54 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



ually present fuller and more open tops and far less sturdy trunks as 

 we go back away from the coast into the adjoining forest. Here in 

 young trees we find the habit of growth is distinctly pyramidal. 



The bark of trunk is of a purple-brown color, in exposed situations 

 1)1 caching out to almost whiteness, rough with longitudinal and 

 obliquely connecting ridges which exfoliate in long scales and fibrous 

 strips. 



HABITAT. Though doubtless a tree of much wider distribution in 

 earlier times its natural range is now the most restricted of the Ameri- 

 can Coniferae, being found only in Monterey Co., California, at 

 Cypress Point and southward to the shores of Carmel Bay and across 

 the bay at Point Lobos, in all a distance of scarcely five miles. It 

 extends inland only a few rods from the great breakers of the coast, 

 and there mingles with the Monterey Pine which gradually replaces 

 it altogether. One of the most interesting spots on the American 

 continent for the lover of trees is this Cypress Point, where he may 

 see the famous monarchs above described scattered singly or in groups 

 with interlocked branches on a rolling glade like one vast lawn fre- 

 quently bedewed with moisture from the ocean. They seem to rejoice 

 in their ceaseless battle with the winds from the Pacific and approach 

 so closely to it as to be frequently bathed with its spray. One thinks 

 it strange that a tree loving this bleak spot so well can adapt itself to 

 almost any soil or climate not too cold from Vancouver's Island to Lower 

 California, for it is the most extensively planted and the most rapid 

 grower of the coniferous trees throughout all this region. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. The wood is moderately heavy, hard and 

 strong, close-grained, easily worked, slightly fragrant and susceptible 

 of a very smooth polish. It is of a light-brown color streaked with 

 yellow and light purple; sap-wood buff -white. /S^W/A- 

 u'>261; Percentage of Ash, 0.57 '; Relative Approximat* 1 J' J ><<! 

 ( U5225 ; Coefficient of Elasticity, 107327 ; Module <>f Rupture, l< M-5 ; 

 Resistance to Indentation, 237; Weight of a Cubic Foot in 



USES. The most extensively planted coniferous tree in the Pacific 

 States for ornamental purpose, wind-breaks, and hedges, growing 

 with wonderful vigor and enduring annual trimming to a remarkable 

 extent. It is planted sometimes in our southeastern states, in South 

 America, Australia, and extensively in southern and western Europe. 



NOTE. Visitors to the home of the Monterey Cypress are often 

 told by the people residing thereabouts that " this tree is only found 



