CHAP. CXIII. coni'fer^. CUPRE'SSUS. 24'77 



as they are larger, and free from the defect of splitting when nailed upon the 

 rafters. The houses of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York are covered 

 with them ; and large quantities are exported to the West Indies. The 

 shingles of the white cedar are much more durable and secure from worms 

 than those of the white pine, generally lasting from 30 to 33 years. The 

 wood is also considered well adapted for joinery and for household utensils. 

 In Philadelphia, there is a distinct class of mechanics, called cedar coopers, 

 who make pails, wash-tubs, churns, &c., of the wood of this tree, for both 

 the domestic and the foreign markets. These utensils are held together 

 with hoops made of young cedars stripped of their bark, and split down the 

 middle. In some places, the sides of fishing-boats are covered with white 

 cedar clap-boards, which are preferred to those of the deciduous cypress, as 

 being lighter, more durable, and less liable to split. The wood makes excel- 

 lent sounding-boards for pianofortes ; and casks formed of it are found better 

 than any others for preserving oils. The young wood makes an excellent 

 charcoal for gunpowder ; and the smoke of the seasoned wood affords a beau- 

 tiful lampblack, which weighs less, and is more intensely coloured, than that 

 obtained from any species of pine. When employed as fence-wood, the rails 

 of young trees, either entire, or split down the middle, and deprived of theu* 

 bark, last from 50 to 60 years. In England, the white cedar is only planted 

 as an ornamental shrub or low tree ; in Scotland, it is rather tender ; and in 

 the cHmate of Paris is rare, seldom rising above 5 ft. or 6 ft. high, and re- 

 quiring protection during winter. In Germanj', it is a green-house plant. 



Propagation and Culture. Cones are sometimes imported, and the seeds 

 may be sown early in spring, and treated in all respects like those of C'upres- 

 sus sempervirens : it may also be propagated by cuttings ; and, in the London 

 nurseries, it is sometimes raised by layers. It would probably attain a much 

 larger size than it generally does in England, if planted in a moist soil, more 

 analogous to that in which it is found in its native habitats ; at the same 

 time, as our summers are far from being so warm as those of Maryland and 

 Virginia, it is not likely that it would succeed in swamps in England so well 

 as it does in those countries ; because the average of cold and moisture and 

 warmth must necessarily be materially different. In deep sandy soils, as is 

 proved by the tree at Pain's Hill, it not only grows luxuriantly, but ripens its 

 wood, which it would probably not do in Britain, if grown in a swamp. Price 

 of plants, in the London nurseries, 5s. each ; at Bollwyller, 1 franc 50 cents ; 

 and at New York, 25 cents. 



* 3. C, lusita'nica Tonrn. The Cedar of Goa, or Portuguese Cypress. 



Identification. Tourn., 587. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 511. ; Mill. Diet, No. 3. ; Du Ham. Arb., 1. 



p. 198. ; Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., I. t. 65. ; Laws. Man., p. 391. ; Lodd. Cat, ed. 1836. 

 Synonymes. C. glauca JBiot. Fl. Lns., 1. p. 216., La??i. Encyc, 2. p. 243. ; C. pendula L^Herit. Stirp. 



Nov., p. 15., Hort. Kew., 3. p. 1373., N. Du Ham., 3. p. 7., Bon Jard., ed. 1837, p. 970. ; Cedar 



of Bussaco. C. pendula Tkunb., Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., 2. t 66., is supposed to be a different plant. 

 Engravings. L'Hcrit Stirp. Nov., t 8. ; Larab. Pin., t 65. ; N. Du Ham, 3. t. S. ; our fig. 2328. ; 



and the plate of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Branches flexuose, spreading ; branchlets quadrangular. 



Leaves imbricated in 4 rows, acute, keeled, glaucous, adpressed. {Lamb,. 



Pin.) A tree ; a native of Goa, in the East Indies. Said to have been 



introduced in 1683. 



Description, 4'C- A branchy tree, attaining, in its native country and in 

 Portugal, the height of 50 ft. and upwards : branchlets scattered, irregular, 

 flexuose, and spreading: branchlets incurved, very numerous; quadrangular 

 when young, thickly covered with leaves ; roundish when old. Leaves scale- 

 like, somewhat stem-clasping; broad at the base, attenuated upwards, 

 awl-shaped, remaining on very long ; when young, imbricated in 4 rows, 

 glaucous, marked on the back lengthwise with a concave resinous gland ; 

 when old, somewhat distant, scarcely imbricated, rigid afterwards, withered 

 and brownish. Male catkins numerous, ovate, obtusely 8-angled, terminal, 

 solitary, yellowish, 2 lines long; scales about 20, convexo-concave, yellow, 

 greenish externally at the apex. Female catkins solitary, surrounded by the 



