1904.] LECTURE. 53 



Fires clue to viu'ious causes uhviiys have been and still are 

 of frequent occurrence in these pine forests. Other causes of 

 destruction to these i)iiie foi-ests nvc in the pasturage of cattle, 

 who eat off the tops of the young trees; hogs are always allowed 

 to roam at large through the South, and do nnich injury by 

 digging up and eating (he tender roots of the young plants; 

 and squirrels i)ull the cones to pieces to get at the sweet seeds. 

 It seems marvelous that undcn- these adverse conditions any 

 seedlings escape destruction, and more especially when the 

 fields of burned stumps bear sucli evidence of continued fires. 



Taxodium dislichum, or bald cypress, is another conifer of 

 great interest, not an evergreen, and grows along the low coast 

 lands of the Southern States, sometimes following up the 

 rivers for several miles. Unlike the long-leaved pine it needs 

 a great deal of moisture and grows in wet, swampy soil that 

 is often flooded for weeks at a time, so that the young plants 

 are wholly covered with water. It must be a desirable condi- 

 tion, for the old trees grow to a large size. Fortunate it is 

 that some trees prefer swamps and some the dry sandy plains, 

 that both may be clothed with verdure. 



We went through the Dismal Swamp canal to Drummond 

 lake for the purpose of seeing the bald cypress trees. We 

 left Elizabeth City in North Carolina on a canal boat; we 

 found the first ten or fifteen nules of the route was on the 

 Pasquotank river, which grew narrower as we ascended, until 

 we were close to the banks on either side. The cypress trees 

 were numerous and conspicuous, just coming into leaf. Some 

 trees were reddish-brown and some yellowish-green in color. 

 In contrast with this delicate green were the brilliant colored 

 keys of the red maples, everywhere abundant through the 

 woods. 



We entered the canal, which stretched out before us in a 

 nearly straight line for twenty-two miles. Recent dredging of 

 the canal had drawn away the water in adjacent lands from 

 the roots of the trees and their bare branches testified that 

 hundreds of them had been killed. The mud had been deposited 

 upon the banks, making them very unsightly. In some places 

 5 



