THE SOUTHERN CYPRESS. 389 



Michaux remarks that in the Southern swamps which 

 are occupied by the Northern and Southern Cypress, the 

 former " are observed to choose the centre of the swamps, 

 and the southern cypresses the circumference." In the 

 region of the southern cypress the cedar swamps are 

 skirted by the tupelo and the red maple. There is but 

 little superficial resemblance between the two cypresses. 

 The foliage of the Northern tree is evergreen. "Each 

 leaf," says Michaux, "is a little branch numerously 

 subdivided, and composed of small, acute, imbricated 

 scales, on the back of which a minute gland is discov- 

 ered with the lens. In the angle of these ramifications 

 grow the flowers, which are scarcely visible, and which 

 produce very small rugged cones of a greenish tint, that 

 change to bluish towards the fall, when they open to 

 release the fine seeds." 



THE SOUTHERN CYPRESS. 



We have read more perhaps of the Southern Cypress 

 than of any other American tree ; but what we have read 

 relates to some of its peculiarities, such as the stumps 

 that grow up among the perfect trees, and of which, in 

 the economy of nature, it is difficult to discover the 

 advantages. "We have read also of the immense gloomy 

 swamps that are shaded by trees of this species; of 

 the long mosses, called the " garlands of death," that 

 hang from their branches, rendering the scene still more 

 gloomy. But from all our reading we should not discover 

 what is immediately apparent to our observation, when 

 we see this tree, that it is one of the most beautiful of the 

 forest. 



The Southern Cypress is beginning to be prized here 

 as an ornamental tree, and the few standards in the 

 enclosures of suburban estates will convince any one that 



