XOTES OX THE BALD CYPRESS. 13 



yet but little of it lias found a, market save in the rural districts of the 

 Lower Mississippi. With the progressive destruction of our forests, and 

 tlie consequent increasing scarcity of coniferous woods, the resources offered 

 by this species will doubtless be largely drawn upon. The supply offered 

 by this tree bids fair to remain important for many years. It now exists 

 on not far from thirty thousand miles of surface within the United States. 

 At almost all points within the areas where it is found it grows with rapid- 

 ity and to great size, and it is more generally accessible to water trans- 

 portation than any other timber tree. The ground it occupies is usually 

 irreclaimable, or of difficult subjugation. There is, therefore, no better 

 nursery for timber than these swamps. If, as is likely, the artificial 

 l^lanting of these trees can be easily managed, there can be no doubt of 

 the profitableness of their culture. Lands suitable for such purpose can 

 be bought for a few cents per acre. Much of it is still Government land 

 that can be acquired under the law regulating the sale of swamp lands. 

 Besides the advantage of cheap lands and easy transportation, these forests 

 have a perfect security from the devastations of fire, which are so serious 

 a hindrance to the profitable cultivation of most of our economic woods, 

 especially the conifers. It needs no argument to show that a cypress 

 swamp is perfectly secure from this danger. I do not believe that in our 

 ordinary swamps the trees could be placed nearly as close together as the 

 trees in a pine woods. 



All our cypress swamps commonly have a good deal of their surface 

 occupied by pools and sloughs, where the water is too deep for the trees, or 

 by hummocks, where the land is too high to afford the best stations for this 

 species. I am inclined to believe, however, that it can be safely estimated 

 that the trees may be planted twenty fe.et apart, or about one hundred to 

 the acre, and that they will, in twenty years, attain a size at which they 

 begin to be merchantable. The tree is probably adult at sixty years, 

 attaining then an average diameter of about three feet, and a height of 

 about ninety, although it continues to grow until, in favorable positions, 

 it attains a height of one hundred and fifty feet, and a diameter of seven 

 feet or more. With the increased height, it rapidly becomes of less mer- 

 chantable quality. I am satisfied that the trees may be grown to the full 

 size that utility requires at no greater distances than forty feet apart, or 

 about twenty trees to the acre. The spaces between may be occupied by 

 the younger trees, for the young cypress is tolerant of the densest shade. 



