COMMERCIAL USES OF CYPRESS 



581 



and is moderately hard, straight-grained, and 

 usually fine-textured. The color of the heart- 

 wood varies from light to dark brown or nearly 

 black and gives rise to the common names of 

 " red " and " black " cypress. The sapwood is 

 white and decays rapidly. " White " cypress 

 comes from trees which are mostly sapwood, 

 and lacks the wonderful durability of " red " or 

 " black " cypress. " Pecky " cypress is caused 

 by a fungus which honeycombs the heartwood 

 and eventually causes the tree to become hollow. 

 This fungus works in any part of the tree but 

 is most prevalent in the upper portions. The 

 holes and pockets formed in the woody tissues 

 weaken the lumber but appear to make it even 

 more resistant to decay than the sound wood. 

 The fungus which causes " pecky " cypress does 

 not work in the sapwood, and so does not kill 

 the tree, but because it weakens the heartwood 

 the tops are often badly broken by storms. 



THE LASTING QUALITY OP CYPRESS 



This interesting testimonial to the durability of wood stands in the yard of St. Michael's 

 Church, in Charleston, South Carolina. It is a head-board of heart cypress, erected in 

 1770, nearly ISO years ago. Marble tombstones often decay in less time. In all these 

 years, the only repair has been the replacement of the post to the right in the photograph, 

 which was necessitated because the original post was splintered by a shell from one of 

 Gilmne's guns on Morris Island, fired during the siege of Charleston in 1863-1865. This 

 chance shot split off the upper part of the head-board, on which was carved the words 

 "In Memory." The outlines of the original letters cut into the wood are still perfectly 

 sharp and clear, and the monument will apparently endure for many years to come. 



Commercial Uses of Cypress 



TEN years ago cypress was " lumber." It was used 

 largely by the factory trade in the manufacture of 

 wooden ware, doors and interior trim. Almost 

 over night it ceased to be lumber, a piece of wood of 

 specified dimensions, and became cypress, " The Wood 

 Eternal." That descriptive title was coined when first it 

 was decided to tell the public about the merits of cypress 

 and came freshly minted from the phrase factory. It was 

 apt and catchy. Cypress was the first wood to be adver- 

 tised nationally. The work was taken up in a broad, con- 

 structive way. It was not suggested that home owners 

 buy cypress and " make something, just anything you 

 wish to make," but that definite plans for improving, 

 beautifying or making the place more comfortable be 

 adopted, and that cypress be used for the very specific 

 and definite purposes for which it was recommended. 

 The dominant idea was to interest home owners in the 

 intelligent use of cypress. For these reasons a present- 

 day consideration of the uses of cypress must take into 

 account the intelligent manner in which the wood has 

 been placed before the world's lumber-using public. 



Going back into the history of wood, the investigator 

 finds that the oldest doors in existence are made 

 of cypress. They are now in a serviceable condition, 

 although more than a thousand years old. Perhaps the 

 youngest door in existence also is made of cypress, for 

 the beauty of the wood is commanding the attention of 

 the building trade. The significant fact is that both the 

 modern and the ancient employed cypress to meet this 

 exacting need, and no other purpose for which wood is 

 used requires such absolute living up to expectations. 



Selections of wood for use by those who invade a 

 forested country are easily and quickly made. Hardy 

 pioneers who clear away the forested area to the end that 

 they may engage in agriculture examine carefully the 



relative condition of the " dead and down " timber. In 

 the cypress section of the South the pioneers were quick 

 to note the sound condition of the cypress that had laid 

 on the ground for hundreds of years. They figured, as 

 a matter of course, that if cypress would last almost in- 

 definitely under such adverse conditions, it would be an 

 excellent material to use in building homes, fences, barns 

 and out-houses for themselves. Cypress, therefore, long 

 has been the main dependence of the South for shingles, 

 fencing material, residences and farm buildings in the 

 country in which it grows. The product was greater 

 than required for home consumption and naturally the 

 manufacturers of cypress lumber reached out for other 

 markets. Cypress shingles and cypress " shop " were 

 marketed in northern centers of lumber consumption a 

 quarter of a century ago. This invasion of the North 

 was made possible by reason of the fact that cypress was 

 cheap and, " lumber being lumber," it was possible to find 

 an outlet for a part of the surplus of the southern mills. 

 This demand continued in an intermittent fashion, 

 the quantity sold being governed largely by price compe- 

 tition. In the St. Louis market, for example, cypress 

 was used extensively by manufacturers of interior trim. 

 This condition arose during the transitory stage, 1898 

 to 1908, during which the main source of lumber supply 

 shifted from the North to the South. The production 

 of northern lumber decreased steadily during that decade 

 and the output of southern lumber increased. 



Co-incident with the increase in the territory in which 

 cypress was marketed, there was a big gain in the price 

 of cypress timber values. Locally, up to that time, the 

 timber had been regarded as without value or of nominal 

 value only. A certain " wise southerner " once upon a 

 time unloaded a cypress swamp on an unsophisticated 

 northerner for the unbelievably high price of $5 per acre. 



