174 REMARKS ON THE CYPRESS. 



We have two varieties of the common cypress, sempervirens 

 the upright and the spreading, which the ancients distinguished as 

 male and female trees ; but the botanist will know by the class in 

 which these trees are placed, that they are androgynous plants, 

 viz, having male and female flowers on the same root. It appears 

 that the ancients did not consider the seed of a tree to be a fruit, 

 unless it was eatable ; for Phocion, who was so celebrated in 

 Athens for his private and public virtues, remarked to a young 

 man who spoke with more vanity than good sense, " Young man, 

 thy discourse resembles the cypress ; it is large and lofty, and bears 

 no fruit." What would this Athenian, whose virtues were as 

 incorruptible as the cypress itself, say to some of our modern 

 speeches and publications ? 



When we plant the cypress in the shrubbery, it should be cor- 

 rectly ascertained if it is the spiral or the spreading variety ; for 

 the former requires but a small space, and should be placed 

 behind those flowering shrubs whose extending branches require 

 such an addition : whilst the spreading cypress may wave its mourn- 

 ful branches over the daisy-pied lawn, or form a foreground to the 

 pointed poplar. But it requires considerable ingenuity to place the 

 cypress happily in our plantations ; for in most situations its dark 

 and slender head adds a gloom rather than cheerfulness to the 

 scene, particularly in autumnal evenings ; when either the sun 

 leaves its last streak, or the rising moon sends a silvery stream 

 of light down the dark foliage, which gives additional sombre to 

 the shade, and a spectre-like appearance to the imagination of the 

 gloomy mind. 



The spreading cypress is by far the largest growing tree, and 

 is the most common timber in some parts of the Levant. This, 

 if planted upon a warm, sandy, gravelly soil, will prosper won- 

 derfully ; and though the plants of this sort are not so finely 

 shaped as those of the first, yet they greatly recompense for that 

 defect by their vigorous growth and strength, in resisting all 

 weathers, This tree is very proper to intermix with evergreens 

 of a second size next to pines and firs, to form clumps, in which 

 class it will keep pace with the trees of the same line, and be very 

 handsome. Besides, the wood of this tree is very valuable, when 

 grown to a size fit for planks, which I am convinced it will do in 

 as short a space as oaks ; therefore, why should not this be cul- 

 tivated for that purpose, since there are many places in England 

 where the soil is of a sandy or gravelly nature, and seldom 



