 

 responsible for the development of the demand for cy- 

 press. " Use cypress in preference to other woods for 



the purposes for which 

 we recommend it," is 

 the advice given, and 

 coupled with that is 

 the following: "Secure 

 the best information 

 you can regarding the 

 kind of wood to use for 

 the purposes for which 

 cypress is not recom- 

 mended." Going a step 

 farther in this direc- 

 tion, the direct, ex- 

 ])licit command has 

 been given " not to use 

 cypress unless you are 

 convinced it is the best 

 material for the work you contemplate doing." 



\\'ay back in the dawn of settlement in the South, the 

 pioneer built his shack, his barn, his fences, made his 

 boats and parts of 

 his vehicles, of 

 cypress, and pos- 

 sibly was buried 

 in a rough cypress 

 coffin. He se- 

 lected cypress be- 

 cause he found it 

 was easy to work 

 and would not 

 rot. With the 

 r i \- e d shingles 

 from straight- 

 grained bolts, he 

 covered his build- 

 ings, and some of 

 the structures 

 with the original 

 ( overing intact 

 ami still 100 .per an attractive cypress doorway 



