10 NOTES ON THE BALD CYPRESS. 



imagine any coniferous seed sprouting at the depth of a foot or more below 

 the surface of water, and growing until it lifts itself above the water sur- 

 face. It seems to me that the hypothesis that they spring from root buds 

 is highly improbable, for I have sevei'al times found young and thrifty 

 specimens growing up from permanent water at the distance of several 

 hundred yards from any other tree of the species. I am told that the tree 

 may be readily propagated from twigs, provided they are of the new wood, 

 and are immei'sed in water or soft mud, and are kept in the shade. Such 

 twigs are often broken from the branches of the trees by the wind, aided 

 perhaps by the collision of boughs against each other in high winds. The 

 extreme branches are much more brittle than those of any of our other 

 conifers known to me; and this, together with the readiness with which 

 they root, makes a special method of jiropagation peculiarly suited to the 

 conditions of growth under which the species live. I am not aware that 

 the power of sending out roots from twigs exists in our other conifers. I 

 am inclined to believe that the planting of these trees in water too deep 

 for the germination of seeds is generally brought about through the fallen 

 branches rather than by means of seeds or buds from the roots. 



