152 REMARKS ON THE CYPRESS. 



come into flower, (I have seen pans filled with water put under 

 them, but it is very injurious, as it sours the soil,) for if neglected 

 the flowers will be small. 



When they are done flowering, I give them less water, until I 

 withhold it altogether, I then cut them down to the surface, and 

 put them aside in any back part of the greenhouse until they 

 begin to push in the spring, when I take them out and place them 

 on the front shelves in the greenhouse, giving them a good 

 watering, when, in the course of a few days they will begin to 

 shew their young shoots. 



If you think the above remarks are worthy a place in your use- 

 ful Publication, they are at your disposal. 



W. M. P. 



Uffington Gardens, May 1839. 



ARTICLE IV. 

 REMARKS ON THE CYPRESS. 



BY AN HORTICULTURIST. 



Th[S tree, which is the symbol of eternal sorrow in all the civi- 

 lized countries of Europe, is also the funeral tree of the east, from 

 the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea; and it is likewise dedicated 

 to the dead from Mazenderan to Constantinople, as well as to the 

 utmost bounds of China's fruitful shores. 



Claudian tells us, in his admirable poem of the Rape of Pro- 

 serpine, that when Ceres decided to travel over the earth in 

 search of her daughter, she hastened to Etna, to prepare the 

 torch which was to light her on the road during the night ; and 

 that having rooted up two gigantic cypresses, the goddess threw 

 them into the crater of that mount, which being inflamed by the 

 sulphur, augmented the fires of Etna ; and from thence the an- 

 cients, we presume, dedicated this tree to Pluto and Proserpine. 

 The Romans placed a branch of the cypress tree before their 

 dwellings when any one died, which remained as long as the 

 corpse was in the house ; and which it then accompanied to the 

 funeral pile, or the tomb. 



Lucan, who wrote about the middle of the first century, 

 informs us that the cypress was then only used at the funerals of 

 persons of distinction. 



